Honey
36" x 25"/91 x 64
Oil on panel
2019
Winner of International Artist Magazine Grand Prize
Winner of ARC Purchase Prize and Honorable Mention.
The inspiration for this painting was a walk in the Mashomack Preserve on Shelter Island. There was a meadow full of enormous thistle flowers, and many of them were covered with bees frantically sucking down nectar. My husband and I got into a discussion about how oblivious the bees were to the good they do for humanity, both by pollinating and by gifting us honey. In this painting, Addie wears a crown of dead jasmine vines. Jasmine represents appreciation and good luck. She is surrounded by butterflies, which are also pollinators, and which want to share in the gift. In her crown sits a female ruby-throated hummingbird. Symbolically, the hummingbird is the healer and bringer of love and joy.