Meet Jeanie Williams
When I was invited into this project I was honored and also humbled – how could I make a card for this deck? But somehow I was able to keep those voices out of this experience, which served me well. In my years of creating artwork, I have learned that it is about enjoying the process and not about the final product. It is an essential practice to keep my perfectionism at bay and enjoy the way a drawing or painting reveals itself as I work on it. I selected Venom and Mites, just because they felt right.
Venom
I started by researching bee venom. I am trained in science, am a life-long naturalist, and find that the way things actually work in the world are often near miracles and such teachers for us. I read and read, seemingly the same content over and over, not really finding the depth I was looking for. I could get the chemical structure of key venomous compounds and the elementary fact that bees often die after stinging, but not much in between. Eventually I was running out of time and needed to start creating.
My first task was to make a hexagon, the shape of the card. I did all sorts of math and angle work with a compass and rulers, sweating and adjusting minute details, and when I was finally done, I had an octagon! Ugh, so I tried again, this time getting a hexagon, but not quite liking how I arranged it. Eventually I had several attempts at the shape on my canvas, and planned to let the paint cover up all of those pencil lines.
Next I did some free writing about venom, and that is when I started to really understand what venom was for and what I was trying to create. I saw using venom, not as an irrational or impulsive choice, but as clear and sure knowing that this is what must be done to protect all that is held dear. It’s a shift from the panic of a threatening and chaotic situation into the single-minded and clear decision to give everything that remains in order to ensure the future. It’s an extreme and a necessary action.
I wanted to convey how venom seeps through the flesh, burning the victim, while setting the bee (and her hive) free. My starting point was the pain. I attempted to show how venom penetrates the skin and spreads into the body. At the same time, the bee would fly away free. Free of the burdens of life, but also with an ease of heart knowing she did everything she could to protect the hive.
Even though I had a clear image in my head of what it would look like, it wasn’t coming out great. It was difficult to get the paint to bleed across the canvas to portray injected venom. When artwork is looking rough I tell myself to keep going; another layer, more information, will turn it around. I emphasized what emerged from my wet on wet attempt with jagged strokes of hot pinks, reds, and white to invoke its searing pain. This was helping, but it was going to take some time. Luckily, I was infected with Covid-19, so although I had minimal energy, I had also cleared my schedule of work and social responsibilities and could spend my waking hours painting.
Mites
My other card was Mites. I took a break from the toil of the Venom painting to work on this one. I began with research here too, and this time the painting came together effortlessly.
With Mites I wanted to convey the monotony of being diligent and the overwhelming nature of mite infestations. They can show up in so many places, with just enough irregularity that you have to check everywhere. The honeycomb grid provided a repetitious background and then I sprinkled mites throughout. I also portrayed cells that once contained honeybee larvae as hollow, almost ghostly shells, to represent all that has been lost, and the unavoidable truth that mites will be ignored at perilous cost. This kind of problem will not take care of itself.
To execute, I made a stamp in the shape of a hexagon – free handing it this time, but I practiced the stamp to make sure it was symmetrical. And then I just started stamping yellow honeycombs on a canvas that I prepared with a watery black and blue field. It was very satisfying to get such a precise, yet organic image with such small effort. From there I painted in the different aspects of mite infestations. I took some artistic liberties, not representing entirely accurately how mites appear in the hive. I chose to favor the visual impact over realism, which is an unusual choice for me. The painting came together effortlessly and the end product was very satisfying, both matching my vision and having a striking appearance. When I was done, I went back to Venom to see if I could rescue it.
Eventually the image of Venom felt complete, but all of those earlier lines of hexagons and the octagon were still visible through yellow paint. So with my mindset of “add more it will get better,” I emphasized them, and let the geometry of honeycombs be present too. It makes the card a bit more abstract, but that felt right to me. It was done.
My favorite part of this whole process was the research. I enjoyed learning the details of one topic and coming to a deeper understanding of what each theme means for the bees and what lesson it might have to teach us. Most of all, I loved taking in all of the information I learned and synthesizing it into an image and a succinct message.
I tend to create accurately from life, or abstractly and intuitively from my imagination. This project pushed me to do something in between, and it was a welcome challenge. Since then, I’ve been using stamps more often and better trust my ability to make something that works.
I am delighted to be part of this project and look forward to all the ways it will do good work in the world.
You can find a lot of my artwork on Instagram @otterfern. I also offer facilitation and coaching services through Wayfinderfacilitation.com.
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