Roses XX - Honeybee
91cm x 122cm
Oil on Canvas
The Roses Series
 
Roses XX - Honeybee is part of my Roses Series. Examining a Roses painting is like a meditation; each part of the body becomes passive, calm.... soothed one part at a time as the eye contemplates each surface of the painting, reeling in its softness, grasping the contours of texture, ascending and descending these textures and  senses the release of the empty expanses.  It is a naturally meditative response.
 
In Roses XX - Honeybee gold petals protrude from the surface of the painting -  they are rendered in an impasto technique.  Part of their physical definition is the play of shadow on the canvas surface. The petals are the same rich gold as the background. There are also highlights of Mandarin Red and burnt sienna. 
 
Why Honeybee?  Vanity on my part as Melissa means bee.