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As a child I was fascinated by bees.  Playing outdoors in the gardens and nearby fields, or wandering on tree lined walks near home was a constant when I was not in school.  One of my delights was watching bees journeying through flowers. I was fascinated by them and got it in my mind I could catch them and not be stung.  So, one day I experimented and cupped my hands round the little creature as it paused on a flower, and I felt his buzzing energy in my hands. After a while I let him go.  No sting, so that gave me confidence in my new venture and I tried it a few more times, until the inevitable happened. I got stung on the palm of my hand. There was a sudden shock to it, as I truly felt I was invincible in my quest to be the beekeeper.  I went home to Mom and she put a poultice of baking soda and water on it.

 

We humans are innately curious, experimental, compelled to manipulate the world around us.  It is empowering to us. I think it takes time to learn to respect nature. We must discover that the natural world is not just our playland, our resource to control, our tool.  If we could learn to just see the natural world around us for its awesome complexity, its beauty, then maybe we would learn to cultivate rather than destroy it. Our interdependence should always drive decisions around land use and corporate growth.  Companies often brand themselves as using sustainable methods in their natural resource use, yet I’m often skeptical. I think most of that is marketing. Only a rare few put profit and preservation in equal categories. Woe to the children of the future if we do not get this right.

 

Anyway, that is why I enjoy contributing to the awareness of nature’s wonder in a simple way, through my artwork.  If I paint something beautiful that I come upon, then I am acknowledging its value for no other reason that that it exists and should be delighted in.  If it wasn’t beautiful, if it was worn down, broken, not precious it still would be worthy of wonder and a paintbrush. The old adage “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” is true.  I like the Japanese concept of “wabi-sabi”. It reflects the natural process of life to move toward dissolution, brokenness, death. This lack of grandeur that all things eventually come to is beautiful in its own right because it shows life itself, just in another stage.  It demonstrates our connectedness to all things in the material world that change and dissolve over time. I am reminded of the spirit that is everywhere and becomes eventually unattached to the physical. There is beauty in it.

 

I hope I did not hurt the bee.  Although we cannot always follow it, learning to live as close to “do not harm” as possible can bring us to a rapport and balance with the natural world that is our home.