Cicely Mary Barker was born in Croydon, England in 1895. Unable to go to school due to suffering from epilepsy she was home schooled. Reading and drawing took up most of her time while she was at home. She admired and was influenced by the work of Kate Greenaway and also the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

When she was 13 she was enrolled at the Croydon Art Society along with her father. They both exhibited their work at the school. In addition, at age 16 she was elected as a Life Member of the Croydon Art Society, being the youngest to ever receive this honor.

Her commercial life began when at age 15 her father submitted some of her work to Raphael Tuck, the stationery printer. Four of her drawings were purchased to be used for greeting cards. After her father's death when she was 17 she concentrated on her work to support the family. In 1923 she sold her first set of Flower Fairies along with verses. This was Flower Fairies of the Spring. Seven more books were published in the series.

Flower Fairies of the Spring was a success due to the war weary society who embraced Cicely's vision of hope and innocence. Even Queen Mary helped with the popularity of fairies by sending postcards with these illustrations to her friends.

Cicely used real-life models for her paintings. She would use models from the kindergarten her sister, Dorothy, ran in the back of their home. Others were neighborhood children and relatives.

The flowers that Cicely painted were very accurate. If she couldn't find what she was looking for she called on the expertise of the staff at Kew Gardens who often brought her specimens to paint.

Cicely's paintings are filled with real children and floral images that the children actually held during the painting but Cicely would paint the flowers much larger - to give the impression that the fairies were diminitive.

In addition to her fairies she also painted a great deal of Christian Art. Being a devote Christian all of her life and he work includes illustrated Christian stories, mission postcards, birthday cards, and many paintings to decorate the churches she was involved with during her life.