No. 42. Green Chilli Pepper

Oils Still Life Study on canvas panel. 7" x 5". Click here to buy this study.

I feel like a fraud. Painting chilli peppers as if they're the natural choice for a sun-drenched Dublin studio when I'm bloody freezing. I should be painting moss or lichen -there's plenty of it growing on my legs. It's an occupational hazard of living in Ireland; you sit still for a few hours and somebody from the council has to come along at the end of the day with a scraper to free you.

In fact, I didn't paint this in my studio -I hauled in my tabletop easel into my living room last night and balanced the plate on the arm of the couch [that's the russet colour at the top]. I turned the TV on to something foreign and warm and hey presto! Instant summer.

Pepper has indeed come into the Irish conciousness recently as the police [An Garda Siochána] will now be issued with pepper spray. I think it's used to flavour their bagels.