The Beauty of Garlic?

While grocery shopping, I came across this interesting bulb of garlic. It was a bit tattered and the outer paper was split so that you could peak in and see just the tops of the little cloves inside. There was also a tougher hollow protrusion at the top which made me think of a hollowed tree stump.

I decided immediately that I wanted to draw it. But there is one small problem with garlic. No it’s not the smell. It’s the fact that its outer paper wrapper is extremely delicate. One small shift of the shopping cart or carelessly tossing it into a shopping bag could completely obliterate its paper wrapper. That’s no good when you’re using it for your latest art project. So here I am, cradling a bulb of garlic as though it were a precious gem while grabbing the rest of my groceries. Then I have to explain to the cashier why I’m being so weird about my garlic. And ‘No, no, no! Please don’ put it in the bag with the carton of milk. I’ll hold on to it, if you don’t mind. Thank you so much.” I ignore the weird smirk she’s now giving me and push my cart out to the car with one hand while cradling my delicate garlic bulb in the other like it was a newborn baby that I don’t want to drop. I will spare you the details of my “car seat garlic harness” that I engineered out of paper towel and a cereal bowl…

All this just to tell the world that “Garlic is beautiful!” Yeah, I’m strange. But the world really needed to know about the beauty of garlic. You’re welcome world.

Materials Used: Graphite Pencils, 140lb 100% Cotton Hot Pressed Watercolor Paper, Kneaded eraser