I truly love watching these bees work the flowers. They have such a drive and dedication that many can learn from just by studying them. Number 6 in the series is a similar painting to Number 1, however this image represents the flower as it started to get older. You can see the petals behind the bee have curled and do not appear in this painting as they do in the first one of the series. The bee is in a similar position. The painting was inspired by a zoomed in version of a photograph I took of 3 bees on one Sunflower. They were flying around and landing in such a fascinating way for over an hour.
Seeing the pollen get ruffled on the hairs of the bees is a joy to watch. The yellow dust flies in the air and sticks to the scopa and legs of these wonderful creatures. I made a video using time lapse on my phone and later realized the video appears to be at the same speed of a bee as it is working. I was very lucky to capture so many amazing pictures to choose from for my paintings. Even after the photographs were taken, I used the computer to take an even closer look at my subjects for these works of art.
Number 7 in the series is the other side of the flower from Number 6. I chose to paint the other 2 bees on the flower to show how they were working equally as hard as the first bee. The center of the flower’s color palette changed to lighter hues and more water was added to dilute the color. The angle of the flower and perspective of the bees is different from its counterpart. I decided to leave the whites down the backs of the bees to show their shiny reflection of the sun. They were having fun crawling around in the pollen.
Thank you for reading about the bees adventures. The last days of the sunflowers are coming to an end and I am very happy for the ability to document their life through watercolor. I am glad to have added these to the Tiny Paintings category on my website and my small works portfolio. If you have any stories you would like to share about your own garden, or flowers you love, please email me from my Contact page.
I would love to hear from you!
-Karen Hilliard
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