Burlap Wrapped Bee Hive Frames

A few years back Katie and I went to The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts for a Van Gogh exhibition. I had not seen any of his work since I started painting and I was surprised at the coarseness of the burlap. Thick and coarse canvas requires more paint and is more difficult to apply the first few layers of the painting. Later that week I was working in the bee hives, cleaning frames and making sure the hives were ready for the nectar flow, and realized that some of the frames needed replaced. After a few years they get weak and start to break apart with the weight of the honey. Everything about the bees is beautiful and I love wood, especially when it has the beauty of age, is covered in propolis and smells like the hive! The idea was born!! Instead of discarding the used frames I wrapped them with burlap and painted them with gesso to use as a canvas for oil paintings! They have become a customer favorite!