Bees & Groves Utility Box in Escondido

In February 2026, I submitted an application to paint two utility boxes as part of Escondido Expressions. This is a program “designed to enhance and bring art to Escondido’s neighborhoods and commercial areas by transforming traffic signal boxes into works of art.” I saw an open call for art on the city’s website and selected the themes “Artist’s Choice” and “Bees and Groves” for my submissions. There were about four other themes to choose from, helping highlight the local economy and businesses. You can check their website for future calls for art, plus a map of all the painted boxes. Their goal is to have 39 painted by the end of June 2026

Anyways, after being evaluated by a subcommittee and shared for public input, both of my designs were approved, and two locations were assigned to me! The next steps were to sign forms and schedule a time to pick up primer, a high-vis vest, and a sign to display while I painted the boxes. But let’s get back to the designs! As always, I sketched out my ideas quickly before digitizing them in Procreate on my iPad. For “groves and bees,” I wanted to highlight how bees help the local farmers and economy by pollinating citrus and avocado groves. I started off with a green background, sketched in some fruit, added my bees with their dashed flight trails, and finally filled in the rest of the negative space with leaves.

Here’s what the initial sketch and digital mockup looked like when I submitted it:

Now, it’s time for the painting. Saturday morning, the weekend after I painted the ibis utility box, I went over to this location to start on the fruit. Actually before I started anything, I first set up this shade to protect myself from the sun! Then I went in with a lighter paint color to plan out where each bee and piece of fruit would go, adjusting as I saw how everything fit together. Once I did that to all four sides, I used a small roller to apply the background green color. Three coats of that did the trick, and then I used a brush to get into the edges! After that, I took a short break to eat lunch and then I started to block in the yellow, orange, and green colors of the other shapes. I did a couple coats of that and then called it a day!

The next morning, I realized that I needed to change the colors of the lemons to match the bees, so I did that first. The I added stripes to the bees, shadows to the avocado pits, and details onto the orange and lemon slices. Lastly I signed my name and fixed any other minor flurbs before taking a snack break. Then came time to paint all the light green leaves in the negative space! This took about three coats, but I was able to lock into my audiobook and sit in one place for a while. I’m usually bouncing around a box filling in color, so it was nice to sit down in one spot for awhile. Once all four sides were full, I added some polkadots and then my friend Angela came by (like an angel) to deliver me iced coffee while I waited for all the paint to dry.

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What do you think of these bees??