I’ve been penning the Drawn to Quebec illustrated column for over a month now, and the majority of my articles have been nature-inspired, naturally.

I thought I’d share with you the companion blog posts I’m doing on www.drawntoquebec.com. In these posts, I do several things:

• tell more about the illustrations
• elaborate on the circumstances in which I was drawing
• share more sketches than just the ones published in the paper

Just recently I started sharing extra tips on sketching, like this week’s look at how different types of bees merit different drawing styles.

Here are a couple of excerpts:

“Bees are essential pollinators.

Their value to food production in the U.S. alone is worth over $14 billion annually. Human-related pollination aside, bees of all stripes pollinate a staggering proportion of the wild and domestic plants that fill our forests, prairies, and back yards.”

&

“Taking photos of bees can be rewarding or frustrating, and sketching would be the same if it weren’t for the fact that you can adapt your sketches as you go. 

For example, in the sketch above, I was trying to capture a head-on view of a very swift bee as it zigged about on a leek flower head. I had to get within a few inches of the flower, and keep a close eye out for bees looking my way. That necessitated a quick, scribble-like style and some notes about color dashed down on the margin of the page.”

And, as always, if you’d like to learn more about how to do this yourself, or with your students, do get in touch!