Leafcutter bee feeding on borage flower

"Feeding on Borage Flower”, 2012 Ink and brush on Fabriano paper, approx. 6″ x 9″ Here is a detail of another of my series of Leafcutter Bees in brush and ink. This is one of a Leafcutter feeding on borage flowers last summer. You can view all the leafcutter bee drawings in this gallery. At the moment the bees are over-wintering in the bee-house in the shed, but soon they will be moving (along with me!) to a new house and garden. Hopefully they will hatch out in the Spring…

0 Comments

Cutting a leaf circle

"Leafcutter Bee Cutting Leaf Circle from Rose Branch”, 2012 Ink and brush with some body colour, on Bristol Board, approx. 7″ x 4.5″ Here's another in my series of ink drawings based on Leafcutter Bees. This one shows a bee on a branch of rose leaves which are one of their favourite plants for harvesting nest material. Watching a bee cut a circle from a rose leaf is a truly wonderful experience. Once again I have used Winsor & Newton liquid Indian ink, which I absolutely love using. The paper is Bristol…

4 Comments

Leafcutter bee in flight

"Leafcutter Bee in Flight”, 2012Ink and brush on Fabriano paper, approx. 4.5″ x 7″ A solitary Leafcutter bee returned to lay in the bee houses this year. Due to the rain and cold weather she has completed less than one tube of cells this summer, on which the hope of leafcutters next year now rests. I will over-winter them in the tool shed to ensure cool, dry conditions, and hope for better weather at hatching time next spring. On the positive side, this bee has been feeding in the garden, and I have taken many photos of her on the poppies…

9 Comments

Leafcutter bee emerging, in brush and ink

"Leafcutter Bee Emerging", 2012Ink and brush on Fabriano paper, approx. 6"x 5" After almost a year lived in perfect darkness inside a leaf cell, a leafcutter bee emerges into the light. First its antennae, then its eyes experiencing the world for the first time. In its jaws are the dried leaves of the cell from which the bee has just broken free. One after another the bees hatch from the leafy tubes on warm, dry days, to fly into the garden. The leafcutters in my garden were very late this year. Usually…

0 Comments

A dry oak leaf in ink

Stages in the drawing of an oak leaf in ink Above: Four stages in the drawing of a dried oak leaf, using ink and a brush. Click on any of the thumbnails for a closer look. For this drawing I worked from life, using an oak leaf I had found during a walk. I lit the leaf low from the side, so that I could study its veins. I first drew out the main shape and veins in pencil, and added several layers of pale wash to give the form…

0 Comments

Rose leaves in ink

Last summer I picked and kept some of the rose leaves from the garden, and I have dried these and kept them for making drawings from. Some of them include leaves which have lots of holes which have been cut by leafcutter bees, who use the leaf circles to construct their nests. You can read more about this process and how the bees use the leaves here. Over winter I have been studying these leaves in detail, learning about their structure, and drawing them in various media. The drawings have…

0 Comments