Bee Patient

6" x 6" multi-media on mahogany-mounted 140# Arches paper (sold)

This is one whimsical bee painting in a series of six. While I consider them watercolours, technically I must call them multi-media for my experiment of adding a little iridescent acrylic to each bee’s wings, which doesn’t show up well in the photo. I painted them for the Cowichan Valley Art Council’s Teeny Tiny Art Works show and sale. New for me, they are not framed under glass, which would be my more usual approach for my watercolour landscapes,. But these bees are archivally mounted on recycled mahogany instead, using discarded wood that another artist friend gave me and, thus, cost only the time of cutting, sanding and sealing it, again, instead of framing. It’s an effort to be more ‘green’. A small-format show is also an opportunity to take some creative risks. While as much thought is given as in larger paintings, tiny works and experimenting to fit that scale can lead to new methods and subjects, I might not otherwise have explored. So I am interested in using wood as a new mounting substrate but why not try some whimsy too, with bees on flowers? As for the ‘bee’ theme, I (like many) have concerns for the health of our pollinating bee populations and for our future. Our food systems would collapse without our pollinators!