Bee Honey B.

Bee Honey B.

Honey B. stands ready to leave, although the red shoes suggest she may be travelling by a less conventional route. Wings open, antennae forward and body held level, she has the focused posture of someone with several flowers to visit and no time for a committee. Her scale is modest. Her sense of purpose is not.Each Honey B. is cast, released, trimmed and sanded by hand before layers of colour are applied across the body. Blue, green and red ornament interrupts the natural stripes, while black-and-white details are drawn freehand around the form. The wings, eyes, antennae and shoes are completed carefully at the edges, where the character depends on a steady brush. The pattern shifts from one bee to the next, so no two Honey Bs are identical.She belongs on a desk, a hallway console, beside a plant or among books on a low shelf. Honey B. is small enough to move whenever the room changes and conspicuous enough to be noticed wherever she lands. Place her where the side profile remains visible; the wings and determined stride explain most of the story. She brings the garden indoors without requiring anyone to remember to water it.