bee – Ink, Yarn & Beer

La Bee on Rose (Colored Flower)

I haven’t done any photography in awhile other than a snap or two out of my window. Yesterday, off to the local botanical garden with a new photo buddy. It was really nice to get outdoors again to take pictures, to sit and look and savor all the details the end of summer brings, from the last of the summer flowers to the turning of the leaves.

First stop here was this little brushy bush with red flowers. I don’t recall the name of the plant, but there were bees everywhere (in case you haven’t figured that out!). I had a 24-200 Z mount lens on my Nikon Z6ii, so I had no real macro lens, but at 200mm, I could keep my distance and wait for a bee. I cropped the photo considerably to show the bee and flower. And then this morning I thought up this rather bad title.

Nikon Z6ii, Nikon Z mount 24-200mm lens.

Bee & Borage – Final Colors

There is always a fear of overworking things . . . and sometimes things don’t work out quite how you hope. In general, I like the drawing, but not all areas painted. The bee turned out far better than I ever expected, and I am pleased I could catch the colors through its wings.

Bee & Borage – More Colors

I am not done with this painting yet. I think I want to do something with the bee . . . but I’ll wait a bit to see what I think. I find scanning my work really brings a fresh eye to it – easier to critique when on the monitor than when it’s on the table.

Bee & Borage – First Colors

I did this first layer of colors in the gloom of the evening, after work. I was tired but had played out some of the painting earlier in the day in between whatever I was doing. I used a small brush and deliberately tried – and will continue to try – a delicate approach. Both the bee and the borage have a lot of fine hairs which I want to express and preserve. Looking at the scan shows a need for contrast in the center of the flower, along with on the bee’s back, behind the eyes. In these areas, I will be working on glazes to create better contrast, and I hope a better sense of depth. As it stands now, the whole painting is rather flat and nondimensional to my eye.

Bee & Borage – The Sketch

I am trying to do something everyday when it comes to drawing or painting. Some days only allow for morning time, and that is when I did this drawing of a bee in a borage plant. Today, I used a dip pen, my ca. 1810 pewter ink well, and iron gall ink. I have never drawn a bee before, and using a dip pen and focusing on the shapes, rather than what I think I see (thank you, Sharon, for that great advice!), produced fairly decent results. I’m rather afraid to draw anything that requires a bit of realism as I really doubt my abilities to do this. Practice is needed here!

Borage is a lovely plant, covered in fur, with beautiful blue flowers. If I recall, it is an invasive plant, and one best kept contained in a pot. I had some in my dog free zone (DFZ) this summer amongst the lilies.

As an aside, I’m getting used to using a dip pen, which is really a rather nice skill to have as I don’t have the big blobs I used to get; I know when to refill the well and dilute the ink with water. Something we don’t think about in this day and age of non-dip pens.