The Creative-Native Project

Go to our new blog!

2012-02-22T13:33:00.000-08:00

http://earthchroniclesproject.blogspot.com/2012/02/premiere-at-mabee-gerrer-museum-of-art.html

All of our followers please sign into our new blog site! Fran

2012-02-06T12:53:00.000-08:00

The Creative Native Project is now being called the Earth Chronicles Project with a new blogspot. Please follow us at our new blogspot address.http://www.earthchroniclesproject.blogspot.com

Same Exciting Project, New Title, New Blog

2012-02-06T11:45:00.000-08:00

Underpainting for Oklahoma Cypress Swamp in egg tempera

by Fran Hardy copyright

Go to our new blogspot: http://www.earthchroniclesproject.blogspot.com

I have chosen this painting in progress because we are in the progress of making great strides with our project and have renamed it the Earth Chronicles Project. I am now writing on a new blog with that title so go to http://www.earthchroniclesproject.blogspot.com

Keep following us as I resume my blogging and tell you about what we have been so busy with on our project and why we are so excited. We are working on linking this blog with the new one. In the meantime any techies that have advice as we begin the transitioning process please give us info, feedback, advice. But please keep following us as we have many new and exciting things coming up with our project.

Our new website address is http://www.earthchroniclesproject.com

Nature Writing, An Inspiring Interview on "To the Best of My Knowledge"

2011-11-09T09:31:00.000-08:00

"Flash", 52" x 71", oil over egg tempera with 22kt gold leaf, 22kt moon gold, 22kt white gold on panel

by Fran Hardy copyright

I chose the painting "Flash" above for this post because it captures to me those incredibly wild moments in the tropics when nature is showing us a 'million of her faces' at once. This painting was shown at the gallery I used to show with in NYC on Madison Ave (now closed with the recession) at my solo show there. I had a collector come in and say she had come to the show because of how disturbing this piece was and that all these things could not possible be taking place at one time. Someone else said 'You have not spent time in Florida then'. I think it captures an essential wildness that despite our technology and early warning systems for storms we still are totally unable to tame. Thank goodness man still has to cope with the untamed.
http://ttbook.org/book/david-gessner-my-green-manifesto
I haven't had a moment to blog lately as I am so busy with our Creative-Native Project, grant writing etc.
I will write about what it means to try to juggle all these balls and survive as a creative individual in our society in my next blogpost, "Herding Cats and Changing Hats".
But in the meantime go to the link above and listen to a very inspiring interview with David Gessner who talks about his recent book "My Green Manifesto, Down the Charles River in Pursuit of a New Environmentalism". He talks about how connecting with nature is not always about the pristine, the simple but an interior wildness and an acceptance of the 'messiness' of life, nature and in ourselves. The most moving moment in the interview for me was when he talked about holding his father's hand as he died and feeling an intense feeling of the wild as his father passed. He didn't feel that again until he held his new-borne daughter, covered in blood and fluid after she was born via C-Section. This wildness, I think is what we are afraid to touch into and yet attracted to with an unknown and unknowing fascination. Maybe that is what I want to find through my work as an artist? Please feel free to comment on how you feel about wildness and what it means in your life, artist or otherwise.....

"In a Brilliant Light" now on you tube

2011-09-30T14:38:00.000-07:00

"Night Bloom", 28" x 20", oil over egg tempera on panel with 22kt gold leaf

by Fran Hardy copyright

I spent quite a few years doing the luminous technique of oil over egg tempera, an early renaissance technique developed by Van Eyck. The first documentary that Bob and I collaborated on was about my work with this technique and my fantasy paintings inspired by the tropical flora I saw in Florida. I talk about the technique and important experiences from my childhood in Florida with my grandparents who were both great lovers of beauty and nature. The documentary aired at museums in conjunction with a traveling show of my work as well as on PBS stations and FEC-TV, a national educational channel.

Bob has just installed it on you tube so that those of you who did not have the opportunity to see it or would like to view it again can. It is in two parts. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMx_oeGX9Gg Part One of "In a Brilliant Light"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWb_25E9g54 Part Two of "In a Brilliant Light"

Some of the venues for my traveling exhibition were:

The Vero Beach Museum of Art, Vero Beach, FL.

The Mayor's Gallery, Leu Gardens, Orlando, FL

The Foosaner Art Museum, Melbourne, FL

22nd Floor Capitol Gallery, Tallahassee, FL

The Gulf Coast Museum of Art Largo, FL

Uptown Gallery, Madison Avenue, NYC

Kingdon Alan Gallery, St. Petersburg, FL

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempera

Tempera is traditionally created by hand-grinding dry powdered pigments into a binding agent or medium, such as egg, glue, honey, water, milk (in the form of casein) and a variety of plant gums.

Tempera painting starts with placing a small amount of the pigment paste onto a palette, dish or bowl and adding about an equal volume of the binder and mixing. Some pigments require slightly more binder, some require less. Distilled water is added.

[edit]Egg tempera

The most common form of classical tempera painting is "egg tempera". For this form most often only the contents of the egg yolk is used. The white of the egg and the membrane of the yolk are discarded (the membrane of the yolk is dangled over a receptacle and punctured to drain off the liquid inside).

The paint mixture has to be constantly adjusted to maintain a balance between a "greasy" and "watery" consistency by adjusting the amount of water and yolk. As tempera dries, the artist will add more water to preserve the consistency and to balance the thickening of the yolk on contact with air. Once prepared, the paint cannot be stored. Egg tempera is water resistant, but not water proof.

Different preparations use the egg white or the whole egg for different effect. Other additives such as oil and wax emulsions can modify the medium.

http://www.cleangreengems.com/cowdisley/advanced/chapter6.htm

THE FLEMISH TECHNIQUE      The earliest oil painting method evolved from the earlier discipline of egg tempera painting, as an attempt to overcome the difficulties and limitations inherent in that medium. As this took place initially in Flanders, the method is referred to as the Flemish Technique. Essential to this method of painting are a rigid surface primed pure white, and a very precise line drawing. The Flemish painted on wood panels primed with a glue chalk ground, which caused the transparent passages to glow with warmth from beneath the surface of the paint. As this method did not easily accommodate corrections once the painting was under way, it was necessary to work out the idea for the picture with studies done on separate surfaces.
       The completed drawing was then transferred to the white panel by perforating the "cartoon", or a tracing of it, along its lines, then positioning it over the panel and slapping it with a pounce bag, or sock filled with charcoal dust. The stencil was then removed, and the drawing finished freehand. Another method for the transfer was to cover one side of a piece of tracing paper with charcoal, or with a thin layer of pigment and varnish or oil, which was then allowed to become tacky, and use it as one might use carbon paper. Once the drawing was transferred to the primed panel and completed, its lines were gone over with ink or very thin paint, either egg tempera, distemper (glue tempera), watercolor or oil, applied with a pen or small, pointed, sable brush, and allowed to dry. The drawing was then isolated, and the absorbency of the gesso sealed, by a layer of varnish. Sometimes a transparent toner was added to this layer of varnish, which was then called an imprimatura. The tone of the imprimatura set the key for the painting, making the harmonization of the colors easier, and allowing for more accurate judgment of values. A field of white primer tends to make everything applied to it appear darker than it is, until the white is completely covered, at which time the darks are sometimes seen to be too light. And when the darks are too light, generally the rest of the tones are too light as well. By toning the isolating varnish (a warm tone was most commonly used), to a tone somewhat darker than white, this problem could be avoided or minimized.
       Once the isolating varnish or imprimatura was dry, painting commenced with the application of transparent glazes for the shadows. The paints used by the early Flemish practitioners were powdered pigments ground in walnut or linseed oil. There is widespread speculation regarding whether other ingredients, such as resins, balsams, and/or various polymerized oils were added, and the issue is not yet resolved as of this writing. All opinions on this subject must be understood to be guesswork until scientific analyses have been completed on enough paintings from this era to settle the issue. It is likely, though not definitely established, that the brushing characteristics of the paints might have been altered to a long molecular configuration by the addition of boiled or sun-thickened oils, and possibly balsams such as Strasbourg Turpentine or Venice Turpentine, and/or resins. Strasbourg Turpentine, sap from the firs growing in and around what is today Alsace Lorraine and elsewhere in Europe, is similar to Venice Turpentine but clearer and faster drying. Balsams and polymerized oils add an enamel like consistency to oil paint, changing its structure to a long molecular configuration. Long paint is easier to control than short paint, especially with soft hair brushes on a smooth painting surface, as in the Flemish Technique. Brushes used by the early Flemish oil painters were primarily soft hair rounds. Some were pointed at the tip; some were rounded, and some flat. Hog-bristle brushes were also used for certain purposes, such as scrubbing the paint on in thin layers for glazing and other effects. Painting commenced with the laying in of shadows and other dark shapes with transparent paint. In this method, the painting is carried as far along as possible while the paint is wet, but is usually not finished in one sitting. Large areas of color are applied after the shadows are laid in, and worked together at the edges. These middletone colors may be either transparent, opaque, or somewhere in between, depending on the artist's preference. The highlights are added last, and are always opaque. Several subsequent overpaintings may be applied after the initial coat is dry, if desired. Some Flemish artists also employed an underpainting of egg tempera, or egg oil emulsion paint, to help establish the forms before painting over them in oils.
       The Flemish method, in summary, consists of transparent shadows and opaque highlights, over a precise line drawing, on wood panels primed pure white. The painting medium may possibly contain a resin and/or balsam, which increases clarity and gloss, or a combination of a polymerized oil with a raw oil, which takes on the most desirable characteristics of a resin when used together (i.e., sun-thickened linseed or walnut oil, plus raw linseed or walnut oil, mixed together), without the defects of natural resins. The innovations are the use of oil paint and the technique of glazing with transparent color. A glossy varnish is applied at least six months after completion. Paintings are generally limited to smaller sizes, due to the difficulties involved in constructing, priming, and transporting wooden panels of greater dimensions. It had its limitations, but was a vast improvement over egg tempera, both in ease of execution and in the beauty of the final result.
       Although it originated in Flanders, word quickly spread of the marvels of oil painting, and it was soon adopted by the German artist Albrecht Dürer, who is known to have traveled to Flanders and to Italy, and by Antonello da Messina, who studied in Flanders, according to Vasari. Giovanni Bellini then learned it from Antonello, and taught it to Giorgione and Titian. The Flemish painter Rogier van der Weyden, who was adept at painting in oils, came to Italy around 1449 and influenced a number of Italian artists, including Piero della Francesca. The use of oil as a painting medium was adopted cautiously by some, and derided by others, as anything new always seems to create controversy. Michelangelo refused to paint in oils, and reportedly ridiculed Leonardo for adopting it. Titian (Tiziano Vecellio) recognized its merits, and soon added several innovations of his own.

