Here is a new design that I created for a wall art challenge on ALS. I’ve been wanting to do this concept for awhile but it felt a bit overwhelming to me. Sometimes I know what i want to create but I’m not sure how it’s going to come together. So with this concept I started doing a lot of research on Botanical illustration, Victorian gardens, bees, bee keeping, lots of garden illustrations etc, etc. Then I did the illustration in a step by step process starting with the Beekeeper girl.

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.  CICERO

I created her right in Adobe illustrator which I often do without a sketch. I knew what I wanted her to look like and to have a Victorian appearance to her. Sometimes it’s best to just start creating and things get going. Don’t rush the process and let it slowly evolve.

Garden Delights ~ collection

As I started working on this Beekeeper illustration with the title “Keeper of the Bees” I thought it would make a great collection of images for art licensing. A whole theme of Botanical illustrations with bees and messages about saving the bees. Add in some florals and the whole antique Victorian feeling to it and I could go on and on! As I was working on this I kept a notebook on my desk and filled it with ideas and sayings that just kept coming to me. I’ve never been one of those artists who lacked ideas adn I’ve always been strong conceptually. My challenge has always been the ideas competing and lining up in the queue waiting to get expressed next.

And then the name for the collection came together with Garden Delights.

I can see so many elements to this collection from garden signs and wall art to floral patterns and embellishments all focused around Botanicals, gardens, bees and florals.

Save the Bees

The other reason for doing the Keeper of the Bees illustration is to draw attention to the plight of the honey bee and the problems that they have been suffering around the world. I always thought to myself how we expect these little creatures to go and pollinate acres of crops and trees laced with pesticides and expect them to be just fine. What kind of crazy thinking is that? And it has been determined by a Harvard University study that the Colony Collapse Disorder, CCD in the bee community has been linked to the use of pesticides. 

Just makes me so sad how mankind treats other creatures in this world without really any consciousness of thought or consideration of impact on them.

I really would like to get my own hives one day. I took a Beekeeping workshop a couple of years ago and I found it just fascinating. So I definitely see some beehives in my future. And hopefully some honey too!