Bumble Bee on a Lavender Stem Coloring Page

This is the most lifelike bee in the set. The artist built the whole body out of short hair strokes, so the head and thorax read as genuinely shaggy rather than smooth, and one large eye sits on the side of the face as a ring with a pale center. The bee clings sideways to the middle lavender spike with its legs hooked around the stem, and its banded lower body curves down and to the right behind a long leaf. Three lavender spikes rise up the sheet, each built from rows of small overlapping florets stacked like scales. Those florets are the most satisfying part to color, and they reward working one row at a time in slightly different tones. Long straight stems carry them down to the bottom edge. Because the fur is already drawn as texture, avoid flooding the body with one flat tone. Layer a light shade first and let the drawn strokes show through. Lavender purples are the obvious choice for the flowers, but a soft blue reads just as well against the warm body of the bee.