Tasha Tudor is a much celebrated author and illustrator. Her water color paintings of children, gardens, and animals, celebrate the seasons,
nature, and the world of the 19th century. She was the illustrator
of more than one hundred books.
Tasha Tudor was born Starling Burgess on August 28, 1915 in
Boston Massachusetts, to parents William Starling Burgess and Rosamond Tudor. Her
father gave her the nickname Tasha, which she became known as, and she took the last name of Tudor from her mother when she
began writing and illustrating books; she later had her name legally changed to Tasha Tudor.
Tasha’s parents divorced when she was nine years old
and she was sent to live with family friends in Connecticut, this is where most of her inspiration for writing and illustrating
came. From the time she was a little girl she dreamed of living and raising a family on a farm. So in 1938 when she married
Thomas Leighton McCready, Jr., it was her idea to move to a farm to begin a family.
Thomas was not much of a farmer but agreed to give it a try. They had a large garden, geese, dogs, goats, hens and
cows. Thomas had a dairy route in which he sold cream, butter and milk.
The McCready family eventually moved to New Hampshire to live
in a dilapidated farmhouse, without running water, electricity or central heat. The family worked hard and transformed the
farm into a beautiful home. Tasha raised her four children, Seth, Bethany, Efner, and Thomas here. But it was Tasha’s
dream to live in Vermont in a very rural setting and so after her husband died in 1969, and when her children were grown,
she sold her home in New Hampshire and moved to a farm in Vermont. There she
lived until her death on June 20, 2008.
Tasha’s illustrations were inspired by her own animals,
gardens, and children. She could never remember a time that she wasn’t
drawing and doodling, and although she attended The Museum of the School of Fine Arts in Boston for a year, she learned how
to be an artist from her mother. She chose to live a life simply and without modern conveniences. She made her own clothes from material she weaved, dipped candles to light her home, raised a large garden
to feed herself and her many visitors. Hers was an interesting and extraordinary
life, and her paintings portrayed that life.
Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/20/books/20tudor.html
http://www.essortment.com/all/biographytasha_omz.htm
