“Sometimes the smallest creature on the planet can have the largest impact,” says painter Deanna Fligg. In her works, the creature she focuses most on is the bee. A photographer as well as painter, Fligg takes the clarity of nature photography and gives it a new meaning with acrylics on canvas. Bees, flowers, and plants are captured in detail, from the transparency of a bee’s wings to the bold lines of a flower’s petals. The artist favors acrylics because of the vibrant colors they provide, and those colors give her paintings a dynamic physical presence.

 

However, Fligg’s paintings are not simply realistic; her flowers and leaves can be seen as abstract patterns, their bright tones seeming to pull each shape toward us, geometrical and stylized, contrasting with the detailed subjects in the foreground. The resulting works show the artist’s connection with nature, while also being reflections of an interior world. In that world, bees remain at the center. “Being able to love and care for the subject matter in my paintings allows me to have an emotional connection to them,” she says.