First of all, thank you so much for your good wishes and thoughts. My health issue is an ongoing one, annoying and incapacitating at times but not lifethreatening, for which I'm deeply grateful. I've reminded myself of that especially this week, as we across the gardening blogosphere have had thoughts and prayers focused on our dear blogging bud Katie, who is fighting a serious illness. We send her much love, virtual tulips and healing thoughts across the time zones, states, provinces, countries, continents. (#fightkatie!) The sun is out here in lovely Nova Scotia this morning, so I hope that when it wakes on the far West Coast, it streams in Katie's window and helps her healing.
Two of my favourite things in the world are plants, and the pollinators that help their life cycles, especially bees. A third favourite thing is botanical/nature art. I can't draw or paint. At ALL. But I have a huge appreciation for and love of good botanical themed artwork, from the time of Pierre-Joseph Redoute to the artists of today.
Through the wonderful world of the Internet, I've found some amazing garden artists who blog, and have been following a few of them faithfully over the past several years. One of my favourites, and this week's Spotlight on Saturday choice, is Valerie Littlewood of Pencil and Leaf. I don't remember exactly when I discovered her blog, or by which means--I always figure it's synchronicity when I tumble upon a new blog that really hits me in the heart--but I love her work and especially her current area of interest.
Lately, Valerie has been combining two of my favourite things in her recent work: bees and plants. It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of bees (one of my favourite twitter-peeps is @HelpSaveBees) , and it's even less of a secret to the wider world that bees of all kinds, both wild and domestic, bumble and honey, are in trouble due to a number of factors. So I figure anything that educates us more about these gentle, essential creatures and about what we can do to help save bees, is a very, very good thing. So I hope you'll buzz on over to Valerie's site, check out her paintings and sketches and her Flickr page of more of her work.