TreeBeard lives in the Tallgrass Prairie

2011-09-09T10:10:00.000-07:00

"TreeBeard Lives in the Tallgrass Prairie", 44" x 36", colored pencil on acrylic ground on panel

by Fran Hardy copyright

When we finished our interview with Bob Hamilton, director of the Nature Conservancy's Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, he said to make sure we saw TreeBeard on our way out. That was what he named a huge old cottonwood tree that had burned in one of the controlled burns that keep the prairie as grassland. The prairies used to burn frequently from lightening strikes and the native americans who set them ablaze to keep the land healthy for the bison and other large game. Without fire the prairies would become woods. The Tallgrass will be about seven feet tall by the fall and walking through it all one can see is grasses and sky above. It is a majestic experience. There used to be vast areas of prairie but now most of it has been used for agriculture. The Tallgrass Prairie Preserve and other prairie habitats that have been preserved gives us a taste of what a large part of the central United States used to be like.

The cottonwood that inspired TreeBeard had been burnt so that the whole center was hollowed out by fire, making him look like a walking creature. Bob Hamilton named him TreeBeard after the character from Tolkein's 'Two Towers'. He saw him in the movie. I remembered him from the books which my father read me before I was young enough to read. This was well before his books became popular and there were no illustrations, so I made my own and we inserted them in the books.

Here is a picture of Bob shooting and Daniel Lay taking production stills of the tree that inspired my painting. This gives you a glimpse of how I change the actual to the imaginary.

http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/oklahoma/placesweprotect/tallgrass-prairie-preserve.xml

For more information on the Nature Conservancy's Tallgrass Prairie Preserve see the link above.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tallgrass_prairie

The tallgrass prairie is an ecosystem native to central North America, with fire as its primary periodic disturbance. In the past, tallgrass prairiescovered a large portion of the American Midwest, just east of the Great Plains, and portions of the Canadian Prairies. They flourished in areas with rich loess soils and moderate rainfall of around 760 to 890 mm (30 to 35 in) per year. To the east were the fire-maintained eastern savannas. In the northeast, where fire was infrequent and periodic windthrow represented the main source of disturbance, beech-maple forestsdominated. In contrast, shortgrass prairie was typical in the western Great Plains, where rainfall is less frequent and soils are less fertile.

As its name suggests, the most obvious features of the tallgrass prairie are tall grasses, such as indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans), big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), which average between 1.5 and 2 m (4.9 and 6.6 ft) tall, with occasional stalks as high as 2.5 to 3 m (8.2 to 9.8 ft). Prairies also include a large percentage of forbs, such as lead plant (Amorpha spp.), prairie rosinweed (Silphium terebinthinaceum), and coneflowers.

The tallgrass prairie biome depends upon prairie fires, a form of wildfire, for its survival and renewal.^[1] Tree seedlings and intrusive alien species without fire-tolerance are eliminated by periodic fires. Such fires may either be set by humans (for example, Native Americans used fires to drive bison and improve hunting, travel, and visibility) or started naturally by lightning. Researchers' attempts to re-establish small sections of tallgrass prairie in arboretum fashion were unsuccessful until they began to use controlled burns.

Technically, prairies have less than 5-11%^{[clarification needed]} tree cover^{[citation needed]}. A grass-dominated plant community with 10-49% tree cover is a savanna.

Due to accumulation of loess and organic matter, parts of the North American tallgrass prairie had the deepest topsoil recorded. After the steel plough was invented by John Deere, this fertile soil became one of America's most important resources. Over 99% of the original tallgrass prairie is now farmland.

UNM Landarts Program

2011-09-08T15:31:00.000-07:00

Catherine Harris and I at the Fodder Project

In 2000, Bill Gilbert started the Landarts Program at University of New Mexico. The students explore human interventions on the land from prehistoric to the present. Their most recent focus is sustainability in the southwest especially relating to food production and water use. These are issues that have shaped this land historically. Drought and famine and possibly disease are thought by some to have caused New Mexico's magnificent Chaco Canyon and the very advanced society that either lived at or used that site, with its ruins of an extensive compound of buildings, to have been extinguished. It is a place of historical mystery that can be palpably felt when you visit.

http://landarts.unm.edu/

Here is a link to read more about this innovative program. Students can now receive an MFA in Art and Ecology. This quote from the site gives you a sense of the diversity of places they visit.

Each year the Land Arts program travels extensively throughout the southwestern United States and north central Mexico to live and work for over fifty days on the land. Our time is divided between investigating cultural sites such as Chaco Canyon, Roden Crater, Hoover Dam, Wendover Complex of the Center for Land Use Interpretation, Juan Mata Ortiz, Spiral Jetty and the Very Large Array and working in the variety of eco-niches provided by our campsites at places such as the Grand Canyon, Grand Gulch, Gila Wilderness, Bosque del Apache and Otero Mesa Grasslands. Our current focus is on the issues of sustainability with a particular interest in food production and water use in the southwest.

The students are presently on one of their trips across the southwest if you would like to

follow their journeys on their blog.

http://unmlandarts.blogspot.com/

Here is another blog link that follows the students adventures in Australia this past summer.

http://blakegib.blogspot.com/

That is a trip I would have loved to have been on. They have such a different perspective and itinerary than the average traveler.

The Art and Ecology students husk a variety of types of corn to make their own homemade corn bread.

We met up with a group of Landarts students, instructors Catherine Harris and Jeanette Hart-Mann at the Fodder Project Collaborative Farm last year, to shoot some footage for our grant proposal to the New Mexico Arts Council, which we will be presenting this January. We always try to feature at least one innovative educational program that emphasizes art and ecology in each of our Creative-Native Project documentaries. The students were learning about growing and creating their own food at the farm that Jeanette Hart-Mann, her husband and two children live on. Jeanette and her family are very involved with permaculture, sustainability and education and are living the experience on their farm in Anton Chico.

Jeanette in their garden

Catherine Harris in the bountiful organic garden

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture

Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that are modeled on the relationships found in naturalecologies. The word 'permaculture' was coined by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren as a contraction of permanent (sustainable) and agriculture.

Permaculture is sustainable land use design. This is based on ecological and biological principles, often using patterns that occur in nature to maximise effect while minimizing wasted energy. Permaculture aims to create stable, productive systems that provide for human needs, harmoniously integrating the land with its inhabitants. The ecological processes of plants, animals, their nutrient cycles, climatic factors and weather cycles are all part of the picture. Inhabitants’ needs are provided for using proven technologies for food, energy, shelter and infrastructure. Elements in a system are viewed in relationship to other elements, where the outputs of one element become the inputs of another. Within a Permaculture system, work is minimised, "wastes" become resources, productivity and yields increase, and environments are restored. Permaculture principles can be applied to any environment, at any scale from dense urban settlements to individual homes, from farms to entire regions.

Permaculture as a systematic method was developed by Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren and their associates during the 1970s in a series of publications.

The intent is that, by training individuals in a core set of design principles, those individuals can design their own environments and build increasingly self-sufficient human settlements: ones that reduce society's reliance on industrial systems of production and distribution that Mollison identified as fundamentally and systematically destroying Earth's ecosystems.

While originating as an agroecological design theory, permaculture has developed a large international following. This "permaculture community" continues to expand on the original ideas, integrating a range of ideas of alternative culture, through a network of publications, permaculture gardens, intentional communities, training programs, and internet forums. In this way, permaculture has become a form of architecture of nature and ecology as well as an informal institution of alternative social ideals.

Reverie on Peaches

2011-09-06T14:25:00.000-07:00

"Redhaven", watercolor by Fran Hardy copyright

Private Collection

My sister, Joan Hardy wrote this about peaches in an email to me so I decided to dedicate this blog post to her and how she has inspired me to wax eloquent about peaches.

"We've been having our delicious local fresh peaches at the Brookline farmers market. My favorite summer food when they are just picked that morning. God really outdid Herself when she created peaches, I think!"

As the days are growing shorter and summer is drawing to a close peaches are in their last glorious throes and they bring back many memories of summers past for me. When we lived on our farm in western Pennsylvania about twenty years ago I did this watercolor called "Redhaven" named after my favorite variety of peaches, grown by a neighbor, who had a wonderful hilltop orchard with spectacular views of the rolling country. He grew the best peaches I have ever tasted. I bought large quantities from him and we ate the juice dripping peaches to our heart's content. I also made peach pie and peach ice cream. What a mouth-watering culinary feast of summer's bounty. I noticed as Ron gently filled the baskets of peaches for me, how carefully he handled them. If peaches are not handled with care brown spots show up later as they are very delicate. His were always just ripe and smelled redolently of summer sun. If peaches don't have their sweet smell it is a warning that they will be mealy and tasteless. Ron's peaches were never that way. In a drought year they were so much smaller and I realized the importance of moisture in such a juicy fruit. But even then, Ron's peaches were the best I had ever tasted. One winter was exceptionally cold and many of the trees were damaged and Ron decided to cut down his peach orchard. That was so sad, but Ron had gotten married (which was not sad) and the peaches were so much work to grow, he no longer felt that he had the time. I will always remember those luscious peaches. We got some very good peaches at our local food coop and it brought back memories of those Redhavens and summers on our farm.

In the watercolor "Redhaven" , I really 'scrubbed' the heavy d'Arches watercolor paper when I was painting the peaches to give them that fuzzy peach skin effect. I love the deep shades of red, orange and yellow in a ripe redhaven peach. I have to agree with my sister, what amazing color and form that gives us a glimpse into what the experience of eating a peach can be. Who designed this marvel??????

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peach

The peach tree (Prunus persica) is a species of Prunus native to China that bears an edible juicy fruit called a peach.^[1] It is a deciduous treegrowing to 4–10 m (13–33 ft) tall, belonging to the subfamily Prunoideae of the family Rosaceae. It is classified with the almond in the subgenus Amygdalus within the genus Prunus, distinguished from the other subgenera by the corrugated seed shell.

