Beautiful paintings by a dedicated botanical artist done around 1880.  Noted Canadian botanist Jim Cruise writes, “Charlotte Beasley was, without question, an extremely gifted painter. Her flowers are drawn with such accuracy and care as to make identification in most cases positive.”

“The reader is in for a treat with these paintings. A little bit art appreciator, a little bit detective, I found myself puzzling over Charlotte’s materials and methods. Some of the pieces are transparent watercolor, like the Convolvulus japonica, showing a delicacy of washes and blending. Others, like the Trillium sp., show an application of watercolor as solid as acrylic paint, with an abstract depiction of the garden floor. What we may lose in scientific precision, we gain in exuberance of color and mass. I appreciate her adventurous compositions, as in “Convolvulus, Purple Wake Robins” in which she pushed the subject off the edge of the page in three directions, and the almost abstract “Indian Pipe,” a stark white plant shown against a winered background. The last nine pages of the portfolio present a special treat. Paintings of butterflies, bees, dragonflies and spiders are carefully rendered and reminiscent of the early sketches by Charlotte’s contemporary, Beatrix Potter. My first impression of the portfolio was that the paintings were somewhat primitive, lacking the sophisticated perspective and technique of other artists. As I looked more carefully, I saw beautiful paintings by a self-trained artist with a genuine appreciation for her subjects. This book is moving tribute to a dedicated botanical artist, and an inspiration to remember why we do this work.”—Susan Rubin, The Botanical Artist