Designs

Welcome to the design page.

This is a designated area for my customers who have idea’s in the making!

Below are some examples of the bees I have painted and here is a list of the species:

Honey Bee
Red Tailed Bumblebee
Common Carder Bee
Early Bumblebee
White Tailed Bumblebee

Underneath the photographs of my artwork, there is a small description regarding each of the bees listed above.

If you would like a specific bee assigned to a specific colour of your choice, please let me know and I can create a mock-up design for you. This option is available on all the canvas sizes listed below.

The price chart for a specific sized canvas is as follows. All of the canvases used are known as ‘box canvases’ and have a deep edge of around 4cm:

7 x 7cm (2.7″ x 2.7″) – £18
20 x 20cm (7.9″ x 7.9″) – £45
40 x 40cm (15.7″ x 15.7″) – £90
61 x 61cm (24″ x 24″) – £160
76.2 x 76.2cm (30″ x 30″) – £220
100 x 100cm (39″ x 39″) – £300

Honey Bee – Apis mellifera

Body thick, marked with yellow and brown, the eyes are hairy. The body is covered in short hairs. Average length about 12 mm.

Habitat – Frequent visitors to flowers in various habitats, but frequent in gardens and parks.

When to see it – March to October.

Life History – Native wild honeybees are no longer believed to live in the UK. However some managed bees do escape and become feral. Honeybees are social bees that live in permanent colonies of perhaps 50,000. Feral colonies like to nest in hollow trees or similar sheltered situations. The hive structure consists of wax ‘honeycombs’; each honeycomb is made of small cells, which are used to store food or to rear the brood. Bees feed on nectar and pollen taken from flowers. Stores of honey (regurgitated nectar) and pollen (gathered on the legs in special ‘pollen baskets’) see them through the winter and enable them to stay together as a colony.

UK Status – Although fairly common and widespread in Britain, competition from introduced species, and cross breeding, plus the threat from the mite Varroa jacobsoni, have caused worrying decline of population numbers.

Red-tailed Bumblebee – Bombus lapidarius

Lengths queen 20-22 mm, workers 11-16 mm, male 14-16 mm. Bombus lapidarius is probably the most easily recognised bumblebee species, with its black body and bright orange tail. The workers have the same colouring as the queen but are much smaller. The males also have similar colouring but with more yellow hair.

Habitat – Commonly seen in gardens and hedgerows.

When to see it – May to September.

Life History – These bees prefer to nest underground and the base of a dry stone wall is a popular location but it will nest under other stones and slabs. The size of the nest can vary considerably from over 200 bees to less than 100.

UK Status – Fairly common in Britain and have expanded northwards to include Scotland.

Common Carder Bumblebee – Bombus pascuorum

The Common Carder Bumblebee is one of two common bumblebees to have a ginger thorax. The other, the Tree Bumblebee has a white ‘tail’. There are other less-common carder bees. Although the abdomen also has ginger bands but the hairless black bands tend to dominate. This species has a fairly long tongue and males can be distinguished from females by their longer antennae.

Similar Species – The Tree Bumblebee also has a ginger thorax but is easily distinguished by the white tip to the abdomen.

Habitat – Found in grassy habitats and gardens.

When to see it – June to October.

Life History – Carder Bumblebees earn this name from their habit of combing material together (carding) to create a covering for the cells containing the larvae. This species usually creates its nestsabove ground, often in grass tussocks, in old mouse runs through grass, in tangles of vegetation or just under the surface of the soil. Colonies vary in size, and can contain up to 200 workers. Only young queens survive the winter; they establish new nests in spring.

UK Status – This species is common and widespread in Britain.

Early Bumblebee – Bombus pratorum

Queen 15-17 mm, workers 10-14 mm, male 11-13 mm. The workers and the males are a little smaller than those of the Common Carder Bee. The front of the thorax is covered with yellow hairs, and it may be covered with yellow hairs entirely, especially in males. Often the first part of the abdomen is yellow as well, but the yellow hairs may be absent. The tail is strikingly orange. In older specimens the colouring may be less striking as the hairs tend to become dirty white, as in many other species. Due to its small size and colouring the Early Bumblebee is often easily identifiable.

Habitat – Meadows, gardens, parks. Forages on White Clover, Lavender, Sage, Cotoneaster, Thistles and other Daisy type flowers.

When to see it – March onwards.

Life History – Bombus pratorum nests are shorter lived than other bumblebee nests averaging just 14 weeks. They can have two or even three colonies a year. New queens, instead of hibernating, will immediately start a nest. A nest may contain any number, usually from 50 to some 120 individuals.

UK Status – This is a very common species all over Britain.

White-tailed Bumble Bee – Bombus lucorum agg

Queen 19 to 20 mm, worker 11 to 17 mm, male 14 to16 mm. The Queens have a white tip to the abdomen. The species is slightly smaller than Bombus terrestris. On comparison it can be seen that the yellow hairs of the males of B. terrestris appear more orangey whilst those of B. lucorum males are more lemon yellow particularly around the face which is noticeably lemon coloured in B. lucorum.

Habitat – Around flowers.

When to see it – Queens are amongst the first bees to emerge in spring, males do not usually emerge until about August.

Life History – The species has a short tongue for a bumblebee, so tends to forage on flowers with short corollas and daisy-type flowers; however it is sometimes resourceful enough to make a hole through the base of the corolla in other flowers to drink the nectar. They nest in the ground, often in an old mouse or vole nest.

UK Status – Widespread and fairly common in Britain, however populations are believed to be declining.

Information provided above is from the following website: ‘Nature Spot.org‘