So my bead bud Frances was asked by one of her friends for bee art for a local coffeeshop's ‘First Friday’ art show, and I said, when asked, sure. Cuz after all I love drawing plants and animals. So I went out and photographed some honeybees, which conveniently picked that days to really descend on the mondarda (but only the red monarda—they pretty much ignored the rest of the flowers, which I thought was kind of interesting.)
And then started drawing. After awhile I got to the point where I could more or less sketch them (the bees) from memory, and that's when I drew this. I wanted something with
Bee Princess. Graphite, watercolor and acrylic on paper. August 2014. Overall size of work 18x24
- a PoC (the traditional flower faeries are all white children)
- whose armor was both a) reasonable and b) reminiscent of bees
- plus of course fun with graphics
I'm not saying this is the greatest painting ever, but I did enjoy laying out the bees in the background, and painting with little, fine strokes (see especially the face and folds). —If it weren't obvious, in addition to drawing flowers and animals, I also like drawing folds.
The laid paper I drew the work on was far too thin for watercolors, let alone acrylics, so I mounted it on heavier stock. Then, because I'm just not into frames, I riveted three holes along the top edge, threaded them with ribbon, and hung the piece, like a quilt, from a wooden pole.
Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.
