“Buzz” ….Are we nearly there yet?… No.

I am just looking at the calendar. I have a little over 5 weeks before I have to fly to the UK with all the pictures. I now have 30 frames waiting there for me to fill. I still have to organise the mounts (mats) but I can’t really do that until I have finished the paintings. I have to write some blurb about each one, there are prices to consider, a catalogue even a simple one, hangings, fixings, numberings, a board with bee info, leaflets, the cafe, prints, cards and of course the horror of “promotion”.

“How many more bees???” “Is there an end in sight??”  “Can we have something different?”

The trouble is that the more bees I paint, the more seem to line up asking to be painted. How can I possibly leave out the long horned bee? How can I possibly ignore the winsome girdled mining bee? How can the set be complete without the beautiful blue ceratina? 

The problem with learning about bees is that you get pulled into a completely absorbing and seemingly ever expanding family. I can’t believe that once I had doubts about finding enough interesting subjects.   I have finished and blogged 14 bees, repainted two 2, added 3 to the list. Which means there are about 9 more to go making about 24 bee portraits. My original intention was to include some of the cuckoo bees, and even a predator or two but there just won’t be time.

The other 6 frames will hopefully contain some watercolour sketches of just a few of the favourite bee flowers.  Its nice to think that they might be a bit quicker but that is not normally the case. However this week I must start them so… yes…something a bit different this week. Interspersed with the remaining bees of course.

Meanwhile some snail shell sketches…as my progress seems rather slow they seem appropriate..