The leaves are lanceolate, 7–16 cm (2.8–6.3 in) long, 2–3 cm (0.79–1.2 in) broad, pinnately veined. The flowers are produced in early spring before the leaves; they are solitary or paired, 2.5–3 cm diameter, pink, with five petals. The fruit has yellow or whitish flesh, a delicate aroma, and a skin that is either velvety (peaches) or smooth (nectarines) in different cultivars. The flesh is very delicate and easily bruised in some cultivars, but is fairly firm in some commercial varieties, especially when green. The single, large seed is red-brown, oval shaped, approximately 1.3–2 cm long, and is surrounded by a wood-like husk. Peaches, along with cherries, plums and apricots, are stone fruits (drupes).

The scientific name persica, along with the word "peach" itself and its cognates in many European languages, derives from an early European belief that peaches were native to Persia (now Iran). The modern botanical consensus is that they originate in China, and were introduced to Persia and the Mediterranean region along the Silk Road before Christian times.^[2] Cultivated peaches are divided into clingstones and freestones, depending on whether the flesh sticks to the stone or not; both can have either white or yellow flesh. Peaches with white flesh typically are very sweet with little acidity, while yellow-fleshed peaches typically have an acidic tang coupled with sweetness, though this also varies greatly. Both colours often have some red on their skin. Low-acid white-fleshed peaches are the most popular kinds in China, Japan, and neighbouring Asian countries, while Europeans and North Americans have historically favoured the acidic, yellow-fleshed kinds.

http://www.eatlikenoone.com/red-haven-peaches.htm

The red haven peach – the peach that all other peaches are judged against. In fact, other peach varieties are often listed by how many days before or after they are ready to pick in regards to when red havens are ready. Red havens are ready for picking around the end of July to beginning of August. This is the classic peach that you will find all over the place. It’s a heavy producer which farmers love. They also love it’s long shelf life. It’s the most popular peach planted in Michigan. It is a freestone peach, in that you should be able to remove the inner pit without taking half the peach with it.

The Red Haven was introduced in 1940. It was created by Dr. Stanley Johnston of Michigan State University. It was first grown in South Haven, Michigan. There is a park in South Haven that bears Stanley’s name. His “Haven” series of peaches had a major effect on the peachbusiness in the eastern part of the country.

Overall Feeling: Well not being my favorite peach (Flamin’ Fury is) this is still a top of the line peach. It is juicy with a good peach flavor. It’s a great peach for canning as they are easy to slice up and remove the stone. This peach also works well in cooking applications. It has the acidity that you want.

It's Just Bananas

2011-08-30T18:18:00.000-07:00

Detail of clump of bananas growing and with the flower from "Morning Mist Rising"

by Fran Hardy Copyright

An interview that Terry Gross did with Dan Koeppel on Fresh Air this morning on his book, "Bananas, The Uncertain Future of a Favorite Fruit" made me think about how enchanted I have been with banana plants, ever since I saw them growing up close and personal in Jamaica in around 1973. Not only were the large leafed plants beguiling but when I saw how the bananas formed on the stalk and the magnificent large and unusual inflorescence, I was inspired. When we moved to Punta Gorda, Florida I went to Echo Nursery in Ft. Myers and saw all the edible fruit plants they carried. Their collection of types of banana trees was extensive. I never knew there were so many luscious and beautiful varieties beyond the standard cavendish banana we get in the stores. Each of their inflorescences was different as were the sizes, colors and tastes of the different types of bananas. There are even apple bananas and ice cream bananas.

http://www.echonet.org/content/fruitInformation/623

Here is information on bananas from Echo Nursery. They are now not selling all the varieties that they grow there because of the threat of the fungal banana disease "Black Sigatoka" which is not in the United States yet but which biologists feel will be impossible to prevent from reaching here from other countries and which will wipe out the Cavendish bananas we eat here. Cavendish are the ones commercially grown for export because their skin is tough enough to allow them to be shipped.

I grew bananas in our yard in Florida and the wonderfully tasty varieties I grew were too fragile for shipping. The other thing that happens is that you get a huge clump of bananas like the picture above and even the most ardent banana lover can not eat all those bananas before they get over ripe. I made banana bread etc and finally discovered they could be frozen and used as a sweetening base for a fresh fruit sherbet when pureed with other fruits. Scrumptious....of course I gorged on fresh bananas for days when they were ripe. That is a sweet succulent taste treat unlike any store bought banana.

In the radio interview Dan Koeppel gives a glimpse into the history of how bananas came to be America's most popular fruit. The name banana republic (not the clothing store, but the South American countries) came from the fact that business men decided to make the banana America's most popular fruit by growing them cheaply in South America in order to supplant the apple which can be grown locally.

In order for them to be able to sell bananas cheaply they had to grow and ship them as cheaply as possible. They paid extremely low wages in the countries where they grew them and any country or government that complained was taken over, with American assistance, in order to support the interests of companies like American Fruit. In the interview they said there were literally 22 coups supported secretly by our government making the banana barons very rich. These were the early companies that became Chiquita and Dole.

http://www.npr.org/2011/08/30/139787380/bananas-the-uncertain-future-of-a-favorite-fruit

To hear a podcast of Terry Gross's interview or read about the fascinating history and story of bananas, that we take for granted will be on our market shelves, go to the link above or buy Dan Koeppel's book.

http://www.echonet.org/content/nursery

Echo is an educational nursery well worth a visit. Here is a brief description of their important mission from their website below:

Our goal is to improve the abilities of international community development workers assisting poor farmers by providing useful, important information and by networking their skills and knowledge with each other. We also provide hard-to-find beneficial food plants and seeds.

ECHO understands that there is a wealth of agricultural knowledge among the poor farmers we seek to assist. As such, ECHO does not "teach" people how to farm. Rather we work to make farmers more effective at growing food producing crops under harsh conditions.

To read in much more detail about them go to the link above.

"Morning Mist Rising", 80" x 36", oil over egg tempera with 22kt gold leaf on panel

by Fran Hardy copyright

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana

Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes andcolors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red.

Almost all modern edible parthenocarpic bananas come from the two wild species – Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. The scientific names of bananas are Musa acuminata, Musa balbisiana or hybrids Musa acuminata × balbisiana, depending on their genomic constitution. The old scientific names Musa sapientum and Musa paradisiaca are no longer used.

Banana is also used to describe Enset and Fe'i bananas, neither of which belong to the Musa genus. Enset bananas belong to the genusEnsete while the taxonomy of Fe'i-type cultivars is uncertain.

In popular culture and commerce, "banana" usually refers to soft, sweet "dessert" bananas. By contrast, Musa cultivars with firmer, starchier fruit are called plantains or "cooking bananas". The distinction is purely arbitrary and the terms 'plantain' and 'banana' are sometimes interchangeable depending on their usage.

They are native to tropical South and Southeast Asia, and are likely to have been first domesticated in Papua New Guinea.^[1] Today, they are cultivated throughout the tropics.^[2] They are grown in at least 107 countries,^[3] primarily for their fruit, and to a lesser extent to make fiber,banana wine and as ornamental plants.

The banana plant is the largest herbaceous flowering plant.^[4] The plants are normally tall and fairly sturdy and are often mistaken for trees, but their main or upright stem is actually a pseudostem that grows 6 to 7.6 metres (20 to 24.9 ft) tall, growing from a corm. Each pseudostem can produce a single bunch of bananas. After fruiting, the pseudostem dies, but offshoots may develop from the base of the plant. Many varieties of bananas are perennial.

Leaves are spirally arranged and may grow 2.7 metres (8.9 ft) long and 60 cm (2.0 ft) wide.^[5] They are easily torn by the wind, resulting in the familiar frond look.^[6]

Each pseudostem normally produces a single inflorescence, also known as the banana heart. (More are sometimes produced; an exceptional plant in the Philippines produced five.)^[7] The inflorescence contains many bracts (sometimes incorrectly called petals) between rows of flowers. The female flowers (which can develop into fruit) appear in rows further up the stem from the rows of male flowers. The ovary is inferior, meaning that the tiny petals and other flower parts appear at the tip of the ovary.

The banana fruits develop from the banana heart, in a large hanging cluster, made up of tiers (called hands), with up to 20 fruit to a tier. The hanging cluster is known as a bunch, comprising 3–20 tiers, or commercially as a "banana stem", and can weigh from 30–50 kilograms (66–110 lb). In common usage, bunch applies to part of a tier containing 3-10 adjacent fruits.

Individual banana fruits (commonly known as a banana or 'finger') average 125 grams (0.28 lb), of which approximately 75% is water and 25% dry matter. There is a protective outer layer (a peel or skin) with numerous long, thin strings (the phloem bundles), which run lengthwise between the skin and theedible inner portion. The inner part of the common yellow dessert variety splits easily lengthwise into three sections that correspond to the inner portions of the three carpels.

The fruit has been described as a "leathery berry".^[8] In cultivated varieties, the seeds are diminished nearly to non-existence; their remnants are tiny black specks in the interior of the fruit. Bananas grow pointing up, not hanging down.

Bananas are naturally slightly radioactive,^[9]^[10] more so than most other fruits, because of their high potassium content, and the small amounts of the isotope potassium-40 found in naturally occurring potassium.^[11] Proponents of nuclear power sometimes refer to the banana equivalent dose of radiation to support their arguments.^[12]

Drawing Up a Storm while the Hurricanes Rage, Part Two

2011-08-28T10:46:00.000-07:00

"Old Age Fragility", 26 1/2" x 36", graphite on paper by Fran Hardy copyright

This was the second drawing from my staghorn series that began after Hurricane Charley. It became a series that spoke about the cycles of aging, inspired by the staghorn ferns I saw at Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota. Our neighbor Charlie also had a beautiful staghorn fern hanging from his back porch that I watched evolve and grow. The drawing youth was based on his staghorn fern, as I thought it looked very maternal and youthful as opposed to the drawings "Old Age Fragility" and "Vulnerability" which were based on a huge old staghorn with lots of dried parts at the botanical gardens. These also became the basis for a series of very experimental paintings which I will talk about in a future blog and also a series of etchings.

"Youth", 30 3/4" x 36", graphite on paper by Fran Hardy copyright

"Vulnerability", 28 1/2" x 31 1/2", graphite on paper by Fran Hardy copyright

In between all the many challenges of the aftermath of Hurricane Charley doing these drawings in my studio provided a place of refuge and sanity.

As I said in the previous post, the fact that our house had been built with recent stricter building codes and our hurricane shutters as well as Bob's reinforcement of our garage door meant that we were quite fortunate.

