Whimsy by Kelly

Super fun tunnel vision class this morning! Let me know if you’re interested the recording is available

My exhibit is live at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens
In an old folk tradition, important news was shared with the bees.
Births, deaths, marriages, departures, the turning points of a family’s life.
The bees were considered part of the household and were told what mattered.
This collection began during the pandemic.
Because I had people I loved who were high risk our world remained small long after many others had begun returning to normal.
While much of the world reopened, we continued to navigate isolation,
caution, and uncertainty.
During that time, I found myself spending long hours in the gardens. I would bring my paints and sketchbooks and settle onto the lawns, filling page after page while keeping a careful distance from others. What began as a way to safely leave the house became something more.
The gardens became my solace.
My space.
My place to breathe.
As I painted the gardens, I began noticing the bees.
I watched them shelter from rain beneath leaves, cling to flowers in the wind, investigate blossoms, gather pollen, and return home at the end of the day.
The more closely I looked, the more these small encounters became companions to my own season of change.
This was also a season marked by loss.
After losing my mother, I found myself carrying the kind of news that, according to tradition, should be shared with the bees. So I did.
Not always literally, perhaps, though sometimes I shared out loud, but in the quiet way we speak to gardens, to birds, to old trees, and to the living world around us when we need somewhere to place our thoughts.

These paintings are the result of those conversations. They are observations of bees, certainly, but they are also a record of a particular moment in time. A reminder that even in seasons of uncertainty and grief, there can be beauty, wonder, resilience, and life unfolding all around us.

This was the summer I told the bees

It was a busy weekend! Thank you to everyone who joined me for ♥️🎨🖌️🖼️

So excited that I hung my exhibit today at Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens Good pictures later!!!

Artist life