Bees on Paper

Bees on Paper, originally uploaded by pejnolan.

It was the strangest thing this morning. I took Grace on her walk and she kept stopping and digging, then I noticed that she had picked up something.

I ordered her away and it was a honey bee. I looked around and there was another and another. Possible a hundred bees in small holes in the snow next to the tree where the raccoon lives. I could find them for about half a block.

I thought that maybe the bees had died in the late fall and the raccoon was digging in the tree and dislodged them, but then I noticed that all the bees were whole and all the wings were still attached. I would have thought that if they were dug out that some would be broken. A mystery!

The small holes could be accounted for because they warmed up more in the sun than the surrounding snow and so the snow had melted around them forming the holes.

Finding bees in northern Illinois in the middle of February?!? - it must be global warming... or the bad economy... lol.

UPDATE: I was doing some research and came across this blogger's post.

If you read that person's post, he mentions a brownish liquid around the dead bees. That same liquid was found with most of my dead bees. According to him, bees will take defecation flights in winter, but it was too cold for them and they died. This also explains the burrows in the snow.

Honey Bees

Honey Bees, originally uploaded by pejnolan.

It is getting closer to how I imagined. I used sepia instead of black for the key block, white Goyu washi instead of natural Kitakata, and I darkened the yellow with a metallic copper which added a bit of shimmer. I also made another on tissue thin washi which has thicker lines in it. The washi is partially transparent. I placed some papers underneath it and it looked cool to have these blocked areas showing subtle differences in coloring. At the Norris Cultural Art Center's Vicinity show, an artist had created a collage painting on stretched canvas using only Japanese papers. I might take this semi-transparent print of mine and do a type of chine colle effect, layering colors from behind the print.

Today was so productive. I woke up; went to work; received a message from a designer from Massachusetts with a possible commison; set up another 2010 KVAL demonstrator; came home; made a good dinner of Mexican Posole, corn bread, and tres leches cake; did the dishes, went to the studio, made a sale on Etsy, posted my work, printed out mailing labels for the prints that sold (to be sent out tomorrow morning), blogged, and off to bed... all before 11:00pm!

honeybee key block proof

honeybee key block proof, originally uploaded by pejnolan.

Once again this is intended as my first multi-block piece. This is the key block. Hopefully, the finished print will have black, yellow and red. I'm planning on having the red and yellow cross hatched to form a fourth color.

Trying to get it finished, scanned and burned to a cd by a week from today for the Rockford Midwestern biennial show. I've actually carved out the red block and will begin the yellow block tonight. That is further than I've gotten before. One baby step at a time.

This is so nerve wracking! I don't know how some of you do the reduction method of printmaking - I would just be a mess! I would be so afraid that something would be messed up early in and, as you know, once it has been removed from the block it is gone forever. Let me repeat that FOR-EV-ER!

Tonight I'll be framing the "Coy Pond" prints that sold at the Bliss Bead show. I went to Michaels to get my favorite frames called Wild Wood, the only problem was they are not wood anymore - they're plastic. What the heck?!? I thought the wooden version looked so nice with the prints. They have a wide 3 inches of wood and are very plain. They remind me of Craftsman frames. So, now I'll have to locate some more. Maybe I could learn to make them myself? Ohh... I just thought of something. What if I framed my block prints in a frame that is carved similar to what the block would look like? Then it could be oiled to heighten the detailing. There's a thought. Opps! I'm rambling... I'd better get back to work.