This was the internal damage from a piece of flying debris smashing through the wall of our house which also blew out the plumbing under the sink.

We also had a lap pool, which I adored, as I am an avid swimmer. Doing laps was wonderful exercise for me and lots of creative ideas would bloom in my brain as I swam. The hurricane destroyed our two story pool cage, a necessity with all the mosquitos and no-see-ums in south Florida.

The electricity was out for about three weeks which was a challenge for those of us modern Florida dwellers. My father grew up there in the early days before air conditioning. No wonder southerners take siestas. Later in his childhood, room air conditioners came into being and Bob and I had central air. My father can still stand insufferable heat in the humid New Jersey summers where he lives. I find it insufferable and really love the dryness and cool nights here in New Mexico. Bob found it so unbearable for sleeping after the hurricane took out our electric that he slept in our front doorway where there was at least a slight breeze. The central air also prevents the growth of mold and those of our neighbors whose roofs were breached rapidly found their houses literally black with mold inside, which is very dangerous to breathe and can cause serious illness. We had a little mold and luckily our homeowner's insurance paid for us to bring in a raft of fans and dehumidifiers after the electricity came on three weeks later. Many people were having major issues with their insurance. You pay and pay for it and really don't know if they will come through for you like they should until disaster hits. We were lucky to be able to stay in our house as many were unlivable in our neighborhood. The Red Cross came in and delivered meals to a neighbors house until the utilities were restored and we all met there for meals which helped to restore a sense of community. There was no cell phone service with any remaining bandwidth being used by the emergency reponders and of course all the landlines were down. FEMA did pay for us to get a generator which powered a few fans after several weeks. All the generators would sell out early in the mornings until new shipments came in and gas was hard to come by. Another issue was getting competent contractors to do the repairs. People came in from other parts of the country to meet the needs of homeowners for repairs and there were many that weren't reputable besides the challenge of coordinating with the insurance to get the repairs approved and paid for. That was part of the networking at the Red Cross meals sharing contacts for repairs and stories of who not to use and how to find contractors, roofers etc. The roofers were especially expensive and hard to find. We had weeks dealing with the person who was supposed to redo our siding and finally fired him (Luckily we hadn't paid him for the whole job.) We hired the guy who had quit working for him in disgust. He finished our job and we referred him to a friend whom he skipped out on after being paid much to our surprise. This was how it was.......

Hurricane Charley was relatively narrow storm as opposed to some that are many more miles wide. One day we went up to Venice, Florida which had been unaffected and was only about 40 minutes away. We went into a Subway for lunch and people were going about their business as normal and chatting about fish licenses while we lived in a disaster zone. What a contrast. We really do all inhabit our own reality.

In my next post....from Florida to New Mexico and then a rhapsody on peaches inspired by my sister.

http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at201109.html

Wunderground is a great site for storm and weather information and we used it a lot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDNUSJ5bXjA

A youtube on Hurricane Charley similar to what we watched in disbelief on our friend's battery powered TV during the storm and some of what we saw out his windows.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Charley

Hurricane Charley was the third named storm, the second hurricane, and the second major hurricane of the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season. Charley lasted from August 9 to August 15, and at its peak intensity it attained 150 mph (240 km/h) winds, making it a strong Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. The storm made landfall in southwestern Florida at maximum strength, thus making it the strongest hurricane to hit the United States since Hurricane Andrew struck Florida twelve years before, in 1992.

After moving briskly through the Caribbean Sea, Charley crossed Cuba on Friday, August 13 as a Category 3 hurricane, causing heavy damage and four deaths. That same day, the hurricane crossed over the Dry Tortugas, just 22 hours after Tropical Storm Bonnie struck northwesternFlorida. This was the first time in history that two tropical cyclones struck the same state in a 24-hour time period^{[citation needed]}. Charley was one of two major hurricanes to hit Florida in 2004, and one of four hurricanes to directly affect the state.

At its peak intensity of 150 mph (240 km/h), Hurricane Charley struck the northern tip of Captiva Island and the southern tip of North Captiva Island, causing severe damage in both areas. Charley, the strongest hurricane to hit southwest Florida since Hurricane Donna in 1960, then continued to produce severe damage as it made landfall on the peninsula near Port Charlotte. The hurricane continued to the north by northeast along the Peace River corridor, devastating the small cities of Punta Gorda, Cleveland, Fort Ogden, Nocatee, Arcadia, Zolfo Springs, Sebring, and Wauchula. Zolfo Springs was isolated for nearly two days as masses of large trees, power pole, power lines, transformers, and debris filled the streets. Wauchula sustained gusts to 147 mph (236 km/h), buildings in the downtown areas caved in onto Main Street. Ultimately, the storm passed through the central and eastern parts of the Orlando metropolitan area, still carrying winds gusting up to 106 mph (171 km/h). Interestingly, the city of Winter Park, north of Orlando, also sustained considerable damage since its many old, large oak trees had not experienced high winds. Falling trees tore down power utilities, smashed cars, and their huge roots lifted underground water and sewer utilities.

Damage in the state totaled to over $13 billion (2004 USD). Charley, initially expected to hit further north in Tampa, caught many Floridians off-guard due to a sudden change in the storm's track as it approached the state. Throughout the United States, Charley caused 10 deaths and $15.4 billion in damage (2004 USD), making Charley the second costliest hurricane in United States history at the time (it has since dropped to 5th). Charley was a very small, very fast moving storm, otherwise damage would have been much more severe. Although mitigation and restoration was promised by FEMA to the poor communities of Hardee and DeSoto counties during town meetings, the agency did not pass the cursory planning stages, and the promised reconstruction and compensation never happened.

Drawing Up a Storm while the Hurricanes Rage, Part One

2011-08-27T15:33:00.000-07:00

"Middle Age", 30 3/4" x 36", graphite on paper

All the news about Hurricane Irene made me hearken back to the August 13, 2004 and the day the eye of Hurricane Charley went right over the community we lived in called Pirate Harbor in Punta Gorda, Florida. Pirate Harbor, what a Florida name, right????? The drawing above and the others included in this staghorn series were done after the devastation of Charley and the several hurricanes that followed it. That was an incredibly stressful experience and getting lost in these drawings helped me to cope. Bob didn't know how I could do that but I guess art has always been my internal haven.

It all started the morning of August 11th when I woke early to banging and discovered Bob outside working on preparing our house for the storm he had just heard about on the radio. Somehow he knew this was going to be a major one and we spent over two days preparing. On the night before the hurricane hit our neighbor scoffed at all Bob's preparation and Bob came into the living room, which was like a cave with the hurricane shutters up and all our porch furniture and other valuables crammed in with the normal living room accoutrements. He was depressed and embarrassed that maybe he had over -reacted and I reassured him that I was very glad he was so diligent. It turned out that his diligence saved us from having a lot more damage.

Our house at 24160 Treasure Island Blvd. (another quintisential Florida name) boarded up and ready to weather Hurricane Charley

We were debating whether to stay in our stilt house on Charlotte Harbor or go to my Uncle Bill's north of Orlando, when our friend Rick Fried called us and asked us to come stay with him in his house which was off the water in Port Charlotte about 15 minutes away. He had had the roof blown off his house in Miami, during Hurricane Andrew and had hunkered down under a mattress for hours, in the dark, terrified with the wind and noise, but unable to see anything because it went over in the middle of the night. That storm had stalled and stayed there for many hours. He said he would be very glad of our company and was prepared with batteries etc. There was a storm surge threatened, so we could be flooded in at our house, so we went to stay with Rick. The one thing he didn't have was hurricane shutters and we ended up watching a category 5 hurricane from his windows. We were all very fortunate that the winds blew the opposite direction from his sliders and big windows or they most certainly would have blown out. We were watching the television powered by a car battery when the storm which was supposed to head up to landfall around St. Pete took a swift turn over Sanibel and Captiva and the eye went right over Pirate Harbor as we watched in disbelief and horror.

This is Rick's house, where we stayed, after the hurricane ended. He ended up with one of the infamous blue FEMA tarps on his roof.

It was fascinating, unbelievable and terrifying. First the winds blew at about 145 miles an hour one direction with limbs crashing and debris flying. Then the eye went over and for a short while it was totally calm and then the winds began the lash us from the opposite direction. The storm was pretty much over by nightfall and we slept at Rick's and then headed back down to our house the next day. Only residents were allowed in as the National Guard had arrived and was preventing any looting and offering assistance. The huge highway lights were snapped in two like matchsticks and our community was devastated. Many of the older houses were destroyed and the house across the street from us had imploded. It was sad to see them searching through the rubble for anything they could salvage. The new building codes make a big difference and most of the damage to our house was from the flying debris from the house across the street hitting our house. But this was only the beginning of the travails of living in the aftermath of such a big storm. More in my next blog post......and also the story behind the staghorn series of drawings that this period in my life created.

Driving up Treasure Island Blvd.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Charley

An Ancient Volcanic Caldera and It's Virgin Ponderosa Pines

2011-08-24T00:54:00.000-07:00

"Ponderosa Pine", colored pencil on acrylic ground on panel by Fran Hardy copyright

Up in the Jemez Mountains above Los Alamos, New Mexico is a magnificent ancient volcanic caldera called Valles Caldera.

The 22 km wide Valles Caldera was formed as a result of two large volcanic eruptions. The first was 1.7 million years ago and resulted in the formation of most of the present-day Valles Caldera. Seismic investigations show that an active geothermal system lies beneath the caldera and there is still the possibility of future eruptions. In the summer the vast valley created by the eruption is lush and green and filled with a variety of grasses as well as a very special grove of Ponderosa Pine, many of which are over 300 years old called the History Grove. Ponderosa Pines generally do not live much longer than 300-400 years old. There are lava domes now tree covered in the valley.

We met Rourke McDermott, the landscape architect for the preserve, and he took us to the History Grove and told us about many of the innovative programs they are doing at the preserve. Congress is supposed to vote on whether the preserve will become a federal park under the auspices of Bandelier National Monument.

Production still of History Grove to the left and the Valles Caldera on the right

In the winter the whole preserve is open to cross country skiing on certain days. It is an incredible experience to ski there. I have been there when the wind is so strong and the snow is blowing so hard it feels like what it must be like to navigate in the arctic with one's head down and bundled against

the cold and harsh wind that rushes through the valley. Other days it is crisp and clear and stunningly pristine.

Over 1/3 of Valle Caldera burned in the Las Conchas fire this summer. From what I understand most of the valley was spared from the blaze.

