Tag: pencil drawing

A Forlorn and Balding Bee

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I have made some studies of the little bee that came back from the UK with me.

I had found it in the potting shed.

The first bumble bee I drew back in May came from the same place. The potting shed is an ancient wooden lean to, which leans against an even more ancient dry-stone wall. Perhaps these bumble bees both had nests nearby.

The first one I am sure was Bombus terrestris, the Buff Tailed Bumble Bee.
This one is Bombus hortorus, the Garden Bumble Bee. It had lost a few bits and pieces on the way, one antenna and a foot and looks little forlorn and disheveled but now, at least, is “immortalised”.

Its front legs are very close to its head, so in this sketch you cannot see the mouth or the length of the face properly.

my little bee sm

For this sketch I had tried to alter the front leg but only the bottom part moved upwards.

forlorn beesm

By this next study the other front leg had collapsed. My bee is now taking a bow to you all.
The head is way out of sight, tucked right underneath the body. I noticed that from this angle that you can see the shine of the bee’s hard thorax through the black hairs. I have just read this from the excellent site Bumblebee.org here.

“I have noticed that hortorum tend to have more balding workers than other species. This may be because they specialize in the more complicated flowers, often disappearing entirely within the flower, and rubbing their back against the flower. Or it may be that they rub against things more when entering their nest. Or perhaps they are just prone to premature baldness! “

 

my bee front sm

I am trying not to get too involved….but, thank you little balding bee for aiding me in my quest to understand more.

Drawing Bumble Bees

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No 1 bee of the 16 bees will be a Bumble Bee. However, deciding how to draw a Bumble Bee is not as simple as it might seem. If you draw them from the top to show the lovely markings you will not see their heads or tails because, they, more than any other bees, have a very curved shape. Seen from the side you will see just how long their bodies are, and see more of the head.

They also have big long legs!What to do? Well as I am planning to include 4 bumble bees in the set, I will paint a mixture of views, having looked at each and thought about their best feature.
In some I will have to sacrifice the head for the pattern, its a hard choice.But firstly some more studies, to try to understand more about bee anatomy.

drawings sm1      drawings sm3

Then some general sketches which are done from the little bee I brought back from the UK and some photographic references.

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Tomorrow some more studies of my bee, which is Bombus hortorum the Garden Bumble Bee.

Joe’s Bees

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Yesterday we had the pleasure of a brief visit with Joe who is a local beekeeper and who runs Dansk Farms here in Orlando.

For the last few weeks I have been doing some background research into honey bees and wanted a bee to draw. I returned with 9 honey bees and one beautiful irridescent orchid bee which Joe had found for me, all carefully packed for the short trip in their own neat little crate. It’s actually a queen bee transporter, roomy enough for a diminutive royal and normally well equipped with candy.

My little bees were not, I hasten to add, alive.

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I had met Joe a couple of weeks ago at the Winter Park Farmer’s Market, where he sells not only the 100% pure honey, but bees wax, and lovely honey based bath and body products.
It was completely fascinating to see the workings of one of the hives which at 9.00 am was busy. Joe’s particular bees are gentle and goodnatured, a cross between Buckfasts and Carniolans and so a mixture of dark and lighter coloured bees.

Their joint characteristics make them good all round bees, docile, disease resistant, good producers and good housekeepers. (The story of Brother Adam and the Buckfast bee needs another dedicated post). There is so much to know and admire about bees and I am just at the beginning.

joes hives      frame 1

I had not realised that the honey bee was not a native species in the USA. The bees that Joe keeps, as with most of honey bees in the USA, are descended from the European Honey bee, Apis Mellifera.

Bees were probably introduced into Florida by the Spanish but the first documented arrival of bees from Europe is from a letter dated December 5, 1621 by the Council of the Virginia Company in London and addressed to the Governor and Council in Virginia. It was a motley cargo.

