THE GARDENER OF THE WORLD

Gardener of the World by Moi

..." Above the hills, along the blue,
Round the bright air with footing true
To please the child, to paint the rose
The Gardener of the World, he goes.

...excerpted from Summer Sun by Robert Louis Stevenson

Setting the clocks forward one hour always reminds me that Spring is just around the corner and how nice it is to have the sun rise earlier and set later.

I often marvel at the sun and the moon and their importance in my daily life. I feel cheerful when the sun rises to greet me and gloomy when it doesn't. Of course we all know the stories about how the full moon affects our moods.

The sun has been a source of reverence and worship in many ancient cultures -Greece, Persia, Egypt, India, Japan, North America and Mexico. Growing up on a farm I learned the ancient wisdom of our ancestors who observed the sun and moon phases for growing crops and gardens. Amazingly, research shows that this method of planting potatoes by the phases of the moon resulted in an increase of up to 45 per cent.

If you want to know the best times to plant vegetables and flowers visit the Old Farmer's Almanac and put in your zip code for a personalized chart.

I've done a series of paintings I call Sun and Moonscapes in which I've tried to capture the meaning and importance of these two orbs. Gardener of the World, above was done alla prima, the Italian expression translated as " all at once", which speak of the artist's emotions at that moment.