The Tale Of The Endangered Bee

I look at these photos and feel a bit tight inside as the anxiety rolls around a little. There is a long answer but quite simply this painting no longer exists. As part of my exploration of critically endangered Australian animals, I came across a native bee from Western Australia called Neopasiphae simplicior. It hadn’t been sighted for forty plus years and there were little to no documentation or photos of its existence. There was something about this insect that pulled at me, drove me, and I really had to paint it. However I didn’t approach the subject matter in the right way and after some mentor feedback I tried to adjust the errors but failed. Scratching it off was the only way to make it disappear, then sanding, but that failed too after I realised the board consisted of layers of wood glued together. Each sanding would reveal the dark layer underneath!
So after tidying up the board I ended up painting it over and creating a new artwork with this one never to see the light of day.

Somewhat symbolic that it disappeared along with the bee.

Still, I love the painting process and wanted to share my in progress images. This was the first time I’d painted on wood and I learnt so much in the process. I’ve created a number of works on board since, but can’t wait to continue exploring this medium further.