Honeybee Mural
For years I have been taking walks around Cobtree Manor Park near Maidstone, Kent. This beautiful arboretum used to be the site of Maidstone Zoo many years ago, with the Elephant House being one of the only remaining structures.
Jason Arms, the new proprietor, is transforming the Elephant House in to an Apiary, shop and beekeeping training centre which will support the local community and it’s surrounding biodiversity.
On request, I designed a mural for the back wall of the Elephant House, which he had already cleaned & primed with an anti-mould masonry paint. I was able to apply a standard household emulsion over the top as my colour base.
My years of painting have taught me that applying an undercoat in the contrasting colour to the desired top coat, will offer depth and ease of creating shadows.
As part of his business – Arm’s Apiaries, Jay provides a humane honeybee removal service, going to homes, businesses and public spaces to access and safely relocate colonies. Fortunately, this means that Jay was able to supply his own scaffolding for me to reach the high areas.
Here you can see the first two layers of this lush, purple emulsion on the wall. I roughly marked out the honeycomb & drips and had to leave it for nearly 48 to dry due to the cold and damp conditions. This was a Crown colour called ‘Purple Passion’.
I’ll openly admit that Jay applied the second coat, while I went home for a nice warm bath! It was January and -1 degrees for the duration of the project. Not ideal!
This next part was fun: as honeycomb tessellates perfectly I created a hexagonal template out of foam board. Using this, I could paint the outlines with accuracy. You can see now that the yellow paint over the purple really pops! This was also a Crown paint, called Happy Daze.
I can highly recommend these Crown paints. They have provided excellent coverage – even in the low temperatures, and the colours are really rich.
Finally I was able to start adding detail with acrylic paints. I really wanted to create depth using colour so that the wall actually appeared to have apertures for the bees to access. By combining yellow and purple, the outcome was absolutely stunning!
I also added in my first bee. Well, his rear end anyway… I love it when a painting gets to this stage and I can start being excited about other people seeing the image that I have been carrying around in my mind!
This bee was the second to be added. Jay was very clear about honeybees being a decadent brown and orange, rather than the yellow and black of wasps. I gave it an initial undercoat of a peachy colour, before working in to it using a flat brush with burnt umber, cadmium yellow, magenta and white. His wings went on the day after his body was complete, as the translucent layer needs to be applied once the body is dry.
And here it is! Being able to bring this space alive with colour & movement has been so much fun. And moreover, contributing to Jason’s vision in providing the community with an absolutely vital educational resource, is a privilege.
The shop provides the opportunity to purchase beekeeping equipment and handmade goods from local craftspeople, as well as being the venue for Jay’s beekeeping experiences.
To discuss a mural for your home or business, please pop me a message using this contact form and I’ll get back to you ASAP. Prices will vary based on the size and complexity of the design.