“Wee haue by this Shipp and the Discouerie sent you diurs [divers] sortes of seedes, and fruit trees, as also Pidgeons, Connies, Peacockes Maistiues [Mastiffs], and Beehives, as you shall by the invoice pceiue [perceive]; the preservation & encrease whereof we respond vnto you…” (Goodwin 1956; Kingsbury 1906:532).

The Discovery (60 tons, Thomas Jones, captain, and twenty persons) left England November 1621 and arrived in Virginia March 1622. from “Honey Bees Across America” By Brenda Kellar

And the name ..

The genus Apis is Latin for “bee”, and mellifera comes from Latin melli- “honey” and ferre “to bear” — hence the scientific name means “honey-bearing bee”. The name was coined in 1758 by Carolus Linnaeus who, realizing that the bees do not bear honey, but nectar, tried later to correct it to Apis mellifica (“honey-making bee”) in a subsequent publication. However, according to the rules of synonymy in zoological nomenclature, the older name has precedence. Wikipedia

I have never looked in such detail at a honey bee before. These little bees are a variety of colours and delightfully hairy, even the eyes are hairy. I am sad they are dead but the practicalities of trying to draw live bees in such detail would try the patience of even Joe’s docile bees.

I am hoping to make a good detailed painting but before I do I need to understand a bit more about their anatomy. For now, some studies. My models and sketchpad

.bee sketchessms     sketch blog

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Bombus:Humble, Bumble and Bees

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When last home I was exploring the old potting shed in my father’s garden. It has lain largely undisturbed, for years, wreathed in hanging spiders webs.

“Exploring” is not really the correct word, as all I do is go in, find the spade, hoe, fork etc I need and hastily retreat before being overcome by my spidery fears. However on a window sill I did see a little dead Bumble Bee. Bees are about the limit of my “dead thing” collecting and I do like to draw them so I put it in a small box and it came back to the USA with me.

I found it again while unpacking, it was a bit worse for wear but OK for a study or two. This I think is Bombus terrestris, the buff-tailed bumblebee or large earth bumblebee. I liked this definition from Collins Discovery.
“Bumblebee: any large hairy social bee of the genus Bombus”

Large, hairy and completely delightful. Much loved but endangered, see the Bumble Bee Conservation Trust for what you can do to help.
Called Humble Bees too, not as I thought for the bowing, inclined aspect of their head but because of the noise they make. R W Emerson wrote a rather odd early poem in praise of the Humblebee, here is a snippet.

Insect lover of the sun,
Joy of thy dominion!
Sailor of the atmosphere;
Swimmer through the waves of air;
Voyager of light and noon;
Epicurean of June;

 

Regarding sailing and swimming, the aerodynamics of the bumble bee have been called into question, but as successful business woman Mary Kay Ash said;

“Aerodynamically, the bumble bee shouldn’t be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn’t know it so it goes on flying anyway.” ..

a good motivational quote for a Monday. You can read about this incorrect theory and perhaps how it came about at

http://ilovebacteria.com/bee.htm.

And see a lovely slow motion, in flight, bumble bee doing very nicely, here on YouTube.I made these sketches a couple of weeks ago just before starting the printmaking course. This coming week, the bee in print and much more about bees in general.
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Bumblebees:

pencil bee

Leaf of the Day:Champaka pod and about Drawing.

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On my second visit to Leu this week I was still trying to find inspiration for the next assignment, the botanical study, but keeping me on the straight and narrow when I get to the gardens is just hopeless. I looked at many things, walked for miles and looked again at the soapberry and the tea camellia and am considering the crown flower again, but there are no flowers on the tea at the moment and the soapberry flowers are the tiniest things you can imagine.

So I came to no conclusion but did find these odd little immature Champaca pods. Long ago Pedro gave me an old gnarled spent seed case from this beautiful tree, since when I have been patiently waiting for a new one… for over a year. I think I now know why I can’t find a mature one ..it’s squirrels.. It has to be the squirrels again, they eat all the pods of the other magnolias too. I can never find one with all those lovely red seeds.

