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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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Latest bee drawings – bees on a foxglove

Working in ink with pens and brushes I've been working more on capturing the movements of bees, as well as studying their anatomy, all the while learning about using the Indian ink in various ways. The materials I'm using can be seen in the first picture below left, and are: the Gillott 404 nib and dip pen, Winsor & Newton Liquid Indian Ink, a Winsor & Newton Cotman fine brush, distilled water, a lint-free cloth to clean the nib, blotting paper, and a mixing palette for the ink wash. All the drawings shown in this…

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Bees in pen and ink: Dip pens

Working with dip pens and Gillott nib At the moment I'm enjoying the summer weather, chasing insects around the garden and getting used to a new camera. I have been really pleased to find miner bees digging in my garden for the first time this year. I don't know whether I've missed them before, or they're here for the first time. I'm concentrating on drawing the bees using dip pens fitted with a Gillot nib, and thought I'd share some of the images I've been working on. These are of all sorts of bees…

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