unfinished bees nest
Jul. 17th, 2009 11:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
concretekiss
o, she will be so pritty. i am putting so much time into this painting, when i am finally done it will cost like ten thousand one hundred dollar bills. this one may be my favorite yet, since the atlas girl.
i notice my work has been selling at the redbubble site. the hard part is finding who the buyers are (as sales are confidential) in order to express my gratitude. if it was one of you guys, i thank you kindly!
so far i have to fix this lady's hair, adding a flower maybe (?), hands, paint random bees flying about, fix the grass, make shadows on her face and ear. suggestions welcome, as always! there are over 600 bees.
i went off reading about them, to find that only lady bees have a stinger and collect all of the honey, while the gentlemen bees exist solely for mating purposes as they should. also their penises are barbed, so they die directly after mating. sorry dudes. you shouldn't have a barbed penis.
the queen needs up to 17 males, which she mates with for a maximum of 48 hours to supply her with a lifetime of sperm, enough to lay her body weight in eggs each day for years.
once she is vanquished a new sovereign is prepared by feeding one of the larvae a mixture of pre-digested pollen combined with a chemical secreted from a nurse bee's head. the larvae then grows larger than the ordinary bee, and lives years past all others in the hive.
the serum given her, called "royal jelly" has been tested on other animals as well as humans and found to increase fertilization, reverse menopause, speed growth and even improve health and weight in premature babies. scientists have yet to synthesize it.
worker bees have two stomachs. the one that does not lead out their bottom is the honey stomach, which works like a satchel to store nectar. after collection, the forager bee takes nectar back to the house bee, who chews it for several hours, adding an enzyme that helps to evaporate the water away, making the substance sticky and sweeter, before depositing it into a honeycomb chamber. the honey we eat has been regurgitated by at least two bees for processing.
forager bees are the dancers, who shimmy and shake upon returning to their hives in order to communicate their findings to the others. the orientation and fervor of the dance determines where the nectar can be located and how delicious it is. and the taste, carried back by the forager, can be sampled with a kiss.
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no subject
Date: 2009-07-17 05:20 pm (UTC)The flower I can see being a lovely, thematically balanced addition, but I'm going to beg for no flying bees. The crisp definition of the current bees to her form so perfectly offsets her from the background that I have difficulty seeing more bees about her doing anything than distracting from that gorgeous focal point.
Can I just say I LOVE the expression on her face?
And again, how much I appreciate you sharing this with us?
You're a woman of endless talents,
no subject
Date: 2009-07-17 05:42 pm (UTC)the face just kind of happened that way. i used a photograph for reference, but i can't do portraiture, so i'm lucky with how her expression developed kind of on it's own.
and trust, my talents end! i can't do math, and run like a dying turkey my mama said.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-17 06:06 pm (UTC)love yr icon, pixie
From:Re: love yr icon, pixie
From:Re: love yr icon, pixie
From:Re: love yr icon, pixie
From:Interesting!
From:Re: Interesting!
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Date: 2009-07-17 05:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-17 05:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-17 06:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-17 06:11 pm (UTC)and how interesting!
i need to get myself to a library, hardcore.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-17 06:08 pm (UTC)You know, given that you are honouring the bees in this, you may find that Austejá, the bee goddess (Lithuanian - they have a whole museum for her there!), presents you with sick and dying bees for nurturing. This happened to me during a period of my life when I was trying to conceive, and I'd called on the bee goddess for assistance. It has also happened at other particular fertile times. So, watch the pavements for little furry fliers in need.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-17 06:14 pm (UTC)i'll be on the lookout. thank you!
no subject
Date: 2009-07-17 07:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-17 11:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-17 07:42 pm (UTC)beekeeper who feeds his daughter royal
jelly. I should maybe get my hands on
some of that stuff.
Bee girls are all aunts and sisters
in the hive. It makes working together
easier, supposedly. Their familes must
be a lot more functional than any I've
seen.