I wrote about the glorious scented Champacas last year here and the beautiful big Michaelia alba near the avenue of Camphor trees has just started blooming. The scent is sheer heaven ! I brought one of the little flowers back with me and its perfume has filled the room.
The pods are actually from the Michaelia champaca, the original “Joy Perfume” tree and develop from the cone shaped central receptacle of the flower. This photograph is from the excellent Wayne’s Word site here and shows the flower and the mature seed pod.

If only I could find one. I think I may ask Pedro to put a bag over one for me while it matures. I am sure I read this advice somewhere, given to someone also trying to find an intact un-squirreled magnolia pod.

These are curious things, green with white spots at the moment. The mature ones will blacken and then split. I cut one large pod open and inside were 6 seeds snugly wedged up against each other, completely filling the cavity, again, beautifully designed. As I took them apart, there were the fine white strings that attach the seeds to the case, just like the magnolia.

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Champaca Pods

Nature Blog Network and Drawing

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I also want to thank N8 at Nature Blog Network for his inclusion of Pencil and Leaf in his “Sketch Pad” round up of Artist’s Blogs here . To be mentioned alongside these excellent nature artists is an honour.. especially as Leonardo is in the same article.
I often wonder what other people see in drawing. I am very passionate about drawing. I perceive its value extending far beyond just graphite on paper, but I just wanted to include N8’s observation because it seems very relevant.

“I have a real appreciation for the pen or pencil or paint to paper abilities of others, and there’s just something about a really nice illustration that says something a photo doesn’t. That’s not to say the skill set necessary in taking a fine photo isn’t impressive but it’s more subtle and sometimes feels more accessible to the amateur photog. In comparison, we’re all aware of the time needed to make a top-notch illustration, the care, the skill, the complete internalization of the subject. It seems more distant, and therefore, more impressive.

It is true that to in order to draw something in detail you really do have to study it. Often, just looking at something properly, from every angle and trying to understand how it is put together can take a good hour.
Sometimes, after spending a whole day on one very small pencil drawing (or even worse spending a whole day and throwing it away), I look at the fabulous colour photographs and astonishing Photoshop tricks of others and wonder why I am doing this. Your kind comments on the blog and this perceptive insight from N8 keep me going.

Exhibition Images

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Today I managed to get to the Gardens for a lovely relaxing walk in the sun and to take some photos of the exhibition in situ. There have already been so many really enthusiastic comments and the staff are saying they have never had an exhibition quite like this, (which can be taken in two ways I know, but I am thinking positive today!). The most encouraging aspect is that people are really stopping to read the blog posts which are printed out underneath each picture and that is the difference between a normal art exhibition and this blog exhibition. What they will make of some of the stories I just don’t know.
I met most of the gardeners today who were delighted to have been immortalised in print. Well without them none of this would have been possible and I have managed to mention Pedro, Susan, Joel, Tony and Eric, who in particular have helped me so much. They, and the plants, are really the stars of the show.

My snaps are not brilliant but do give an idea of how we laid it out with the images and their corresponding texts underneath, as here with some of the pod drawings.

I cut down the blog posts considerably which perhaps was not as necessary as I had thought but didn’t want to give people text overload.
The space is not very well lit and the first five photos are taken in a narrow entrance hall.

The first three groups are the Leu House drawing and intro, my favourite Soapberry, and the Yaupon Holly. (the text about the black tea drink is, I now realise, appropriately opposite the restrooms..:)

The hall then opens out into a larger space which gives the bigger pictures some breathing space too.

In addition I wanted to show some of the pods etc. so there is a small display in a glass case containing my models.

