Garlic

I couldn’t imagine cooking without garlic, it adds flavor to many of the dishes that I enjoy. Pizza, spaghetti, falafel wouldn’t be the same without it.

The original painting is for sale, click to view the auction.



That's why I'm surprised that I never painted it before. I've painted multiple paintings of apples, oranges, and other produce. I guess that's because apples are more popular in still life paintings.

I spent some time picking out this bulb of garlic at the supermarket. Normally, I just select one that doesn't look like it's sprouting and I look for one that doesn't have dark spots on it. But if I'm going to be making a painting of it, I want one that has a nice shape to it.

Last week I said that I was thinking about painting something that had more color. Well, garlic doesn't have much color to it. So I resorted to using a dark red for the background.

I like trying out different colors for my backgrounds. Garlic can have an intense flavor so a dark and warm red seems appropriate. Also, the skin of the garlic is very light so the dark red helps to make it stand out more.

Garlic
8”x10”
Acrylic on canvas board
Chris Breier © 2020

If you find that garlic is too strong for your tastes, you can roast it in the oven. Cooking it gives it a much milder flavor. I roast garlic when I use it in hummus. I pop off a few cloves and place them on a baking sheet. I leave the skins on it and it doesn't take long for it to cook.

I usually roast it until the cloves are soft. I let it cool and then I remove the skins before I add it to whatever I'm cooking at the time.

The flavor of cooked garlic is much more mild than raw. Once in a while I use raw garlic in hummus, but I have to be careful not to add too much because it can become overpowering when used in excess.

This post is making me hungry, time to make some hummus!