We will be interviewing Rourke McDermott for our Creative-Native Project documentary on New Mexico. Catherine Harris, who teaches in the Land Art Program at University of New Mexico also comes from a landscape architecture background. I had no idea that landscape architecture was used in such a variety of ways and it is an interesting coincidence that we will be interviewing two different landscape architects for our program on New Mexico.

Rourke and I in the History Grove

Rourke is a multi-talented individual and he shows me his beautiful micaceous pit-fired pots

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valles_Caldera

Valles Caldera (or Jemez Caldera), is a 12 mi (19 km) wide volcanic caldera in the Jemez Mountains of northern New Mexico. Within its caldera, Valle Grande (local /ˈvaɪ.eɪ ˈɡrɑːndeɪ/ vy-ay grahn-day) is the largest valle (grass valley) and the only one with a paved road.

History

Use of the Valles Caldera dates back to the prehistoric times with the discovery of spear points dated to 11,000 years old.^[2] Several Native American Tribes frequented the caldera, often seasonally for hunting and for obsidian used for spear and arrow points. Obsidian from the Caldera was traded by tribes across much of the Southwest. Eventually, Spanish and later Mexican settlers as well as theNavajo and other tribes came to the caldera seasonally for grazing with periodic clashes and raids. Later as the United States acquired New Mexico as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the Caldera became the backdrop for the Indian wars with the U.S Army and the caldera began to be used for commercial purposes such as ranching and logging. During this period in 1876, the caldera became part of the Baca Ranch. The Bacas were a wealthy family given the land as compensation for the termination of a grant given to their family in Northeastern New Mexico. Since then, the land has been through a string of exchanges between private owners and business enterprises. In 2000, the Dunigan family sold the entire surface estate of 95,000 acres (380 km²) and seven-eighths of the geothermal mineral estate to the federal government.^[2]

Valles Caldera National Preserve

On July 25, 2000, the Valles Caldera Preservation Act, 16 U.S.C. Sections 698v-698v-10, created the Valles Caldera National Preserve, Santa Fe National Forest. The careful husbandry of the Baca Ranch by its private owners, including selective logging, limited grazing and hunting, and the use of prescribed fire, had preserved a mix of healthy range and timber land with significant biodiversity, including New Mexico's largest herd of elk, and served as a model for self-sustaining land development and use.^[3] Funds for the purchase came from the Land and Water Conservation Fund derived from royalties the US government receives from offshore petroleum and natural gas drilling.^[4] Under the terms of the Act, the Preserve will have to produce sustaining income; environmentalists had lobbied for the more inclusive protections of National Parkstatus instead. The preserve is located in northeastern Sandoval County and southern Rio Arriba County, just west of Los Alamos. It has a land area of 89,716 acres (140.18 sq mi, or 363.07 km²).^[5] It is administered from the offices of the Valles Caldera Trust in Jemez Springs.

Geology and science

Cerro la Jara (right) in winter.

Satellite image of Valle Caldera.

Valles Caldera is one of the smaller volcanoes in the supervolcano class. The circular topographic rim of the caldera measures 19 kilometers (12 miles) in diameter. The caldera and surrounding volcanic structures are the most thoroughly studied caldera complex in the United States. Research studies have concerned the fundamental processes of magmatism, hydrothermal systems, and ore deposition. Nearly 40 deep cores have been examined, resulting in extensive subsurface data.

The Valles Caldera is the younger of two calderas known at this location, having collapsed over and buried the Toledo Caldera, which in turn may have collapsed over yet older calderas. The associated Cerros del Rio volcanic field, which forms the eastern Pajarito Plateau and theCaja del Rio, is older than the Toledo Caldera. These two large calderas formed during eruptions 1.47 million and 1.15 million years ago.^[6] The Caldera and surrounding area continue to be shaped by ongoing volcanic activity. The El Cajete Pumice, Battleship Rock Ignimbrite, Banco Bonito Rhyolite, and the VC-1 Rhyolite were emplaced during the youngest eruption of Valles caldera, about 50,000–60,000 years ago. Seismic investigations show that a low-velocity zone lies beneath the caldera, and an active geothermal system with hot springs and fumaroles exists today.^[1]

The volcanic properties of the Valles Caldera make it a likely source for renewable and nonpolluting geothermal energy. However, some people oppose development of the geothermal energy, considering it destructive to scenic beauty and recreational and grazing use.^[7]^[8]

The lower Bandelier tuff which can be seen along canyon walls west of the Valles Caldera, including San Diego Canyon, is related to the eruption and collapse of the Toledo Caldera. The upper Bandelier tuff is believed to have been deposited during eruption and collapse of the Valles Caldera. The now eroded and exposed orange-tan, light-colored Bandelier tuff from these events creates the stunning mesas of the Pajarito Plateau.

These calderas and associated volcanic structures lie within the Jemez Volcanic Field. This volcanic field lies above the intersection of the Rio Grande Rift, which runs north-south through New Mexico, and the Jemez Lineament, which extends from southeastern Arizona northeast to western Oklahoma. The volcanic activity here is related to the tectonic movements of this intersection.

Recreation

A number of recreational and/or historical uses take place in the Valles Caldera. Many of these uses involve trails. Valles Caldera has many miles of ranch roads and livestock and game trails. These include a network of trails currently designated for horse riding.^[9]^[10]^[11] Historically, Valles Caldera was a location for equestrian endurance races. After establishment of VCNP the first race in the caldera was held in 2009. The largest grass valley, Valle Grande, is a venue for ski orienteering. Activities are open to the public, though some require reservations. Customer service and concierge services are provided by the Public Lands Interpretive Association.

Wildlife and livestock

Mule resting in Valle Jaramillo during an endurance race; trees in the background lack lower branches due to browsing.

Throughout the caldera the grass valleys appear groomed: there are few saplings and mature trees lack lower branches. This is due to heavybrowsing by elk and cattle. Although the grass appears abundant, it is a limited resource. Its growing season is short, it feeds thousands of cattle in the summer and more thousands of elk all year, and during most of the year its nutritional value is low.

A panoramic view of Valle Grande, with Redondo Peak (a resurgent dome) in the distance and the rhyolite lava dome of Cerro la Jara at right-center.

Mystical Moonlight Bloom

2011-08-21T12:07:00.000-07:00

"Night Blooming Cereus" by Fran Hardy copyright, oil over egg tempera

Private Collection

When I was young child visiting my grandparents in Pass-A-Grille, Florida, where my father grew up, the nights were scented with the sweet smells of tropical blooms in the humid salt-sprayed air. One night my grandfather woke me up around midnight to see the night-blooming cereus, which only blooms at night several times a year. The memory of the sight of those luminescent blooms and their subtle soft sweet smell stayed with me throughout my life. When Bob and I moved to Punta Gorda, Florida I was telling this story to one of our neighbors and he said "I have a night blooming cereus". So once again, one night around midnight we received a call from our neighbor and he said his night blooming cereus was blooming. We ran over in our robes to see it and it inspired the painting above. I put it under a full moon because I loved the magical effect, but it turns out the night blooming cereus is often stimulated to put out its rare blooms under a full moon.

A friend of mine bought a property on the beach on Manasota Key and I saw that her land was just covered with night blooming cereus vines, some of them twining many feet above the ground on her cabbage palms. She called me when they bloomed and the property was just covered with the blooms on the ground and way up into the air which inspired me to paint "Daphne's Night Blooming Cereus" with the blooms tangled in the underbrush of a cabbage palm high up in the sky.

"Daphne's Night Blooming Cereus", oil over egg tempera with 22kt gold leaf

by Fran Hardy copyright

Private Collection, Sarasota, Florida

This is another piece inspired by the night blooming cereus. I will never forget that magical vision of my childhood. To me plants are so miraculously varied and wondrous, I feel fortunate to have the experience of seeing them. The succulent yucca flowers of the west are another bloom that transports me beyond the mundane.

"Night Blooming", 28" x 20", oil over egg tempera with 22kt gold leaf

by Fran Hardy copyright

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightblooming_cereus

Nightblooming Cereus is the common name referring to a large number of flowering cereus cacti that bloom at night. Because of the short life of the flowers, the nightblooming cereus has a romanticized reputation and has given rise to erroneous beliefs, such as that the plants bloom only once a year, or only on nights when the moon is full^{[citation needed]} The nightblooming cereus is also referred to as Princess of the Night,Honolulu Queen (for Hylocereus undatus, commonly grown in Hawaii), Queen of the Night, or Reina de la Noche.

Description

Regardless of genus or species, night blooming cereus flowers are almost always white, often large, and frequently fragrant.^{[citation needed]} Most of the flowers open after nightfall, and by dawn, most are in the process of wilting. The plants that bear such flowers can be tall, columnar, and sometimes extremely large and tree-like, but more frequently are thin-stemmed climbers. While some night blooming cereus are grown indoors in homes or greenhouses in colder climates, most of these plants are too large or ungainly for this treatment, and are only found outdoors in tropical areas.

[edit]Cultivation and uses

Some night blooming cereus plants produce fruits which are large enough for people to consume. These include some of the members of the genus Cereus, but most commonly the fruit of the Hylocereus. The Hylocereus fruit have the advantage of lacking exterior spines, in contrast to the fruit of cacti such as the Selenicereus fruit, being brightly colored, and having a pleasant taste. Since the late 1990s, Hylocereus fruit have been commercially grown and sold in tropical locations like Australia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Hawaii.^{[citation needed]}

Around 2000, the name "Dragonfruit" was created for promotional purposes in English-speaking countries, undoubtedly influenced by the very successful renaming of "hairy gooseberries" as "Kiwifruit" earlier in the 20th century. The unusual exterior of a Hylocereus fruit, with its protruding growths, inspired the reference to dragons. Hylocereus fruits are also called pitaya. Increasing commercial cultivation, and the hybridizing of new varieties, is occurring for this fairly new crop. However, dragonfruit are usually somewhat expensive during their season (summer) and are still a specialty for most consumers.

