21 November 2007

The walking tree

Banana trees are called fig trees here. They are very easy to grow and constantly reproduce themselves. If you are starting from scratch and buy a little plant it will take about three months for it to bare fruit. When the fruit is still young it is called green fig and these are used for cooking as a savoury vegetable. If you want the fruit to grow into a banana you leave it on the tree until it is full, cut it and leave it to ripen. Our fig trees are called Gummyshell and have a delicious, creamy, subtle flavour. Once the tree has born fruit you cut it down but at the base of that tree will be another little tree and the cycle continues. So you see, it is also true to say that fig trees can walk.
I am fascinated by them, the way that they grow and the beauty in the detail. This is the first of a series of paintings inspired by these bountiful trees.



Fig tree. Leaf and trunk detail.
Acrylic on ply.
1'x3' and 1'x1'

3 comments:

  1. hurrah your back.
    nice paintings

    darrell

    ReplyDelete
  2. Those colours are amazing!!

    Is a green fig like plantain? I used to have a boyfriend of Grenadan descent and his Mum used to cook us plantain and chicken and rice with peas on Sunday afternoons in their terrace in north west London.

    Just lovely!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Darrel, Thank you.
    Deb, You lucky thing, mmmm rice 'n peas and chicken and plantain. Yes the two are related along with blugga but all are slightly different and you don't eat plantain without cooking it, even when ripe.

    ReplyDelete

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