If you'd like to buy a drawing of a particular species from me, but you don't see it in my shop, please ask if I have it.
I have dozens of drawings in my filing cabinet, most of them are part of various large commissions
(I usually draw species separately and combine them on my computer when designing the final artwork, together with the text, if required),
so there's always a chance I might have exactly what you need :)

Spotlight on pollinators: the tiny species sustaining our food supply. Bee wall calendar.

I had been thinking about creating a wildlife calendar for a long time, and eventually decided it was time to stop planning and start drawing.

The result was a bee wall calendar featuring 12 detailed colour-pencil illustrations of bees found in Ireland, created to celebrate some of the small but remarkable insects that play such an important role in our ecosystems.

Bees are often represented by the familiar honey bee, but Ireland is home to a much greater diversity of bee species, each with its own appearance, behaviour and ecological role. I wanted the calendar to introduce some of this diversity through illustration, encouraging people to look more closely at the bees they encounter in gardens, parks, meadows and other habitats.

Each month features a different species, drawn in my detailed natural-history style. Colour pencil is particularly well suited to this subject, allowing me to build up the subtle colours and textures of the bees' bodies, delicate wings and fine hairs while retaining the accuracy and detail that are important to me as a wildlife illustrator.

The calendar was also an opportunity to combine wildlife illustration with product design. Rather than creating twelve standalone drawings, I designed them as part of a practical object that would live in people's homes throughout the year. The artwork therefore needed to work both as natural-history illustration and as a coherent visual collection.

Pollinators are a recurring subject in my work because they show how much ecological importance can be contained within very small creatures. Bees contribute to the reproduction of countless flowering plants and are essential pollinators for many crops. Their wellbeing is closely connected to the availability of suitable habitats and flowering plants throughout the year.

Creating the calendar was my way of giving these often-overlooked insects a little more visual attention. A bee that might normally be dismissed as just another small insect becomes the focus of a detailed drawing, inviting the viewer to notice its shape, markings and individual characteristics.

The calendar was produced as a limited run and sold out through my online shop, which was a lovely response to the project.

This project is part of my wider interest in Irish biodiversity, pollinator illustration and applied wildlife art, alongside my work on educational resources, biodiversity publications, information boards, packaging and other nature-focused design projects.

If you enjoy bees and wildlife illustration, you can explore more of my work featuring Irish pollinators and other species throughout my wildlife art gallery.