I hope you are enjoying a breath of fresh air where you are! With the melting of the snow and the subsequent greening of the grass, the flowers are not far behind. Spring is on the way! Hooray!
The intricate details in the floral and bee encaustic paintings by my friend Jessie Fritsch draw me in every time. I have seen all of these up close and personal and I can tell you that they are absolutely incredible. It is incredible to watch her paint, as the beeswax has to be heated to melt and then has a very short (just 5-8 seconds!) open working time. If you haven’t yet hopped over to watch the video on Jessie Fritsch and her encaustic art, please do! Watch the video HERE.
I have the good fortune of being invited to an encaustic art play date with Jessie and some friends TONIGHT! Woohoo! I am soooo excited. I have picked out a few of my own photos and with any luck, and a whole lot of focus, I will be making some beeswax art tonight. I will surely share my results {fingers crossed!} when I do my Art Bead Evolution post later in the challenge.
Jessie is not only a gifted artist, but a great champion of bees. After all, they are what make her art possible. She put together this very informative list of Bee Facts.
Beeswax Facts
- 10 flowers can yield one drop of nectar
- {one bee can hold one drop of nectar}
- 10 drops of nectar yield one drop of honey
- 10 drops of honey yield one drop of beeswax
- 1000 flowers yield one drop of beeswax
Those are some hardworking bees! I won’t take honey for granted anymore. I found some other fascinating Bee Facts.
Did you know that every honeybee has a job to do and they are born into that job? Thousands of bees (all female, by the way) are born to be nurses who take care of the brood, janitors cleaning the hive, adventurous scouts seeking florals, determined foragers gathering nectar to make the honey, and of course, the Queen Bee herself. All with a brain the size of a sesame seed. Check out this National Geographic video HERE.
Did you know that there are 4,000 species of bees native to the United States, and the domesticated honeybee that we all know and love, the one we are concerned about, is not even a native? This photographer went on a journey to track down the Rusty-Patched Bumble Bee that is in threat of extinction.
Want to know more about bees? Check out BuzzAboutBees.net