Don't Bee Scared! Green Bees are beautiful native California pollinators!

I had never really noticed the bees in our garden until this spring, when suddenly, I had a lot of free time to watch the flowers and notice the bees.  I saw a program on our local PBS station about native bees and was keen to see if any of them frequented our garden and was thrilled to see green bees!  They truly are little pollinating gems... smaller than honeybees and a brilliant, irridescent green/teal.  They are burrowing bees that do not make honey, but leave stores of pollen for their young when they hatch.

I created this portrait of a green bee with hand-painted local ephemera such as Thomas Guide map pages, Spanish textbook pages, sheet music, newsprint, old homework, shopping lists and mulberry paper.  I tried several semi-sheer papers for the wings, but found that wax paper lightly coated with Golden Interference gold paint worked best.  The veins of the wings are tightly rolled strips of color napkins.  I hope this painting helps you appreciate the beauty and variety of native bees, and the green bee in particular.