Remedy: Garlic

Well here’s today’s painting! Title? Remedy: Garlic. This painting is one of a series I’m calling Favorite Things. I expected this delightful and small painting to be a breeze to paint. Why? The subject matter? Simple! The size? Small. However, this painting came with lots of technical challenges for me as a painter. But, before I share the struggle, I want to let you know how and why I arranged these lovely white objects the way I did.

Painting Set up

I had just arrived at home from the grocery store. As I unloaded the groceries, these two garlic bulbs fell out of the grocery bag and onto the top of a box on the counter. The light streamed in from the kitchen window. The sight of the sun on these little garlic bulbs…oh la la it was beautiful.

I would have started painting them right there in the kitchen. Except if I had, then I wouldn’t have been able to cook in the kitchen. In fact, I wouldn’t have been able to cook for nearly 10 days. But I will save that 10 day part of the story for the artist notes below.

I knew I needed to paint these two garlic bulbs though. So I grabbed the box off the counter and put it in my still life set up in the dining room. Good grief, the light was beautiful there, too. I couldn’t wait to get started.

Alla Prima

First, I had planned to challenge myself by doing an Alla Prima painting. I describe more details of this experience and process in a previous post. Let’s just say the focus on finishing this small painting in a 3 hour session did not go well. So, I wiped out the painting.

And, as much as I would like to think of myself as an eager learner from my mistakes, I was sad and frustrated with this outcome. But I woke up the next morning and decided to relax, take my time and start over without the limitations of an Alla Prima painting.

Plan B Painting Strategy

As I started Plan B, I focused on the block-in also known as the initial drawing of the painting. Then I continued to paint and make sure the drawing was as accurate as possible. Next, I painted the darkest dark and the lightest light. From there, I entered … well …my personal painting twilight zone.

I struggled with so many simple issues. Just for your info, I paint with an overhead light on my canvas but my still life set up is in an east facing window. For several days, I was painting with sunny blue skies and corresponding light streaming into my window. Then, the weather and light changed dramatically and, if you can believe it, it snowed here.

This type of problem came up all the time when I was in school. Solution? Picture the color key of the painting on the day you started and stay true to that. Can I just say here, that’s easier said then done?

Fortunately, I convinced myself to think of the fundamentals of this simple sweet painting. It’s two white objects in cool light. In theory, that means the light is cool and the shadows are warm. I also remembered a lesson I had learned several years ago.

Master Copy Lesson

In the summer of 2017, I had the opportunity to copy a painting at the Museum at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. I shared the lessons and details of this amazing experience in this post.

One of the biggest lessons from the Master Copy session was relevant to this painting. I had made the darker areas of the sitter’s beautiful white dress too cool. Aha! I have a tendency to make shadow areas in north light paintings too cool.

Armed with this new awareness, I kept working away on these two garlic bulbs. Here’s a photograph of the set up in my dining room. You can see the light is coming in from the left side of the photo. The painting is still in progress at this point!

Time

At this stage, dear reader, I am embarrassed to tell you how many hours I have spent on this painting. Here’s a sneak peak photo of the log I use to keep track of my painting hours.

All I can say here is painting takes time. I am lucky to be able to take this time to hone my craft. I expect and hope that this (gnarly) experience will fuel my practice with better decision making in the future.

Remedy

Now, you may be wondering why I called this painting, Remedy. Welp, I hope the lessons I learned will be just that: a remedy to this painting adventure I am on.

I also learned that garlic IS a remedy, too. In fact, there are some interesting articles out there about how garlic’s use as a remedy transcends time and history. You can read one example of that here.

And, while we’re talking about garlic and remedies, I have to say that I love cooking with garlic. In fact, I love the smell of garlic and never hesitate to use it…especially at dinner time. Here’s a quick and delicious remedy to your last minute need to cook a delicious dinner with garlic. Recently, my little sister shared this recipe here developed by my niece, Patty Catalano.

For Sale

If you love garlic, too, and would like this 5 x 7 oil painting in your home or kitchen, it’s for sale here. If you are interested in getting updates about the weekly paintings I paint, you can sign up here.

Thank you

Thank you so much for reading this post. I am grateful to each and everyone of you interested in reading about this challenging and delightful path I have chosen. What remedies do you enjoy in your world? Please share in the comments below.