A Fenland Bee: The Large Garden Bumble Bee, Bombus ruderatus

My beast this week is a bee I have been wanting to paint for a long time. As part of this blog, Sue and I are exploring our local region, the Fenlands and low lands of the East Midlands of England. Its fauna and flora can be quite specific and this bee is found most commonly in our sort of area.
In 2013 the University of Reading and Friends of the Earth published a list of Iconic bees of the UK.Their aim as follows:

“A project to put together a list of local ‘Iconic Bees’ - one for each region (or in some cases county) of the UK.This will be a species which has a story to tell – be it negative or positive. Once completed it will be a useful tool for local campaigners as it will give the general public a bee species to support locally and could also go a long way to raising awareness of bee diversity in the UK.

My photo of the beautiful black Bombus ruderatus in my fathers garden in 2011

For our area and luckily for me it is the beautiful Bombus ruderatus. The Large Garden Bumble Bee. This is the description from the PDF issued by the Friends of the Earth where you can read about all the bees which have been allocated to each region.

“This is Britain’s largest bumblebee with a long face and extremely long tongue. It strongly resembles the more widespread Small Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum) with a yellow band either end of its thorax, a single yellow band at the top of the abdomen (often broken or faint) and a white tail, however its hair is shorter and ‘neater’ and the yellow bands tend to be duller and more mustard in colour. Also, unlike the Small Garden Bumblebee, it has a completely black form.

B. ruderatus’ preferred habitat is flower-rich meadows of river valley systems,
fenlands and other wetlands. This is due to the presence in these areas of White
Dead-nettle, Comfrey, Marsh Woundwort and Yellow Iris on which it likes to forage.
It also has a strong liking for Clover and other leguminous plants and so is also
found on farmland that contains margins and ditches rich in these species”

It’s a difficult bee to identify unless you find the all black form which I saw a few years ago in my fathers garden. Luckily I had good enough photos to make a pretty confident ID and of course to work from, for a painting.

So  sketches and ideas first from my model which is the banded form but will show me that long face.

 

This striped version of the bee varies tremendously in its colouration and the width of the bands and it is very like B hortorum. I will be drawing the all black version, officially called Bombus rudertus v.harrisellus

 

 A4 sketchbook work and notes

 
Thinking about seeing bees in the white dead nettles near Holme Fen on Sunday. It’s the perfect habitat for this bee.

A small colour sketch:  watercolour  5 x 4 inches

Halcyon days.........

The kingfisher has a wonderful place in Greek mythology, with the story of Alcyone [Halcyon],  who married Ceyx and was very happy until, of course, tragedy overtook them.

 It's a story of love and devotion with Alcyone commiting suicide by throwing herself into the sea  after hearing of the death of her husband who drowned on a sea voyage.

 Fortunately the gods took pity on them and turned them both into kingfishers but the actual term 'halcyon days' refers to the 7 days before and the 7 days after the winter solstice when Alcyone is reputed to have laid her eggs.  It helps to have a father [Aeolus]who is god of the winds and can calm the winds and sea so you have a bit of peace and quiet whilst incubating your eggs and that's exactly what he did.

I've always wondered where the term came from, and shall now use it more appropriately as a time of peace and tranquillity when all around is blowing up a storm!

 

First stage lino cut of Kingfisher

 

I decided to place my kingfisher among the bulrushes at Easton Walled Gardens, with the lovely stone bridge in the background

 

 

Lino cut and watercolour

 

It's interesting how different papers produce such a different effect even though you're using the same inks and block, so I tried a hand print with some Japanese  Hosho paper and rather liked the softer effect.  It is much more absorbent and soaks up the watercolour like a sponge.

 

 

lino cut  and watercolour on Hosho paper

 

I've enjoyed experimenting with this image and feel that there is a lot more potential in it which I'll be working on.  In the meantime there is a lot more to think about with regard to our Great Fen project, and Val and I have some interesting ideas ........  

