Bee Facts
Bee, 2019 (unfinished)
Graphite on archival paper
I really wanted to post a finished bee drawing this month, however, obviously, it wasn’t to be. I have fallen in love with bees, insects, important things. Things that are disappearing. Small things with a big presence.
In the process of drawing this little furry creature my perception of her has changed. A change in scale, changes perception.
I have become a little obsessed with fun bee facts. And there are a lot of them. I always thought bees were cool little creatures, but I never realised just how cool. For example, bees dance to communicate. They can tell other bees in the hive all different kinds of information including complex coordinates of potential danger outside of the hive - all through dancing. Also, they don’t flap their wings like a bird they beat them. When they are collecting pollen, they beat their wings to the frequency of the note C to vibrate the flower and collect the pollen. When they are flying, they beat their wings around 230 beats per second. The fact they can even fly defies all known laws of physics and has perplexed scientists for centuries. They have a haphazard irregular beat cycle and a small arc and a relatively huge body. None of these characteristics are conducive to flight, and yet bees fly anyway. They are a law unto themselves. Little flying rebels that defy physics and dance to communicate - you can’t get much cooler than that.
