Have you seen any bees yet this Spring? I have and they are amazing! My neighbor raises bees and has 5 hives in his yard. They’re buzzing around me right now as I sit on my porch writing.
Did you know that bees make their own tiny hurricanes? I read this cool little bee fact on google:
“There is a popular misconception that bees shouldn’t be able to fly. In reality, this is not true, because they can and do fly all the time. The science behind how they can fly involves the way they move their wings, and the generation of tiny hurricanes that lift them upwards.”
So I’ve been obsessed with painting bumblebees lately. In all honesty, initially I had a really rough time capturing a bee’s float and fuzziness in watercolor, so I turned to Youtube for help. For those of you aspiring artists out there, there are soooo many cool and free how-to videos by very talented and varied artists. I watched several of them on how to paint bees in watercolor and kind of used a bit of advice from each to improve my own renderings.
While it’s nice to be told “You have such talent” I truly believe that, unless you’re Leonardo Davinci , Shaquille Oneill, or Beetoven, talent is overrated. Outstanding work has more to do with enjoying an activity enough to want to spend time, be curious and learn more about it. As people, I think we really enjoy things we’re a bit good at to begin with, whether in painting, sports, music, or really any life skill, and we’re willing to work more and improve more. But Interest and hard work account for more than talent. After improving my skills a bit, I’ve gotten so much satisfaction painting bees . Unfortunately the reverse is also true: Many people who have struggles with art , music, sports, or any skill early in life, or who have teachers or other adults who dont encourage them may feel they just dont have the talent to succeed and so give up before giving it the time it takes to develop some skill.
So if you’d like to paint bees, or flowers or people, or if you long to shoot a basketball or play an instrument, I say dont give up. Seek out books, websites, videos, good teachers to help. For example, once I learned to keep the paper wet and add a lot of color to the brush my bees looked much lighter and fuzzier. Am I more talented now at painting bees? No way, but my skills have improved. And yours can too!
