I painted this bee in 2005 while I was at Goucher College. One of my painting instructors had given me the assignment to create an art piece inspired by “fragility and strength.”
Bee. 28″ x 32″, Acrylic on Canvas, © 2005 Cedar Lee
The fragility can be seen in the insect’s paper-thin, semi-translucent wings. The strength is less obvious, but I feel it, not only in the bee’s exaggeratedly huge wings, but in the tenacity of its body, and the way it is presented: zoomed-in as the image is, the bee appears larger than life, taking up most of the canvas, becoming a mythical character.
The bee is hanging on to a blade of dried grass, as the wind moves in across the landscape. In the distance are dark purple rain clouds, a torrential downpour in progress. The impending storm adds an element of danger. But the bee is going to make it. It’s tough.
