Charlotte Butler Skinner, the daughter of Thomas Bernard and Antonia Francesca (Volmer) Butler, grew up in San Francisco and attended the local public schools. She later studied with Arthur F. Mathews, Robert Aitken, and others at the California School of Design, San Francisco, winning honors in the antique class (1900) and a scholarship (1902). She was also a pupil of Gottardo Piazzoni. Aferward, she served as an assistant teacher of drawing at the California School of Design before marrying Willian Lyle Skinner, a mining engineer, in 1905. About 1910 she reared a son. In 1920, while her husband, amassed an impressive collection of baskets and other artifacts. Finally, in 1935, after a brief return to San Francisco and a short stay in Eugene, OR, she bought a home and settled in Morro Bay, CA, and continued to live there until her death in nearby Atascadero.
In a 1930 letter to the California State Library, Sacramento, Skinner wrote that her work "has been exclusively of the Sierra Nevada and Desert Country of Owens Vallely." Her hangings at the California State Fair, Sacramento (1927--32, 1934, 1937), and in the statewide shows of the Santa Cruz Art League (1928, 1931--1933) attest to her continuing interest in the region. She exhibited such titles as The Inyos; Glacier Carvings; Mount Whitney: Owens River Valley; looking West, Sierras; Lone Pine; June in the Sierra; and Sun and Snow.
While in Morro Bay, where she helped found the local are association in the early 1950's, Skinner remained active almost until her last years. She painted many regional landscapes, executed numerous portraits, and was a regular participant in local exhibitions. In 1957 the Morro Bay Sun referred to her as "one of Morro Bay's most distinguished and best-loved artists."
Skinner's other exhibitions included those of the Painters and Sculptors, Artists Fiesta, and Women Painters of the West, all in Los Angeles; Oakland Art Gallery; Springville Museum of Art, UT; San Francisco Society of Somen Artists; SFAA; Portland Art Museum, OR; and Nevada Art Gallery, Reno.
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