I've read that cats have barbed penii,
but luckily they don't die after their
yowling unions.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-17 11:16 pm (UTC)the royal jelly thing is very interesting indeed.
and bees are vital pollinators. without them we'd have alot less flora.
i'm all fascinated.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-17 08:08 pm (UTC)How about a honeycomb clip in her hair instead of a flower? I was thinking about color options with a flower and I got afraid for distraction from the perfect balance between sky, trees and dress. Hence, the thought.
I like the idea of a few bees coming in for landing/etc., but not too many because the lines are soooo perfect.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-17 11:19 pm (UTC)can you give me an idea of what a honeycomb clip would look like? do they already exist?
i am having trouble imagining a flower color that wouldn't be so gaudy or distracting, as well. maybe a white gardenia. i dunno.
i will definitely be careful not to add very many bees in flight. and they will be strategically placed.
(no subject)
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Date: 2009-07-17 08:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-17 11:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-17 09:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-17 11:32 pm (UTC)i'm trying to envision a clip. it will come. thank you for the .02!
a frock of bees
Date: 2009-07-17 09:31 pm (UTC)xox
Date: 2009-07-17 11:37 pm (UTC)Oooooooooooo love love love
Date: 2009-07-17 10:25 pm (UTC)I am collaborating with the artist who did my book cover; we are attempting a coffee table book. Poems and paintings. He did a drawing from my poem, "blue dog" after the line "a woman in a gown of honeybees pinning love letters to the bottom of the sea" and it looks like goddamn oatmeal. Your talents are far more superior. Your nautical work is BANANAS, too. You should show in Paris. You need to be a millionaire. I can't believe you are one person.
lohohool @ goddamn oatmeal
Date: 2009-07-18 12:15 am (UTC)and me in Paris! hahahooo now that would be a comical.
i just don't get it
From:no subject
Date: 2009-07-17 11:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-18 12:17 am (UTC)yeah, Darren totally time traveled into the future and saw my painting and then went back to the past and wrote a poem about it because he is always tryna copy me.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-18 12:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-18 01:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-18 02:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-18 04:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-18 02:33 am (UTC)I love how you've managed to mimic the shiny appearance of the wings in this painting. That must take forever to get so many little bees to look just right. : )
no subject
Date: 2009-07-18 04:30 am (UTC)the shiny appearance of the wings is silver metallic paint marker. :D
i wasn't very controlling about how each bee was positioned, but just kind of spread them out, and did things in stages; bodies, then stripes, then eyes, then wings. i played alot of music. it was kind of methodic work, like cross hatching.
(no subject)
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Date: 2009-07-18 07:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-19 12:30 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2009-07-18 03:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-20 10:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-20 02:57 pm (UTC)also I need to email you.
I will do that right NOW.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-20 10:49 pm (UTC)we should try again to hang out soon. we can compare netflix. or i'm almost always open for lunch.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-20 06:50 pm (UTC)at any rate: you are always one of my very favorites. this painting is too amazing. i'm full of squishy love and hope you're doing well, sweet pickle.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-20 10:50 pm (UTC)can hardly stand it.....
Date: 2009-07-21 12:15 am (UTC)Re: can hardly stand it.....
Date: 2009-07-21 05:18 pm (UTC)bees are pretty amazing. they are also the only insect to produce food for humans. i love to learn about animals, tho. i can get pretty nerdy about it.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-21 06:13 pm (UTC)I am def buying a small print of yr Sacred Heart painting on redbubble. I already have the frame for it an everything. I love how you seem to have this woman series going on. And then the nautical thing (which, I want prints of all those too, dang it). But I have to get the cathedral lady first, b/c she took my breath away.
Seeing this I also thought of the Roald Dahl story called "Royal Jelly" that someone else mentioned.
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Date: 2009-07-22 01:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-22 03:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-22 01:32 pm (UTC)