Unbelievable Old Growth Forests in British Columbia Must be Saved

2011-08-19T11:40:00.000-07:00

These amazing pictures are from the Ancient Forest Aliance's photo gallery http://www.ancientforestalliance.org/photos.php?gID=6#2

Avatar Grove
The Avatar Grove and "Canada's Gnarliest Tree" was discovered by Ancient Forest Alliance activists in December, 2009. It is home to some of the largest and strangest shaped ancient redcedars on the Island! There are also rare large Douglas-firs found here as well. It has the potential to be the "Cathedral Grove of Port Renfrew" due to its ease of accessiblity and giant trees. However, most of the Avatar Grove is currently under threat of logging and road development, with flagging tape strung up and paint on the biggest trees! No cutting permits have been issued yet by the Ministry of Forests and Range but the BC Government continues to state that it is not interested in protecting the grove despite requests from the public and local tourism boards. Support continues to grow though and the fight is not over yet!
- Photography by TJ Watt

Go to this link to see more, sign their petition and donate to their cause if you want to support them.

I get emails from them and have been absolutely stunned at what could be lost in British Columbia. I find these ancients so inspiring. Why are we still logging virgin forests when tree farming is so viable? Sustainable tree farming means we don't have to cut the old growth forest for short term gain. Quintus Herron of Herron Lumber has demonstrated this in the Idabel, Oklahoma area of the U.S. We interview him about it in our Oklahoma Creative-Native Project documentary which will premiere in November 2011 at the Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art. I also talk about his tree farming and his love of preserving trees and native flora in previous blog posts.

I want to do fundraising to take our Creative-Native Project to British Columbia and feature the old growth forests and ancient trees which I can not wait to see and paint. I'm sure as I research British Columbia I will find a lot that is going on with art, creativity, mentoring, cultural preservation and ecological sustainability. But the preservation of these ancient trees could be the 'fodder' for many programs.

The gnarled tree above is from the Avatar Grove which the Ancient Forest Alliance had worked hard to bring attention to and save it from logging.
This is a link to pictures of unsustainable and extremely distressing photographs of old growth logging. How can this still be happening when there are viable alternatives? This is heart-breaking. When these forests are gone we will never see them again.
http://www.ancientforestalliance.org/photos.php?gID=9#8

This is a massive big leaf maple. Photo by TJ Watt

http://www.ancientforestalliance.org/news-item.php?ID=267#photo

One of the most spectacular old-growth forests on Earth is at Royal Roads University by Victoria? We often seek grandeur far away from where we live – but the ancient forests of Royal Roads are among the most magnificent in existence, one of the largest tracts left within the extremely endangered Coastal Douglas Fir ecosystem (only 1% of this ecosystem remains as old-growth). Surprisingly, while many people have visited the Hatley Castle (where X-Men was filmed) few people have actually hiked through the incredible ancient forests around the university.

Join president of the Victoria Natural History Society Darren Copley (and former Goldstream Nature Centre chief interpreter) and Royal BC Museum curator, entomologist and naturalist Claudia Copley to learn about the tremendous diversity of plants, birds, trees, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, insects, and other creatures living in this incredible ancient forest. The Ancient Forest Alliance’s Ken Wu and TJ Watt will speak about the Ancient Forest Alliance’s campaign to protect the remaining endangered forests in BC.

http://www.theprovince.com/travel/Meet+Cheewhat+Canada+largest+tree+help+alliance+keep+giants+like+safe/5114186/story.html#ixzz1SVaaILU7

Canada's largest tree, the Cheewhat Giant, measures over six metres (20 feet) in trunk diameter, 56 metres (182 feet) in height, and 450 cubic metres in timber volume (or 450 regular telephone poles worth of wood). The tree is in a remote location near Cheewhat Lake within Pacific Rim National Park Reserve north of Port Renfrew and west of Lake Cowichan.

Photograph by: Submitted, Ancient Forest Alliance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfBWLVj-Xjg&feature=youtu.be

A youtube of Canada's largest Spruce Tree.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_old_growth_forests

Too many to list here but go to this link to see where you can find old growth forests. Being in them is an awe-inspiring experience.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old-growth_forest

An old-growth forest (also termed primary forest, virgin forest, primeval forest, or in Britain, ancient woodland) is a forest that has attained great age (and associated structural features), and thereby exhibits unique ecological features.

Old-growth forests tend to have more large trees and standing dead trees, multi-layered canopies with gaps resulting from the deaths of individual trees, and coarse woody debris on the forest floor.^[2]

Forest regenerated after a severe disruption, such as wildfire, insect infestations or harvesting, is often called second-growth or regeneration until enough time passes for the effects of the disturbance to be no longer evident. Depending on the forest, this may take anywhere from a century to several millennia. Hardwood forests of the eastern United States can develop old-growth characteristics in one or two generations of trees, or 150–500 years. In British Columbia, Canada, old growth is defined as 120 or 140 years of age in the interior of the province where fire is a frequent and natural occurrence. In British Columbia’s coastal rainforests, old growth is defined as trees more than 250 years, with some trees reaching more than 1,000 years of age.^[3]

Forest types have very different development patterns, natural disturbances and appearances. A Douglas-fir stand may grow for centuries without disturbance while an old-growth ponderosa pine forest requires frequent surface fires to reduce the shade-tolerant species and regenerate the canopy species.^[4] In the boreal forest, catastrophic disturbances such as wildfire minimize opportunities for major accumulations of dead and downed woody material and other structural legacies associated with old growth conditions.^[5]

Old-growth forests are often home to rare species, threatened species, and endangered species of plants and animals, such as the northern spotted owl, marbled murrelet and fisher, making them ecologically significant. Levels of biodiversity may be higher or lower in old-growth forests compared to that in second-growth forests, depending on specific circumstances, environmental variables and geographic variables. Logging in old-growth forests is a contentious issue in many parts of the world.Excessive logging can reduce biodiversity, affecting not only the old-growth forest itself, but also indigenous species that rely upon old-growth forest habitat.

My Organic Garden Inspires Watercolors Part Two

2011-08-17T10:56:00.000-07:00

"In the Blush of Summer Sunlight", watercolors by Fran Hardy copyright

Collection of Kubicki and Draper, attorneys at law, Miami, Florida

This is fun to look back at where I came from with my work. The watercolors included in this blogpost and My Organic Garden Part One from two days ago, all were painted while we lived on our farm, over 20 years ago in western Pennsylvania. They were also the foundation for my first museum show which came about in a most auspicious way. Sometimes as an artist I try and try to make certain things happen that I think will be good for 'my career' beyond the passion I feel for creating, which is a totally separate part of my life and work. When we decided to sell the farm and move to a waterfront stilt house in Florida, we met a lot of interesting people through showing our farm, that we wished we had known before. Chris Sheedy and his wife came over to see our farm because they liked the seclusion of it, as their farm was on a busy road, comparatively speaking for the back roads of Pennsylvania. We were the only people who lived on our dirt road and we couldn't see any other dwellings from our place which was very quiet except for the marvelous sounds of nature and very dark and star-filled at night. Light pollution at night has always been a pet-peeve of mine. I digress, but in the summer the grass was full of fireflies winking on and off and the sky full of stars sparkling. I took Chris into my huge studio that Bob had built and showed him my work. Bob spent three years in his spare time, a true labor of love, building that stunning studio for me and it was very hard to leave it, as I knew that I would have other nice studios, but never one again where Bob had built it from scratch. Chris said to me "My mother has to see your work." I immediately assumed his mother was an artist because we artists hear that all the time, but in this case she was the curator at Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art in Ligonier, Pennsylvania. So that was how I came to have my first solo museum show and also my first piece in a permanent museum collection.

"Bislet Cabbage", 30" x 40", watercolor by Fran Hardy copyright

Private Collection, Tulsa, Oklahoma

This was the first of my garden paintings. I named it after the type of cabbage I was growing. I have a great love of convoluted forms in nature like cabbages, kale and staghorn ferns. I even dreamt about cabbages. Now what does that mean?????

"After the Frost", 40" x 30", watercolor by Fran Hardy copyright

Private Collection

This piece was inspired by the garden and the straw mulch after the frost had killed most of the plants and only this frost burnished cabbage remained. I love the coppery color.

I also did some cookbook covers for Dell Publishing and Harper Perennial and was selected to be in the Society of Illustrators Annual with a reception at the top of the Time Life Building in NYC and also Illustrators 29 which published a gorgeous book of the show each year.

painting in my studio on the farm

me with my 'cabbage bouquet' in the garden

looking down on the farmhouse and studio from the orchard

The studio is the part of the buildings with the natural wood siding which we never got around to doing on the rest of the house. I had said I would never live in a house with aluminum siding but that is what it was and it still had its own funky country charm.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watercolor_painting

Watercolor (US) or watercolour (UK and Commonwealth), also aquarelle from French, is a painting method. A watercolor is themedium or the resulting artwork in which the paints are made of pigments suspended in a water soluble vehicle. The traditional and most common support for watercolor paintings is paper; other supports include papyrus, bark papers, plastics, vellum or leather,fabric, wood, and canvas. Watercolors are usually transparent and it allows light to reflect from the surface of the paper. This gives a luminous effect. Watercolor can also be made opaque by adding Chinese white. In East Asia, watercolor painting with inks is referred to as brush painting or scroll painting. In Chinese, Korean, and Japanese painting it has been the dominant medium, often in monochrome black or browns. India, Ethiopia and other countries also have long traditions. Fingerpainting with watercolor paints originated in China.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brassica

Brassica ( /ˈbræsɨkə/ brás-si-ca) is a genus of plants in the mustard family (Brassicaceae). The members of the genus may be collectively known either as cabbages, or as mustards. Crops from this genus are sometimes called cole crops, which is derived from the Latin caulis, meaning stem or cabbage.^[1]

This genus is remarkable for containing more important agricultural and horticultural crops than any other genus. It also includes a number ofweeds, both wild taxa and escapees from cultivation. It includes over 30 wild species and hybrids, and numerous additional cultivars and hybrids of cultivated origin. Most are annuals or biennials, but some are small shrubs. Due to their agricultural importance, Brassica plants have been the subject of much scientific interest. Six particularly important species (Brassica carinata, B. juncea, B. oleracea, B. napus, B. nigra and B. rapa) are derived by combining the chromosomes from three earlier species, as described by the Triangle of U theory.

The genus is native in the wild in western Europe, the Mediterranean and temperate regions of Asia. In addition to the cultivated species, which are grown worldwide, many of the wild species grow as weeds, especially in North America, South America, and Australia.

Food

Almost all parts of some species or other have been developed for food, including the root (rutabaga, turnips), stems (kohlrabi), leaves (cabbage,kale), flowers (cauliflower, broccoli), and seeds (many, including mustard seed, and oil-producing rapeseed). Some forms with white or purple foliage or flowerheads are also sometimes grown for ornament.

