Bees, Hornet & Wasps Wall Art

Bees, Hornet & Wasps Wall Art

Bees, Hornets and Wasps Wall Art The thing that carries these images is the wing. Held still by a camera or drawn by a patient illustrator, a bee's forewing is a pane of smoked glass with a black lattice running through it, and it sits over the striped body like tracing paper. On a wall that detail does something specific: it gives the eye a soft, semi-transparent passage in the middle of an otherwise hard, high-contrast subject, so the picture reads as delicate rather than aggressive from across the room. Hornets and wasps behave differently. Their bodies are lacquered and smooth, the yellow closer to lemon than honey, and the waist is a dramatic pinch that photographs as a near-black line. Wasps hold a wall better in a room with hard surfaces — tile, glass, painted brick — because the sheen in the subject echoes the sheen in the room. Bees, with their dusty thorax fur and pollen-loaded legs, sit more comfortably in kitchens and studies with wood and paper around them. Watch the background. Insect work splits into two camps: specimen-style plates on cream or white, and macro shots against blown-out garden green. The plates behave like typography and can be hung in a grid without shouting. The macro shots each bring their own colour temperature, so two of them side by side often clash in a way you would not predict from thumbnails. Scale is worth thinking about before anything else, because these subjects are printed far larger than life. A bee the size of a dinner plate is a striking object. A bee the size of a bee is a smudge you will stop noticing within a week. Before you commit, stand at the door of the room and look at where the piece will hang. If the wall is more than about four strides away, choose the version with the strongest silhouette and the plainest background, and leave the fine-veined macro work for the hallway or the space beside a desk where somebody can get close.