What's Up With the Bees?
I mentioned in my past post that I was thinking about several news articles that came out forecasting the extinction of honeybees.
Recently, a study done at Landau University in Germany showed that cell phones had a negative affect on honeybee hives. Researchers placed cell phones in and near active hives and the bees lost their desire to return to the hive. These results have also been documented in bees that live near power lines. Another theory is that the bees could also be becoming victims to a new unknown parasite. Another problem working against the bees is a reduced gene pool within the honeybee industry. These little guys have a lot stacked against them!
As a person who enjoys painting with pigmented beeswax and even the smell of the beeswax on the painting, I certainly hope these little guys survive. I'm rooting for them. But if it turns out the cellphone theory is correct, I don't know.... I don't see people giving up their cellphones to get their hands on some real honey.
Anyway, all these articles about bees got me thinking about them on all kinds of ways, like how they see, how they measure distance using optical flow (how much an image appears to move as the position of the observer moves), and I just got in the mood to paint bees.
This encaustic (thankfully, still made with 100% natural beeswax) piece is TOTALLY silly and whimsical, but that was the mood I was in today. It's titled, "What's Up With the Bees?"
Technorati tags: art , encaustic , encaustic painting , bees , honeybees
Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is the newest affliction to strike the worldwide honeybee population. To date it has been observed in 27 U.S. states, Canada, Brazil, Europe, and possibly Taiwan. CCD is the name given to a specific set of characteristics observed in honeybee colonies that have failed. These characteristics include the absence of dead bees within or around the collapsed hive, a hive that has sufficient stores of honey, developing larvae in combs, and a delayed invasion of honey raiding pests. It has been suggested that bee losses on the west coast of the United States at 60 percent and 70 percent on the east coast.
Recently, a study done at Landau University in Germany showed that cell phones had a negative affect on honeybee hives. Researchers placed cell phones in and near active hives and the bees lost their desire to return to the hive. These results have also been documented in bees that live near power lines. Another theory is that the bees could also be becoming victims to a new unknown parasite. Another problem working against the bees is a reduced gene pool within the honeybee industry. These little guys have a lot stacked against them!
As a person who enjoys painting with pigmented beeswax and even the smell of the beeswax on the painting, I certainly hope these little guys survive. I'm rooting for them. But if it turns out the cellphone theory is correct, I don't know.... I don't see people giving up their cellphones to get their hands on some real honey.
Anyway, all these articles about bees got me thinking about them on all kinds of ways, like how they see, how they measure distance using optical flow (how much an image appears to move as the position of the observer moves), and I just got in the mood to paint bees.
This encaustic (thankfully, still made with 100% natural beeswax) piece is TOTALLY silly and whimsical, but that was the mood I was in today. It's titled, "What's Up With the Bees?"
Technorati tags: art , encaustic , encaustic painting , bees , honeybees
Labels: art, bees, encaustic, encaustic painting, honeybees
posted by KatieMoe at 1:33 PM
2 Comments:
Hi Kathleen, as a fellow encaustic artist, I have also been concerned with CCD. I've finally read your comments (why did it take me 3 years?!?). It may have felt silly to you, but I think your piece, "What's Up with the Bees?" is simply lovely, and captures the feeling of watching them as they work among the flowers.
Thank you for this. I'm about to head up a group collaboration encaustic project that will incorporate some education on what we know to date on honeybee colony collapse disorder.
Have fun with your encaustic work!
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