Brassica species are sometimes used as food plants by the larvae of a number of Lepidoptera species—see List of Lepidoptera that feed on Brassica.

Medicine

Brassica vegetables are highly regarded for their nutritional value. They provide high amounts of vitamin C and soluble fiber and contain multiple nutrients with potent anticancer properties:3,3'-diindolylmethane, sulforaphane and selenium.^{[citation needed]} Boiling reduces the level of anticancer compounds, but steaming, microwaving, and stir frying do not result in significant loss.^[2] Steaming the vegetable for three to four minutes is recommended to maximize sulforaphane.^[3]

Brassica vegetables are rich in indole-3-carbinol, a chemical which boosts DNA repair in cells and appears to block the growth of cancer cells.^[4]^[5] They are also a good source ofcarotenoids, with broccoli having especially high levels.^[6] Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley have recently discovered that 3,3'-diindolylmethane in Brassicavegetables is a potent modulator of the innate immune response system with potent antiviral, antibacterial and anticancer activity;^[7] however, it also is an antiandrogen.^[8] These vegetables also contain goitrogens, which suppress thyroid function. This can induce hypothyroidism and goiter.^[9]

For Tree Lovers Like Me

2011-08-16T15:55:00.000-07:00

"Tahlequah Sycamore", 48" x 44", colored pencil on acrylic ground on panel

fixed and varnished, by Fran Hardy copyright

Okay so I'm obsessed with trees....I'll admit it. This one is part of an installation, that will be in an exhibit I am curating at the Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art, that features my installations inspired by the natural world in Oklahoma and the work of the other creative individuals we interview in our documentary.

http://www.creativenativeproject.com Go to this link to see clips of shows and previews of upcoming programs. Not everything is on there but it will give you a taste. One of the things that attracts me to sycamore trees is the colorful exfoliating bark and its unique and constantly changing texture. I'm sure I will be painting more sycamores in the future. Presently I am working on a huge burnt-out cottonwood that we saw at the Nature Conservancy's Tallgrass Prairie Preserve. Bob Hamilton, Director of the preserve, called it Tree Beard, after the tree in Tolkein's book 'The Two Towers'. He saw the movie depiction of it and named this tree after one of the tree spirits. This huge tree was burnt in a controlled burn at the preserve which is essential to keeping the prairies as healthy grassland. So stay tuned and I will show you my 'Tree Beard' when he is done.

I am on the list serve of a site called "Tree World" which originates in Australia and has a lot of arborists from New Zealand and Australia that contribute and then there are the tree huggers like me. Here is a youtube link that I saw there of two huge Eucalyptus trees from New Zealand of the variety called Blackbutt. As someone who loves bark texture and gnarled form I could appreciate his scanning up and down the detail of the trees. These would be a real challenge to depict as there is so much interesting form and texture the whole length of these very tall trees. They are named the Bird Tree and the Big Fella Tree. Make sure you see the part where a man walks in front of them or you won't see the huge girth although apparently there are trees in New Zealand with a much broader girth than these two. Let's GO.......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvpJPTc-NCo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus

Eucalyptus ( /ˌjuːkəˈlɪptəs/)^[2] is a diverse genus of flowering trees (and a few shrubs) in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Members of the genus dominate the tree flora of Australia. There are more than 700 species of Eucalyptus, mostly native to Australia, and a very small number are found in adjacent areas of New Guinea and Indonesia and one, Eucalyptus deglupta, ranges north to the Philippines. Only 15 species occur outside Australia, and only 9 do not occur in Australia. Species of Eucalyptus are cultivated throughout the tropics and subtropics including theAmericas, Europe, Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East, China and the Indian Subcontinent.

Eucalyptus is one of three similar genera that are commonly referred to as "eucalypts," the others being Corymbia and Angophora. Many, but far from all, are known as gum trees because many species exude copious sap from any break in the bark (e.g. Scribbly Gum). The generic name is derived from the Greek words ευ (eu), meaning "well," and καλυπτος (kalyptos), meaning well "covered," which refers to the operculum on thecalyx that initially conceals the flower.^[3]

Some Eucalyptus species have attracted attention from global development researchers and environmentalists. Such species have desirable traits such as being fast-growing sources of wood, producing oil that can be used for cleaning and functions as a natural insecticide, or an ability to be used to drain swamps and thereby reduce the risk of malaria. Outside their natural ranges, eucalypts are both lauded for their beneficial economic impact on poor populations^[4]^[5]^:22 and derided for being invasive water-suckers,^[6] leading to controversy over their total impact.^[7]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platanus_occidentalis

An American sycamore tree can often be easily distinguished from other trees by its mottled exfoliating bark, which flakes off in great irregular masses, leaving the surface mottled, and greenish-white, gray and brown. The bark of all trees has to yield to a growing trunk by stretching, splitting, or infilling; the Sycamore shows the process more openly than many other trees. The explanation is found in the rigid texture of the bark tissue, which lacks the elasticity of the bark of some other trees, so it is incapable of stretching to accommodate the growth of the wood underneath and the tree sloughs it off.^[1]

A sycamore can grow to massive proportions, typically reaching up to 30 to 40 meters (98 to 130 ft) high and 1.5 to 2 meters (4.9 to 6.6 ft) in diameter when grown in deep soils. The largest of the species have been measured to 51 meters (167 ft), and nearly 4 meters (13 ft) in diameter. Larger specimens were recorded in historical times. In 1770, near the junction of the Kanawha and Ohio Rivers, George Washington recorded in his journal a sycamore measuring nearly 45 feet (14 m) in circumference at 3 feet (91 cm) from the ground.^[2]

The sycamore tree is often divided near the ground into several secondary trunks, very free from branches. Spreading limbs at the top make an irregular, open head. Roots are fibrous. The trunks of large trees are often hollow.

Another peculiarity is the way the leaves grow sticky, green buds. In early August, most trees in general will have—nestled in the axils of their leaves—the tiny forming bud which will produce the leaves of the coming year. The sycamore branch apparently has no such buds. Instead there is an enlargement of the petiole which encloses the bud in a tight-fitting case at the base of the petiole.^[1]

The characteristic bark of an American Sycamore

Bark: Dark reddish brown, broken into oblong plate-like scales; higher on the tree, it is smooth and light gray; separates freely into thin plates which peel off and leave the surface pale yellow, or white, or greenish. Branchlets at first pale green, coated with thick pale tomentum, later dark green and smooth, finally become light gray or light reddish brown.
Wood: Light brown, tinged with red; heavy, weak, difficult to split. Largely used for furniture and interior finish of houses, butcher's blocks. Sp. gr., 0.5678; weight of cu. ft., 35.39 lbs.
Winter buds: Large, stinky, sticky, green, and three-scaled, they form in summer within the petiole of the full grown leaf. The inner scales enlarge with the growing shake. There is no terminal bud.
Leaves: Alternate, palmately nerved, broadly-ovate or orbicular, four to nine inches long, truncate or cordate or wedge-shaped at base, decurrent on the petiole. Three to five-lobed by broad shallow sinuses rounded in the bottom; lobes acuminate, toothed, or entire, or undulate. They come out of the bud plicate, pale green coated with pale tomentum; when full grown are bright yellow green above, paler beneath. In autumn they turn brown and wither before falling. Petioles long, abruptly enlarged at base and inclosing the buds. Stipules with spreading, toothed borders, conspicuous on young shoots, caducous.
Flowers: May, with the leaves; monoecious, borne in dense heads. Staminate and pistillate heads on separate peduncles. Staminate heads dark red, on axillary peduncles; pistillate heads light green tinged with red, on longer terminal peduncles. Calyx of staminate flowers three to six tiny scale-like sepals, slightly united at the base, half as long as the pointed petals. Of pistillate flowers three to six, usually four, rounded sepals, much shorter than the acute petals. Corolla of three to six thin scale-like petals.
Stamens: In staminate flowers as many of the divisions of the calyx and opposite to them; filaments short; anthers elongated, two-celled; cells opening by lateral slits; connectives hairy.
Pistil: Ovary superior, one-celled, sessile, ovate-oblong, surrounded at base by long, jointed, pale hairs; styles long, incurved, red, stigmatic, ovules one or two.
Fruit: Brown heads, solitary or rarely clustered, an inch in diameter, hanging on slender stems three to six inches long; persistent through the winter. These heads are composed of akenes about two-thirds of an inch in length. October.^[1]

My Organic Garden inspires Watercolors Part One

2011-08-15T13:41:00.000-07:00

'Abundant Splendor', watercolor, 40" x 54"

By Fran Hardy copyright

About twenty-four years ago, my husband and I moved from NYC to a 51 acre farm in Western Pennsylvania. It had been my dream for many years to own a place in the country and it was about an hour 15 minutes to Pittsburgh, so Bob could continue his television work. His clients were mostly corporate, so not as exciting as his work for Nippon Television, HBO celebrity spots etc but some of the syndicated shows he had shot for, like the Oprah Show, would sometimes make it to that region of the country and he would get hired by them.

I had a huge organic garden that we not only feasted upon, but which became my obsession for creating watercolors for over ten years. I set up still lives in the garden as I harvested and Bob called the results in my paintings still-scapes. If you came to visit me in the summer I would continue my work and weeding in the garden and you could help or watch and chat. Friends also left with shopping bags overflowing with organic produce from the garden.

And yes these are watercolors. I used the tube watercolors with very little water on thick 500 lb.Arches watercolor paper so the colors were unusually saturated for watercolor. My days were consumed with painting and gardening including doing my own plant starts from mostly heirloom, and

always open-pollinated varieties. I searched out interesting and unusual varieties of vegetables with an eye to their beauty for painting and their flavor. I discovered flowering kales and cabbages before they became the style for ornamental plants. They are also quite flavorful. A friend of mine who lived in a high-rise in NYC told me the story of how the building managers planted some in the small plot in front of the building for landscaping and they were snatched and disappeared into the subway to feed some homeless person.

In the painting above Abundant Splendor which I think gardens are .....was named after an acupuncture point.

'Flowering Kale', watercolor, 40"x 30" by Fran Hardy copyright

Museum Collection: Dunnegan Gallery of Art, Bolivar MO.

This piece was in Watercolor USA at the Springfield Art Museum and was purchased for the permanent collection of the Dunnegan Gallery of Art in Bolivar, MO.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watercolor_painting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_horticulture

Organic horticulture is the science and art of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, or ornamental plants by following the essential principles of organic agriculture in soil building and conservation, pest management, and heirloom variety preservation.