This whole area is not a dedicated exhibition space and is used for many different functions, so an “opening” was not possible and prices cannot be shown on the work. Instead there is a price list with the main desk and I have links to one with text only, and one with images, at the top of the blog too. I am delighted with how it looks and for the great help given to me by Paul Wenzel who really did all the hard work of measuring and hanging. It was a long job with 49 pictures and 43 text plates to hang. A big thank you also to director Robert Bowden for granting me the opportunity to show my work at the lovely Leu Gardens.
*****PDF price list with images is available HERE.

I will be updating exhibition progress from time to time.

Leaf of the Day: The Loquats are Ripe

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I know I have been here over a year now because everywhere the Loquat trees are full of delicious and ripening fruit. This was my first free food discovery here in America and, having tasted them, I could not believe that so many local trees were left un harvested. There are many ways of serving these little fruits, I like the idea of preserves eaten on hot buttered toast, but they are delicious eaten, just picked, from the tree. There are at 2 trees at Leu Gardens which are bearing fruit and another one the Bronze Loquat, Eriobotrya deflexa which is only a small immature tree but is already very handsome with beautiful big serrated leaves. This variety will only have small fruit but the leaves are magnificent.

The Loquat I have drawn is Eriobotrya japonica also known as the Japanese medlar, or in Spain as the Nispero. The name is derived from “erion” which is Greek for wool and “botrus” for grape, which quite neatly describes the fuzziness of the stems, leaves and sometimes the fruit too. I wrote about it last year here so I won’t repeat myself, only to say that if you haven’t tried them you really must!

I picked a few fruit a couple of days ago but when I went back many had been eaten or picked, here is one of the culprits.

Loquats are very delicate and pulling them off the stem bruises the fruit. You have to eat them, (or draw them) quickly, as they don’t last. The one I cut open was beautifully juicy but browned quickly as I was drawing it. The thin skin of the fruit is yellow or orange, sometimes tinged with red and there are the remains of some flowers on the slightly fuzzy stem. Inside are up to 5 large brown seeds that have a golden sheen to them.

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The Loquat or Nispero

Leaf of the day: Dogwood, Bracts not Petals.

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“Stepping delicately out of the dark wood the startling loveliness of the dogwood in bloom makes each tree seem a presence, calling forth an exclamation of praise. On the almost naked branches the blossoms shine forth in long flat sprays..turning their pure faces up towards the sky” David Culross Peattie

The dogwood today outside the Garden House at Leu Gardens.

These dogwood flowers are much more interesting than they first appear and I brought a couple back from the gardens, to take a closer look. The structure of the flower is fascinating . In 1933, Anna Botsford Comstok in ” A Handbook of Nature Study” felt the same,

“The artistic eye loves the little notch at the tip of the bracts even before it has read in it the story of winter protection of which it is an evidence.The flowering Dogwood forms its flower buds during the summer and of course it must have winter protection. They are wrapped in 4 close-clasping purplish brown scales, one pair inside and one pair outside, both thick and well fitted to protect the bunch of tiny flower buds at their centre. But when spring comes these buds change their duties and by rapid growth become four beautiful white pinkish bracts which we call the dogwood flowers.”

A bud with two of the protective bracts beginning to open.

A bud unfolding further, the bracts still joined at the tip.

The individual flowers have four slender curled petals. There may be as many as twenty which open one by one. The open white bracts have the characteristic notch at the tip which gives them the pretty gathered-in shape. The flowers grow at the tips of the branches with new leaves developing just below.

On a gardening note, many believe that the best time to plant tender species, such as tomatoes, is following the “Dogwood Winter”, a cold spell that often comes in late spring. Native Americans used the blossoming dogwood as a sign to begin planting crops, and the early settlers used every part of this pretty and useful tree except “the rustle of its leaves.”

I drew the flower grasped firmly in the teeth of my small clamp, which somehow seemed appropriate for a Dogwood.

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Dogwood Flower

Lizard of the Day: well, Three of Them Actually..

