Description
One bright day summer day, as I headed out to our side yard to dump the compost bucket, the color of these Rugosa Roses grabbed my eye. I ran back out with my camera and hopped up on the rock wall to capture the flowers. Some honey bees had come flying around – my heart jumped with delight. There were some images with two bees, but this one, with the solo bee flying into the cupped flower was the ONE I had to paint. This painting came through nearly in its entirety on a 10-day trip to Kauai. The intense color that had grabbed my eye was hard to reproduce with watercolor – and I’d never worked with quinacridone paints so saturated like this. Even dry, they move around easily, making layering difficult — in every painting I find a new challenge. I painted the bee last – a fun treat. Honey bees are sweet, docile creatures that are the link to our food supply and their populations are dwindling – baffling scientists. This painting expresses my appreciation for them. Next to paint one pollinating a food plant.
November 2008