 

March: In like an adder’s head..out like a peacock’s tail

I wonder if this will be the case this year… this lovely old weather proverb can go both ways. Its been a day of sun and hail.
But I am enjoying my adders. I continued with a few more small trials while working on the larger piece. Small prints are useful for learning  about cutting and for colour trials but after the end of March things will have to get bigger and better!

Small adder prints.

 

Blue adder. 2 x 11 inches

Brown adder. 2 x 11 inches

 The large adder print …

The block and some of the mess the rest is scattered on the floor and around the house.

2 colours..9.5 x12 inches

3 colours… A proof print

One more to go ….

Print Progress

While I am working on the large adder print I decided to make smaller one with an offcut of the vinyl. I wanted to try some colours and see what combining it with an old  leaf lino cut which was about the same size, would look like.

A new small adder

The old leaf print and the small adder. I am planning a two colour reduction for the snake.

A combination of the two plates.. other colours and another plate to come.

Back to the adders

Its coming up to three months of Beautiful Beasts and Sue and I have given oursleves to the end of the month to try to get a few things finished as well as the ongoing sketching and developing of ideas. So it’s back to the adders and a finished lino cut.

I am working larger now and this one will be approx 11.75 x9.5 inches. It needed some more working out and so I started with a rough and a tonal value sketch

Re draw from first rough.

 
Tonal sketches for the adder lino.

.

Two colour ideas for 3 col reduction. It will probably be very different in the end, but it’s a start.

…and starting to cut the block

.

More British Museum Beasts

Working on the Beautiful Beasts blog has made me question why we want to make images of animals at all and on Saturday I had another couple of hours in the British Museum. I go to read, as much as to look and draw.

Of course, the use of animal imagery in art, design and utilitarian objects warrants a lifetime of study, each culture having its own different beliefs, magic and symbolic systems. But on Saturday I particularly wanted to look at the Egyptian mummified animals and then a quick visit to the fabulous “Beyond El Dorado Power and gold in ancient Colombia” exhibition of exquisite golden and ceramic artefacts.

The animal mummies in Egypt were prepared for various reasons; a favourite pet to accompany you, an offering to the appropriate animal god or as food in the afterlife. In the main animal mummy case are cats, small crocodiles, falcons, a baboon, bronze relic boxes for a snake and an eel, a beautiful ibis case and fish “coffins”. There is nowhere to sit, so it’s a matter of drawing on the move while dodging the crowds .. the lines are a bit wobbly!

Everyone is fascinated by the cats. One in particular has a smile. One apprehensive little girl wanted reassurance that they were really dead.The linen wrappings are very beautifully executed with contrasting coloured cloths in a geometric pattern.

In another case were two forlorn bulls which don’t attract much attention, so I could wedge myself in a corner by the case to draw.

“Bulls were sacred to several gods. The famous Apis bull at Memphis was considered the earthly manifestation of Ptah, through which he issued oracles” from the British Museum Website

 

The wisdom of the bull..

Beyond El Dorado

On to the El Dorado exhibition which was packed. It was impossible to stand and draw without getting in the way of the tide of people, so I just made a few notes

.

This is an exquisite little gold staff decoration. From the British Museum Website.

“The exhibition will explore the complex network of societies in ancient Colombia – a hidden world of distinct and vibrant cultures spanning 1600 BC to AD 1600 ….The remarkable objects displayed across the exhibition reveal glimpses of these cultures’ spiritual lives including engagement with animal spirits though the use of gold objects, music, dancing, sunlight and hallucinogenic substances that all lead to a physical and spiritual transformation enabling communication with the supernatural.”

There were some interesting snake related items. I was particularly pleased to read that snakes were revered as they seemed able to move easily between the elements of earth, water and sky (through jumping) and through the shedding of their skins were linked with concepts of renewal…..Go snakes!

 

A few notes of the lovely little ceramic figures from Lake Guatavita. A5 sketchbook.