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I have resisted the almost irresistible urge to continue “improving” K2. I have put it out of sight and returned to thinking about the Leu exhibition. I now have 4 weeks.. Hmm. I want to do some more work on the big leaf painting and have been thinking about adding a lizard.
So today I trawled through my lizard photos. There are many, mostly blurry brown shapes on leaves but some good enough to make some prelim sketches. This is one reasonable photo and it is the lizard’s favourite spot at Leu Gardens, posing on the plant labels.

The lizards here are one of my constant joys. I love their attitude, their fearlessness and the mad communal dash they make across the pavement in front of you. What I can’t quite understand is why, when they are already safe in the grass on the road side of the pavement they rush across your path to the other side, instead of staying put…but they do. Cycling is sometimes like doing a lizard slalom course and sometimes they just stop in mid flight which is equally unnerving. By the pool they skitter around, constantly bobbing their heads up and down to check out what is occurring and challenging our presence. We have had to rescue the odd one or two from drowning.

Brown

Brown Anole, Leu Gardens

The ones I see most often, both here and at Leu, are the Brown Anoles, Anolis sagrei, who arrived in Florida in about 1880 from the Caribbean Islands and made themselves very much at home. A bit too much it seems as they have been busy displacing some of the natives. They are described as runners and jumpers and are easily identified by the dewlap of bright skin under their chins which they inflate and deflate in territorial and mating displays.
Todd Campbell’s web page The Brown Anole, from the Institute for Biological Invasions, “Invader of the Month”, tells us more.. here
“Less obvious to the casual observer is their expanded toe-pads which, like those of gecko lizards, help anoles cling to even the smoothest of surfaces, and the extent of which varies with their degree of arboreality.

Green

Also from the site is this photo and accompanying quote about the lovely elegant green Anoles, Anolis carolinensis which have become less common here. I do see them occasionally but they are far outnumbered by the brown.
I do have a photo of a green Anole but couldn’t resist number 47 here.

photo Todd Campbell
From Campbell, T. S. 2000. The brown anole, Anolis sagrei. Institute for Biological Invasions Invader of the Month.


“They are of a most glorious green, and very tame.They resort to the walls of houses in the summer season,and stand gazing on a man, without any concern or fear.”- J. Lawson, A New Voyage to Carolina (1709)”

These beautiful and endearing lizards are native to the south east USA and have the ability to change colour from this brilliant green to darker and duller shades of brown. This colour change occurs for camouflage reasons or when unwell.
“Stress in an anole can be identified by several symptoms. These symptoms include a constant shade of brown and a persistent black semi-circle behind their eyes and chronic lethargy.”
Wiki ( here)
(Oh dear.. I think there may be more lizard ancestry in me than I care to contemplate)

…and Striped.

Another really beautiful lizard I have seen (and for once took a reasonable photograph) is the Five-lined Skink, Eumeces fasciatus. That tail is the most gorgeous sky blue and indicates that this is a young lizard.


Skink, Leu Gardens

But why do they lose their tails? I see so many tail-less lizards, or lizards with little short, just regenerating tails. But then I have also seen some ferocious lizard brawls which, come the summer months, spill out onto the gentile suburban sidewalks of Winter Park regardless of passers by. It seems this has something to do with it and escaping from predators too.

Losing your tail is called “caudal autotomy”and is not something you would do lightly, not even as a lizard, as your tail is needed for balance and indicates your social status. But to escape being eaten, your tail is better than your life. There is a weak point in the tail bones which easily breaks, shedding the tail which, in a macabre way can go on twitching so diverting the predator.

To prevent catastrophic bleeding, the blood vessels constrict and the trauma stimulates the cells of the spinal cartilage to regenerate, so that a new “fake” tail is grown but only as cartilage, not bone. This new tail will never be as colourful, strong or as long as the old one, social status no doubt plummeting from young and desirable, and to seasoned warrior, but it is better than nothing.

The sketches are possibles for addition to the big leaf painting.. I have made sure they all have good long strong tails.
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Three Lizard Sketches


Pencil on Cartridge, 8 x10 “