Osmia Illinoensis- mason bee

I selected Osmia Illinoensis to add to Rumblings when I read

Osmia Illinoensis is a mason wild bee. It is a stingless, solitary bee whose territory was from Illinois to Texas. Over 25% of the 139 native mason bee species in North America are at risk; 14 have not been recorded for decades. There are two things you can do to help restore these tiny creatures that support the world's sustainable food production. Plant native plants 🌺 and grasses 🌾 while minimizing the use of pesticides 💦. Second buy local organic food and products 🥬🍅. buy local organic food and products 🥬🍅. buy local organic food and products 🥬🍅. buy local organic food and products 🥬🍅. buy local organic food and products 🥬🍅.

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Osmia Illinoensis
30” X 44” watercolor monotype.

Day two, #2 the ghost

I struggled with my technique capturing O. Illinoensis features, those tiny white hairs were impossible, the magnificent colors of the hard exoskeleton, all the while giving her life, movement and remembering to keep the watery effect that suggests the devastating impact chemicals are having on this tiny creature.

http://explorer.natureserve.org/servlet/NatureServe?searchName=Osmia+illinoensis

Day 3 caran d’ ache monotype

The ghost

Art Activism -wahoo!

Since last November I have been dropping hints to Houston Chronicle writer Molly Glentzer to write a native bee article. Earlier this week she called to talk about native bees. Some of the information I talk about when I talk about bees is alarming. She asked if I knew a locacal native bee athaurity, I did not. She said she could find one.
Here article came out today. Sadly she did not mention my bee art activism but the native bee specialist confirmed everything I have been saying. And yes It is alarming. Knowledge is power. - plant native non hybrid plants, blue, purple, yellow and white primarily. Starting the conversation with art activism.

her awesome article is below.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/life/gardening/article/Your-Houston-garden-needs-native-bees-15287310.php

Herman Park bees

Early last winter I was at the Herman Park family garden- it is a jewel of a garden. They had everything; yummy plants, honey bees, fruits, and veggies galore. They had almost everything, I say almost- they did not give a native bee condo.It was my pleasure to gift to the Herman Park family garden an air, Bee, And Bee. It is awesomely installed right next to the berries. I also have them a bunch of reeds full of blue orchard bees. I hope their air bee and bee outs out the no vacancy sign soon. My vacant little bee condo houses lizards—no bees in my area. :(

Herman Oatks newly installed air bee and bee.

Rumblings-Augochloropsis anonyma

In the past years blogging about my art practice was something I did everyday. It is how I document ny work. Then I started focusing on bees and their role in urban environments. Idecide to post a cool fact about native bees in my daily art post. Researching what fact to post bees has been like falling through the looking glass. I like to really get into whatever it is I am getting into. As a result the summer of 2019 Curtis and I binged watched bee documentaries. Sadly these are all about honey bees. I read every article that pops up on bees. I am constantly amazed at how much is unknown about this everyday insect. It has been so overwhelming I stopped posting information about the bees. I just could not pick just one cool thing to post a day.

There is very little information available about the Augochloropsis anonyma which is very frustrating. They are a sweat bee and there is a fair amount known about the sweat bees; they are a brilliant metallic blue-green color and one of the 140 members of the Halictidae family.
The earned the nickname sweat bees because they are attracted to sweat. With this information it is good to know they are not aggressive. They will only sting if you press them into your skin. If you are studying bees or garden and don’t want them to land on you wipe off the sweat and they will leave you alone. Please don’t hurt them. They are essential wild native bees.

You have probably seen one flying around wildflowers and various crops, including stone fruits, alfalfa and sunflowers but did not know you were seeing a bee. They are known as generalist and will pollinate almost anything. These bees fly under the radar, Being extremely tiny they measure only 0.125 to 0.5 inches in length they. You have to keep your eye out to notice this keystone creature.

Besides being generalist I see them as important because Augochloropsis anonyma adults have a long window of activity, and produce more than two generations of offspring a year. They are active between April and September in the northern portion of their range and year-round in its southern range. Having this long window of activity makes this species more likely to forage from a large number of different plants.

COVID 19

The last almost three weeks have been emotionally challenging for everyone. That said I am very fortunate that no one close to us is sick and for that I am very grateful. I do have friends who have very sick people in their family. It is hard to hear their pain. I tear up just thinking about how many people this second are worried about next breath. I am trying not to think of it- it is too painful.

I am trying to keep myself busy and stitching is very therapeutic. I am free stitching bee habitats onto a stained jean jacket and getting a lot of dog walks in. We lost our oldest male labrador Goose to kidney failure last week. He is missed. The timing was bad as he brought us a lot of joy.

The jean jacket

My sweet Goose watching me work in the yard a few years back.

7 days left

7 days left to rip and wrangle rusted wire cloth, then delicately stitch the wire fragments into biospheres of frail and vulnerable abstract wild bees and organic shapes. Then coat hydro stone and cast shadows, to kinetically unveil the unintended consequences of forcing natural processes into an industrial model. Then pack, transport, unpack, install for 21 days, and open........ find more locations to install......... rinse and repeat.

Glyphosate #12 (working title) kinetic sculpture -

Editing bee parts and adding botanical elements.