This sign is the Bee's Knees!

I finally got a chance to take pictures of some of the signs I did designs for at the John Janzen Indoor Playground! (original Bee Blog post from April, 2013)

These bees were fun but harder to draw that you might think. They had to be appealing to kids but also be close to anatomically correct. This sign shows The Busy Life of Worker Bees. My favourite bee is the one with the broom and scrub brush on DAYS 22 - 24 as well as the last bee with the big magnifying glass on DAYS 43 AND ONWARDS...

I hope the kids enjoy all the informative signs in John Janzen’s Indoor Playground. If you have little kids, come check it out!

The Busy Life of Worker Bees - Sign at Edmonton's John Janzen Nature Centre

Caricatures by Edmonton Artist Laurel Hawkswell

Celebrating Fathers Day

Yesterday's event was a lot of fun.  Celebrating Fathers Day at the John Janzen Nature Centre drawing caricatures for dads and their kids.

Just before I set up for the event I got a twitter (@hilaurel) message that someone was definitely going to come down to the event that day. So, a couple hours into drawing one lady who's turn it was, said to me, "I have to tell you, I follow you on twitter and I'm a big fan of yours." I asked her her twitter name. Yup, her's was the message I'd read. Her family was wonderful and I so enjoyed chatting with them while I drew them. I joked with her that I wish she hadn't told me she was a big fan until AFTER I finished drawing her, that she'd put extra pressure on me! I also found out that her and her husband used to do a radio show in Edmonton that I had listened to. It was strange listening to them talk when their voices were so familiar to me!

Here are some of the caricatures that made me smile, including a photo of Jamie and Dan who I just talked about ...

A Boy with his caricature

Girl holds up her caricature drawing

Fathers Day caricature

Edmonton Artist Laurel with Jamie and her caricature

Jamie and Dan show us their caricature

Caricatures by Edmonton Artist Laurel Hawkswell

Art for signs at John Janzen Nature Centre

The Indoor Play Area at The City of Edmonton's John Janzen Nature Centre has signs that include my drawings of squirrels, flowers, mushrooms and I look forward to several new signs to go up soon that will include my bee graphics! Can't wait to see them!

sign for John Jansen Nature Centre

did you know sign for John Jansen Nature Centre

Welcome sign for John Jansen Nature Centre

Edmonton Graphic Artist Laurel Hawkswell

The Busy Life of Bees - sign

I recently finished up numerous Bee illustrations for the City of
Edmonton's John Janzen Nature Centre for signage in their Indoor Play
Area. I got to know bees pretty well. My favorite illustration is
this one with some extra character of the worker, nurse, guard,
foraging bees!

It was a bit of a challenge to give the bees some character and at the
same time keeping them fairly anatomically correct.

Sign by Edmonton Graphic Artist, Laurel Hawkswell