Daily painting #710 5"x7" oil on primed canvas panel
For those of you who may be unfamiliar with kumquats, they are a little citrus fruit. They are oval in shape and just bigger than a large olive. They are used mainly for cooking and I have only ever used them to make a jam (preserve) or marmalade but they can be used in puddings or cakes too. I have adapted a strawberry jam recipe of mine to a sugar free version. It is nowhere near as sweet as the original but that is just fine because our taste buds have adapted and we don't need such sweetness any more. The natural sweetness from the fruit is enough. The preserve is delicious to mix through Greek yoghurt. When I found these at our local market I thought I would try to make a sugar free marmalade, it might give the yoghurt a lovely citrus flavour. I am always looking for interesting things to give my children as snacks and store bought flavoured yoghurts are definitely out of the question and this way I get to make the yoghurt more interesting for snacks and breakfast. Let's hope it works and the citrus is not too bitter!
I am sure you will agree that these are the most glorious rich colour and so before I experiment in the kitchen with them they had to visit my studio first! Painting yellow and orange tones with such a dark rich background was challenging. Yellows easily get dirty and loose the vibrancy and I was using a purple (complementary colour to yellow) to tone the shadows. The kumquats were quite a challenge in the studio, I hope they prove to be kinder in the kitchen!
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