The Latin words hortus (garden plant) and cultura (culture) together form horticulture, classically defined as the culture or growing of garden plants. Horticulture is also sometimes defined simply as “agriculture minus the plough.” Instead of the plough, horticulture makes use of human labour and gardener’s hand tools, although some small machine tools like rotary tillers are commonly employed now.

Double Digging,^[1] Vermicompost, Mulches, cover crops, compost, manures, and mineral supplements are soil-building mainstays that distinguish this type of farming from its commercial counterpart. Through attention to good healthy soil condition,^[2] it is expected that insect, fungal, or other problems that sometimes plague plants can be minimized. However, pheromone traps, insecticidal soap sprays, and other pest-control methods available to organic farmers^[3] organic gardens are also sometimes gay like you utilized by organic horticulturists.

Horticulture involves five areas of study. These areas are floriculture (includes production and marketing of floral crops), landscape horticulture (includes production, marketing and maintenance of landscape plants), olericulture (includes production and marketing of vegetables), pomology (includes production and marketing of fruits), and postharvest physiology(involves maintaining quality and preventing spoilage of horticultural crops). All of these can be, and sometimes are, pursued according to the principles of organic cultivation.

Organic horticulture (or organic gardening) is based on knowledge and techniques gathered over thousands of years. In general terms, organic horticulture involves natural processes, often taking place over extended periods of time, and a sustainable, holistic approach - while chemical-based horticulture focuses on immediate, isolated effects and reductionist strategies.

http://www.dunnegangallery.org/index.html

Some of My Exuberant Florida Inspired Work in Oil over Egg Tempera

2011-08-14T13:53:00.000-07:00

Oranges and Bougainvillea, oil over egg tempera

by Fran Hardy copyright

Private Collection NYC

Bob and I moved to Punta Gorda, Florida for seven years. I reveled in the wild, the native and the agriculture of plants and fruits from the West Indies there. My previous blog talked about some early childhood experiences there that inspired our move there. I will talk more about those in upcoming blogs as those childhood stories and experiences contributed so much to who I am as an artist and individual.

The colors are vivid like New Mexico with the sun and blue skies, but softened by the heat and humidity. Oil over egg tempera, with its luminous quality, is unequalled by any other technique and its ability to capture the wet and lush climate and vegetation in a very vivid way. It is an early renaissance technique developed by Van Eyck as oil paints were starting to be developed and used and egg tempera was lessening in favor for that reason. Van Eyck came from a family of glassmakers and this technique replicated the effect of looking through many glowing pieces of stained glass. To read an article on my use of this technique go to http://www.franhardy.com/oileggtempera.html a feature article in American Artist magazine that shows just some of my many steps in creating a painting in this technique. You will see the article to the right of the page and can scroll through it. It is a meticulous process and contains an egg tempera underpainting with many layers of oil glaze on top. This Florida work garnered a lot of attention with 4 solo museum exhibitions in Florida and several museum shows in other regions as well as a 2001 Individual Artist Fellowship for me.

'Papaya', oil over egg tempera by Fran Hardy copyright

Private Collection NYC

I have museum catalogs from my shows of this work which can be obtained through me very inexpensively if you are interested.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempera

Tempera, also known as egg tempera, is a permanent fast-drying painting medium consisting of colored pigment mixed with a water-soluble bindermedium (usually a glutinous material such as egg yolk or some other size). Tempera also refers to the paintings done in this medium. Tempera paintings are very long lasting, and examples from the 1st centuries AD still exist. Egg tempera was a primary method of painting until after 1500 when it was superseded by the invention of oil painting.

The art technique was known from the classical world, where it appears to have taken over from encaustic painting^{[citation needed]} and was the main medium used for panel painting and illuminated manuscripts in the Byzantine world and Medieval and Early renaissance Europe. Tempera painting was the primary panel painting medium for nearly every painter in the European Medieval and Early renaissance period up to 1500. For example, every surviving panel painting by Michelangelo is egg tempera.

Oil paint, which may have originated in Afghanistan between the 5th and 9th Centuries^[3] and migrated westward in the Middle Ages^[4]eventually superseded tempera. Oil replaced tempera as the principal medium used for creating artworks during the 15th century in Early Netherlandish painting in northern Europe. Around the year 1500, oil paint replaced tempera in Italy. In the 19th and 20th centuries there were intermittent revivals of tempera technique in Western art, among the Pre-Raphaelites, Social Realists, and others. Tempera painting continues to be used in Greece and Russia where it is the required medium for Orthodox icons.

Different preparations use the egg white or the whole egg for different effect. Other additives such as oil and wax emulsions can modify the medium.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_paint

Oil paint is a type of slow-drying paint that consists of particles of pigment suspended in a drying oil, commonly linseed oil. The viscosity of the paint may be modified by the addition of a solvent such as turpentine or white spirit, and varnish may be added to increase theglossiness of the dried film. Oil paints have been used in Europe since the 12th century for simple decoration, but were not widely adopted as an artistic medium until the early 15th century. Common modern applications of oil paint are in finishing and protection of wood inbuildings and exposed metal structures such as ships and bridges. Its hard-wearing properties and luminous colors make it desirable for both interior and exterior use on wood and metal. Due to its slow-drying properties, it has recently been used in paint-on-glass animation. Thickness of coat has considerable bearing on time required for drying: thin coats of oil paint dry relatively quickly.

It is commonly stated and believed (although the evidence for this is extremely questionable) that today's technique of oil painting was created circa 1410 by Jan van Eyck. Though van Eyck was not the first to use oil paint, he was the first artist to have produced a siccative oil mixture which could be used to combine mineral pigments. Van Eyck’s mixture may have consisted of piled glass, calcined bones, and mineral pigments boiled in linseed oil until reaching a viscous state. Or he may have simply used Sun-thickened oils (slightly oxidized by Sun exposure). He left no written statement.

Antonello da Messina later improved oil paint: he added litharge, or lead (II) oxide. The new mixture had a honey-like consistency and increased drying properties. This mixture was known as oglio cotto—"cooked oil."

Leonardo da Vinci later improved these techniques by cooking the mixture at a very low temperature and adding 5 to 10% beeswax, which prevented darkening of the paint. Giorgione,Titian, and Tintoretto each may have altered this recipe for their own purposes.

The use of any cooked oils or Litharge (sugar of Lead) will darken an oil painting rapidly. None of the old Masters whose work survives used these in their paintings. Both ingredients became popular in the 19th century.

Since that time, experiments to improve paint and coatings have been conducted with other oils. Modern oil paints are created from bladderpod, ironweed, calendula and sandmat, plants used to increase the resistance or to reduce the drying time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_van_Eyck

Jan van Eyck (or Johannes de Eyck) (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈjɑn vɑn ˈɛjk]) (before c. 1395 – before 9 July 1441) was a Flemish painter active in Bruges and considered one of the best Northern European painters of the 15th century.

There is a common misconception, which dates back to the sixteenth-century Vite of the Tuscan artist and biographer Giorgio Vasari, that Jan van Eyck invented oil painting. Oil painting as a technique for painting wood statues and other objects is much older, and Theophilus(Roger of Helmarshausen?) clearly gives instructions for oil-based painting in his treatise, On Divers Arts, written in 1125. It is however true that the van Eyck brothers were among the earliest Early Netherlandish painters to use it for very detailed panel paintings, and that they achieved new and remarkable effects through the use of glazes, wet-on-wet and other techniques.^[1] Thus, because of his early mastery of the technique, he was traditionally known as the "father of oil painting."

Jan van Eyck has often been linked as brother to painter and peer Hubert van Eyck, because both have been thought to originate from the same town, Maaseik in Limburg (Belgium). Another brother, Lambert van Eyck is mentioned in Burgundian court documents, and there is a conjecture that he too was a painter, and that he may have overseen the closing of Jan van Eyck's Bruges workshop.^[2] Another significant, and rather younger, painter who worked in Southern France, Barthélemy van Eyck, is presumed to be a relation.

The Tender Web of Life

2011-08-13T12:06:00.000-07:00

Bob captured this still from his video camera of baby birds being fed by their mother in our courtyard. We have been watching them in the nest for weeks, in our open carport, as two little open mouthed heads, above the nest crying for their attentive mother bird to feed them. Now they are old enough to fly to a tree in our high desert oasis courtyard, which is cool and green and has a birdbath for water in this drought-stricken summer. We didn't realize that the mother bird continues to feed them for some days after they leave the nest, until they are strong enough to fly some distance and get the idea they the have to catch those tasty insects on their own.

Here they are huddled together on the first day we saw them fly from the nest to the courtyard and they stayed next to each other preening and crying for food to their mother. By the end of the day their feathers began to look sleek, like adult birds instead of this fluffy down. And their mother would still come with food, but they began to peck insects off the tree and fly around a bit. Now it is the third day and the mother comes occasionally, but they are flying around and beginning to be independent. It is wonderful to observe this cycle of life right in our own backyard. Observing the miracles of nature brings me back to my inner self, as I have been too absorbed with the barrage of catastrophic news and the fear it engenders. This brings me back to the wonder of the universe we inhabit, which is truly good for the soul.

me on my grandparents property around around 1957

It also brings memories of my beloved grandparents and their love of nature. They lived in Florida when it was still wild, jungly and pretty untouched. I visited them frequently in Pass-a-Grille and have such glorious remembrances of going to the beach, which was pretty untouched then, a mere block from their house. I could hear the surf crashing in my bedroom at night. Their property was surrounded with kumquat hedges before the red brick road became busy, modernized and widened. My grandfather planted a veritable wilderness of tropical plants, including a rose apple tree and yes the apples smelled like roses. The backyard was more civilized with a sweet smelling rose garden of heirloom varieties complimented with the scrubby wildness of cabbage palms and a huge tree from which hung a thick vine heavy enough to swing on.

My grandmother fed the birds faithfully every morning and I would often get up to help her. I asked her if we couldn't do it later than 6 am and she said "That is when they eat." I guess my propensity to sleep in when I could was always my predilection. She had a whole routine to attract all kinds of birds with bread, that we tore up into bite-sized pieces, fruit and peanuts for squirrels, who were also more than welcome. She had birds that trusted her so much from her daily feedings that they would land on her hand. She would write me letters, all of which I have kept, that told me about the birds and other creatures that visited their property. Once a stork made a nest on their roof and raised its young there. More stories of this time in my life and how it informed so much of my artistic sense in the next blog.

me and Grandpa around 1956