These red sunflowers and the metallic green bee (agapostemon) exemplify the beautiful colour variations in Nature. We’re so used to seeing yellow sunflowers and yellow and black bees, it feels like we’re witnessing something special when we come across less common colours.

I photographed these at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, near the tea house in the Hendrie gardens. Come to think of it, I’ve also painted lily pads in the pond a few steps away, roses that surround the pond, and tulips and magnolias from the Rock garden.

The first time I saw green bees was a few summers ago in my own garden. I had been painting all morning, stopped to make lunch, saw how beautiful the weather was & decided to eat outside. I walked over to where we were trying to start a flower bed and sat on the edge of the retaining wall, right next to the dahlias so that I could study them. All of a sudden I saw something that looked like a bee, but it was metallic green! I wondered what sort of insect it could be, so I took some photos and looked it up on the internet. Apparently Agapostemon bees are sweat bees, and they burrow in the ground.

Anyway, I’m posting this painting which I did last year because I’ve been doing some more complicated/time-consuming paintings and have been falling behind with the 30 in 30 challenge. “Always wanting more” was done for a group exhibition of 8″x8″ paintings, and it has a simple, black floater frame on it.