There is so much material to work with and so many ideas to pursue. If you are ever in need of inspiration, a trip to the British Museum is the answer, but take a sketchbook not a camera. You will see much more.

Good intentions......

I had the best of intentions to finish this week's blog with a print of my kingfisher but I realised that it wasn't a good idea to rush the process as I am trying something different this time.

Using mixed media I hope to produce an image which will be interesting and different from reduction or multi block prints but as this is a new process for me I need to take my time on it.  In the meantime, I wanted to share some images I've used as research for the project, one watercolour and some pencil sketches of Kingfishers in flight - their body shapes are just amazing....

 

A wary little Kingfisher ....in watercolour

 

 

 

 

Pencil sketches of the birds in flight

 

The shapes of the wings are very beautiful and remind me of humming birds as  they hover in front or over their selected flower. I've never seen a kingfisher hovering over the water but if a suitable perch isn't present, they will hover over the water to observe their prey.

 

I was pleased to read that both parents share the incubation of eggs,  which can take up to  3 weeks and another 3 weeks plus for the baby Kingfishers to fledge so they have their work cut out for them.

 

 

Closer sketch of a hovering parent, eager to find some food for hungry babies....

 

I'll continue with the lino print and have the finished picture ready next time.....trust me!

The King of Fishers......

Continuing the watery theme, there is a bird which many people are thrilled to see probably because it is so difficult to catch sight of - the Kingfisher.

 I recently made a visit to Easton Walled Gardens in Lincolnshire, as one of a group of people who meet there once a month to record the natural beauty of the place unfolding throughout the year. I highly recommend a visit if you love something different, where you can walk around large expanses of landscaped grass and enjoy both the sensitive reclamation of the gardens  with an excellent  lunch or tea in their tea shop afterwards.  The website explains all.....www.eastonwalledgardens.co.uk/‎

 

Walking along the river that cuts through the gardens, I spotted the bulrushes[Typha latifolia] which were showing signs of wear and tear from the battering the winter winds had given them. What beautiful shapes they are and what an interesting plant, it appears they can be used for just about anything, food, building material, biofuel, making paper and clothes....the list is endless! However, what they triggered in my imagination was the picture of a kingfisher perched amongst them patiently watching the river for their next meal.   

   

 

 

Thumb nail sketches for print ideas

 

There are lots of interesting buildings and architectural shapes at Easton, including this stone bridge which I've added in the background and after working on the sketches I've come up with a larger sketch which I think I will use for the reduction lino cut.

 

 

I'm going to have to think carefully about the colours on this, but did you know that their vivid colour is iridescence, not pigment – the pigment is actually dark brown! Interference between different wavelengths of light reflected from different layers of the feathers produces blues, greens and oranges, which accounts for why their feathers  can seem blue or green depending on the angle at which they are viewed.

 

Isn't nature wonderful! How can anyone improve on that? Perhaps I'll just have to be content with portraying the Kingfisher through my perspective, and the quirky serendipity of the print making  process of course...... 

Black Fenland Adders

On Saturday Chris and I went to Holme Fen, a wonderful lowland Birch forest just south of Peterborough. It is a remnant of old fen and a rather good habitat for adders. I have written more on my blog post at Pencil and Leaf. Black Adders from the Black Fens.

Reading old accounts it seems that there were quite a few black adders in the fens, difficult to see against the black peaty soils. The workers would encounter them regularly but I was glad to read “had a healthy respect” for them.

 Adder Sketches
I am still thinking about how to develop the adder image. More sketches today. I wonder if I can redress the balance a bit and rather than portraying them as dangerous and frightening creatures have an adder-loving fen man with adders fondly clustering round, or perhaps 2 dancing adders ( the mating dance) with the peat diggers benignly in the distance.

Rough ideas  A4 sketchbook

2 thumbnail ideas for a possible print.

