Bee in the City is a free public art trail coming to Manchester this Summer, featuring a swarm of about 100 giant Bees, located all over the city, each one hand-painted by a different artist. The trail runs from 23rd July until 23rd September 2018. Wild in Art and Manchester City Council are bringing together Manchester’s communities and businesses in the creation of this stunning trail.

Ipswich artist and 'speed-painter' Lois Cordelia travelled to Manchester in June to paint her design Bee-You-ti-ful onto one of the giant Bees. The design is generously sponsored by local adoption agency Adoption Counts. The design celebrates the power of adoption to transform a child's life into a beautiful world full of love, creativity and imagination, as any child should have.

Clare Riley of Adoption Counts saw Lois painting part of her Bee design at the painting space in Manchester. She remarks: “It was amazing to watch Lois at work, drawing illustrative families and incorporating the words of some of our adoptive parents into the design. She really captured the essence of what we do; creating happy families, empowered throughout their adoption journey. Adoption Counts is very proud to be sponsoring, or should we say, adopting our very own Bee in the City Bee and look forward to unveiling her beautiful artwork on 4th July to celebrate our one year anniversary.”

Coco Chanel once wrote: "Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself", reminding us to simply be true to ourselves. Even the word 'beautiful' contains its own instruction: 'Bee-YOU-ti-ful'. Follow your heart, make a bee-line for the things you love - just like a bee flies to find nectar.

Following the end of the trail, the Bees will each be auctioned off to raise valuable funds for good causes.

The design features Lois's characteristic silhouettes. Below: a couple of small excerpts. N.B. the full design cannot be revealed publicly until the unveiling on 4th July. Watch this space!



Short video clip of work in progress on a tiny part of the design, using a Posca marker pen to add fine details.