Cacao Flower Fantasy

Cacao, Theobroma cacao, is a tropical tree of the Sterculiaceae family but we all know it as yes folks, you guessed it, CHOCOLATE!!!  This wonder of a plant has given us generations of delight from the Aztec to the early enamored Europeans to us now, in this world, where we have created many indulgences.  This painting focuses mostly on the flower of the cacao and I blew the images up larger than life so one can really get the feel of what the flower looks like, they are normally less than 1" round!  This painting took a good 3 wks of many layers of colour to get the rich vibrancy I was aiming for.  Working on this painting in bali where there are many raw cacao ceremonies taking place for this day and age enlightenment, I enjoyed the fairly hallucinogenic visual effect of portraying this plant.  

There are many health benefits that can come from the consumption of pure raw cacao, this is why if you’re after the positive effects of chocolate rather than just indulgences, you are best to choose dark chocolate with a minimum of 70% cacao plus making sure by reading the label, usually on health food store chocolate bars labels only, the production of the bar you are eating comes from cacao that hasn’t been overheated while processing. In good quality chocolate there are polyphenols which are naturally occurring antioxidants and are also present in some fruits and vegetables, tea and wine. The result of polyphenols can be reduced inflammation, improved circulation and lowered blood pressure. Flavanol-rich cacao can improve the level of nitric oxide in one’s blood which relaxes and dilates arteries and blood vessels. Cacao has also been found to have a blood thinning effect similar to aspirin. We are all familiar with the mood elevation chocolate can bring, this is due to the flavanols, one of which is tryptophan and this is changed to a mood stabilizer in the body called serotonin. There is also a small amount of caffeine in cacao.

This painting is the first of 5 that I am working on for an art exhibition here in Bali come the month of July.