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“Spring~ the music of open windows”
Terri Guillemets
Spring has finally arrived in a burst of blue skies, blossoms and bumblebees.
I love this time of year when the world awakes from it's winter sleep and new life begins. Gardeners and Botanical artists are eternal optimists, dreaming and planning for the months ahead.
It's a very busy time of year. |
Bees have been on my mind quite a lot in recent weeks.
Last
month I went to the Pollinators Symposium at the National Biodiversity Data Centre with a vague idea that sometime in the future, I would like to create a
series of paintings highlighting the relationship between plants and
insects. I wanted to learn more about this topic. I came away feeling so inspired and motivated to get involved. Bees really need our help. So I've signed up to become a Bee Monitor.
To become a bee monitor, all you need to do is to agree to
give an hour your time each month (March-October) to go on a designated Bee Walk of your choosing, and record the bees that you see. You will need to do a
little bit of homework beforehand to become familiar with all the different
types of bees around, but there are plenty of ID charts online. The data that
is collected is vital to help scientists get a better picture of what is
happening around the world to bee populations.
If you aren’t able to commit to Bee Monitoring, then be more Bee Aware. Plant bee- friendly flowers in your garden and leave a strip of long grass with wild flowers in your garden.
Most importantly, STOP USING PESTICIDES.Whilst there are restrictions on the chemicals that farmers spray on crops, a lot of the harmful products are sold to the general public in garden centres and hardware stores. There is no such thing as a selective pesticide. If it kills aphids, it kills bees. If you are unsure, here is a list of products to avoid-
http://www.pan-uk.org/home-garden/list-of-home-and-garden-pesticides-containing-neonicotinoids
It hasn’t been all bees and buzzing though. Life has been a
busy whirl of meetings and appointments recently, so I’ve reluctantly had
to put aside the roses and paint something that won’t wilt or fade. Dried leaves and seed cases make wonderful subjects for those times when you only have a few hours to paint.
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| Building up the layers of colour in this old Horse Chestnut leaf. There are more details of the progression on my facebook page |
The deadline
for the Botanical Art in Bloom is fast approaching, and so I decided to paint a couple
of tiny vellum pieces and make a Conker painting triptych. Bloom is a fantastic event to be involved in, and last year's event was a particularly joyful one for me.
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| Two parts of the triptych. (Ignore the blue tape!) |
To harmonise the painting, I'm sticking to the palette that I used in the conker painting~
Cerulean, Cobalt violet, Indanthrene, Natural sienna (DS),
Quinacridone gold deep (DS), Magnesium brown, Brown madder, Burnt Umber,
Perylene maroon, Perylene Violet, Raw Umber, Transparent brown (DS) and my new
favourite Moonglow (DS)
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| Planning out the composition... I still don't know whether I will include the small conker, but it will certainly be repositioned for balance. |
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| I've taken a bit of liberty with the stalk here as you can see, so that it added to the overall composition. As long as it is botanically correct, then it's fine to use a bit of artistic licence. I'm still undecided by the small conker and will probably leave it out. Maybe. |
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| I've still a fair bit to do on this conker case, but I'm excited by the abstract patterns emerging. The roses will be making an appearance once I've got this little triptych finished. I have a very busy month ahead, particularly as the Society of Botanical Artists will be having their annual exhibition in London. This year I will be giving a demo on vellum painting during the exhibition, so if you around Westminster on Friday 17th April, please come and say hello. |
Life may be a buzz with new happenings, but it’s good.
I will leave you with this short video about bumble bees. Isn't nature incredible?
"Hoe while it is spring, and enjoy the best anticipations.
It is not much matter if things do not turn out well."
Charles Dudley Warner
beeutiful Shevaun, the paintings will look stunning together. Wish I could visit Bloom this year, not even sure I have enough dollar to post an artwork! The bee monitoring sounds great too. And I'll never understand anyone who uses pesticides! xx
ReplyDeleteThanks Claire. Apply to Bloom anyway and maybe I could bring the painting back with me when I fly back from London? I think people don't realise the harm that they are doing when they spray their roses, tomatoes or whatever. There needs to be more information given to the public.
DeleteAnother lovely blog post Shevaun. It's always a treat to see what you've been up to. Good for you for becoming a Bee Monitor! Thanks for the gardening advice too. BTW, I love the Attenborough clip at the end.
ReplyDeleteAw thanks Laura! I wish I had more time to paint, but there aren't enough hours in the day. Signing up to be a Bee Monitor is a great way to learn more about bees. Isn't that video brilliant??
DeleteIt is! I saw the first bee in our garden yesterday - several weeks late. I'm so concerned. Most of our bulbs got flooded and haven't bloomed. I need to find a good Feb-March blooming shrub or 6 that doesn't mind wet feet for next spring.
DeleteWhat a great idea to do a triptych--not only will they show well together but someone will probably be inspired to buy the set! They are looking beautiful already! Wonderful news that you will be doing a demo at the SBA exhibition--congratulations! I have been fascinated by bees and other pollinators lately too. It's an important topic for many reasons.
ReplyDeleteThanks Janene. I will frame them together. The little conker was just too small on it's own. I agree, pollinators are so important. I'm glad the people ( me included) are finally becoming aware of their plight. I know that they are worth €53million to the Irish economy per a nun, I can only imagine how valuable they are to the States. Good luck with the Filoli
DeleteOh how I love bees. They begin to cover my rosemary bushes in late winter when the blossoms appear. Did you know, early in the morning you can "pet" a bumblebee while he's sleepily lazing on a plant? They are so soft. And when they enter my trumpet vine blossoms, you can hear them "chatter." I can't wait to see you paint one!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to paint one too, E M. I went on my first bee walk the other day and although we didn't see a lot of bees (too cold), the ones that we met were so calm. There are mainly Queens this time of year, all out looking for new hives.
Deletei love series as you know.... i love them to tell a story
ReplyDeleteStory telling is what it's all about, Vi
DeleteNice blog post. Love the triptych!
ReplyDeleteThanks Monica
DeleteThis post is so full of interesting things that I'll need more time to digest it all! We organize our garden with bees and butterflies in mind. Last summer we had 5 (I think) types of bees buzzing around. Plant and they will come. Now, I must find out if there are bee monitor groups in my neck of the woods.
ReplyDeleteCandice, are you on facebook? I can send you a few links if you like. I never realised that there were so many different types of bee, or how you could tell the sex (I read that males are lazier, hairier and a little scruffier than females. They don't collect pollen... the females do all the work). Yes, plant and they will come.
DeleteThe first photo pulled me in - such light, airy, colorful spring looks all around and on the table :) The triptych is coming along nicely and you had the right idea to leave off the small conker. Now to watch the video...
ReplyDeleteI hope you watched that video... it's AMAZING!!
DeleteWhat a lovely blog. In Australia we have native bees that are under threat and commercial bees that produce the honey for sale. The best honey is from red gums. My garden in mid Autumn is full of bees due to flowering gums. I love your paintings.
ReplyDeleteThank you Mary. I can only imagine how delicious the honey from red gums is. Have you heard that they are spending millions developing robobees to artificially pollinate crops? It's such a pity that money couldn't be channelled into saving the bees instead... they make a garden such a beautiful place.
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