I am also rather interested in their eyes. They are a beautiful orange red with a slit pupil unlike the grass snake and slow worm whose eyes have round pupils.

Watercolour sketches of the eyes; adder,grass snake, slowworm ( which is really a legless lizard, hence the eyelid)

Adders and Grass Snakes have no eyelids but a transparent scale called a brille which covers the eye and is part of their skin. Just before shedding this brille turns blueish, clouding the eye.  After the old skin has peeled away, the adders eye is returned to its glowing brilliance. Amazing.

There is too much to explore about adders to leave it here and I will continue working on the images…more soon

For more adder love see artist Ben Waddam’s short film on a peat bog adder here.

Adder woodcut: a bit more development

I have returned to the adder woodcut and made another plate to add some foliage to the image. It is, as Laura said, not a difficult process but it is a process, and requires you to work in a methodical set of steps, even before you get to the cutting.

My original idea was to look at the patterns of the grass, leaves and the snake’s markings but that had to be simplified for the workshop day.

 
Workshop day design with a shaded background. 3 plates 

Now I can add another plate and try different colour combinations.
That is the joy of making separate plates and not doing a reduction. I now have 4 plates. One background, one snake, one snake pattern and one leaves.

My new woodblock plate with foliage.

  

The new block proof. Background with leaves.

Four Block Print…. an many many possibilities

The Beautiful Adder

My Beautiful Beast for this week is the adder, fascinating secretive and much maligned.

A brief description: A stocky snake which is usually around 2 ft long.

Males tend towards a grey, whitish, occasionally yellowish colour. The contrast with the black markings can make them appear almost silver. The females tend to be brownish with considerable variation of shade and occasional hints of red or yellow. The heavy dark zigzag pattern runs down the back with dark spots in rows on the flanks. At the back of the head there is a heavy “V” or “X” shaped marking and a dark band running from behind each eye.
The head shape is notably different from the other British snakes being rather broad and angular with an upturned snout.
The eyes are large and tend to be reddish in colour with a vertical pupil – again a feature unique to this species in this country.

from Add an Adder site, part of the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation trust (ARC)

As part of our Beautiful Beasts work Sue and I are working on something of Fenland theme as we live on the borders of the Cambridgeshire Fens. Adders were once quite common there but not much loved.There are some grisly stories from the Fens about the treatment of and superstitions surrounding adders. The adder rarely escapes with its life.
See my post on P&L, Adders What’s not to love? for a bit more adder info.

But I don’t think I want to go down the superstition route for my work which just perpetuates ignorant dislike of this lovely creature.  Perhaps pattern, perhaps habitat, perhaps a pleasing design, perhaps basking in the sun which is what I wish I were doing right now.

Initial sketches.

 

Watercolour Sketches looking at pattern and camouflage.

I used a very simple adder for  my first Japanese style woodcut.I am hoping to develop that a little more this week.

Water voles .........

From enormous water beasts to tiny ones.....the water vole is one of our most endearing mammals and is just about holding on here in Britain.  The Great Fen project is doing its bit to encourage them back by careful management of the river banks and ditches and you can look out  for signs of water voles such as burrows in the banks and bits of nibbled grass and vegetation at the water's edge.

Latrines of droppings which are small and cigar shaped may also be seen on a branch or  flat area.

I thought I would show the difference between the brown rat and the water vole as any people get them confused, but there are quite significant differences. The  Brown Rat is larger to start with, and the Water Vole has  chestnut-brown fur, a more  rounded nose, with small, rounded ears that do not protrude from the fur and a shorter furry tail.

Pen and ink sketch for lino cut

Of course, at one time the 'plop' of a water vole diving into the water was a familiar sound but not any more. Let's hope with proper care and control of their main predator, the mink, this wonderful little creature will be both seen and heard a lot more.

Test print to check design of print, more work on this to be done.....  

 

Small thumb nail graphite sketches to work out the design for another lino cut so hopefully the finished prints will be ready for my next post......