Content: Dark waters cover the earth as the bee flies over the waves. Griped in the bee’s legs is the legendary hero of the San, Mantis. Soon the bee grows tired from carrying such a heavy load and he touches down on the murky waters. Finely the bee spots something; it is not land but a flower of pure white floating on the water. The bee lay Mantis in the flower and then the bee puts a seed into the flower. Then the bee dies. From the seed springs a man's arm.
Context: it would help the viewer to know that this is the story of the first San Bushman. The San live mainly in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana and Namibia. The bee is looking for land, which he does not find. . The seed opens when the first rays of the rising sun touch it and from that seed the first bushman is born. The San have great knowledge of the wild animals around them and the place in which they live. Mantis is the first God of the San. To the San water is precious and the symbol of life. The bee is the honey maker and a symbol of wisdom.
Form: I used a left to right construction of the picture so that it could be read like a story written in pictures instead of words. I started with the Bee and man in the upper left corner. It is the smallest in size to represent it being the farthest away from the viewer in space and in time. Then a bit to the right of the first bee is the second, which represents the same bee and man a little closer in the picture space and in time to the viewer. Then a long time passes represented by the larger space between the second bee and the last. Closest to the viewer in space and time is the white flower containing the man and the seed. Drifting off behind the white flower is the bee who is upside down representing death of the bee and his body and life drifting away from the viewer. The figures and bees are small in size in comparison to the waters to represent how small humans are in relation to the world.
Technique: I used a textured digital paper and created the seemingly endless waters and dark atmosphere using values of gray applied with a semi-transparent airbrush. To create the bees first I went out and observed the bees in the bushes in front of Ayres Hall. From this I began to draw the bees and humans using the digital thick and thin pencil then I created the shades of light and dark using the digital caulk to create volume. The lightest values are used on the subject so that the viewers eye is drawn there first and then to the background.
© Jeanne Tanner 2001
Art
58 | Digital Painting
Electronic Media | Department
of Art and Art History | CSU Chico