Artwork Description:

Title: Bombus Lucorum

This White-tailed bumblebee was painted with acrylic on board for a commission from The Bumblebee Conservation Trust, to highlight the decline of native bees across the UK. I used acrylic paint and a range of brushes to capture the textures of the bee’s hairs and fine details.

Compared to other bumblebee species, the individuals of B. lucorum have shorter tongues, and this characteristic enable them to rob nectar. The worker bee uses the horny sheath around its tongue to make a hole through the flower, reaching the nectar without entering the flower. Therefore, the worker bee does not come in contact with the pollen while getting the nectar.

Acrylic on board

Artist Bio:

I am a Derbyshire-based, artist/illustrator and art tutor.

I have a degree in textile design, and a masters from Central St Martins in Communication Design/Illustration.

My inspirations include natural history, explorers and naturalists, Hitchcock films, kitchen sink dramas, ghosts & haunted houses  and Agatha Christie and Daphne du Maurier novels.

I am currently working on a series of Shackleton illustrations which evoke the foreboding atmosphere and historic accounts of the Trans-Antarctic Expedition, as well as developing an idea for a graphic novel inspired by Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.