No. 69. Chili and Red Peril

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

I raided the charity shops in Dublin's Camden Street again and found this dainty little vase. That's the same chili pepper from the last painting...I don't think anyone has the appetite for using it to put in food, so there's the ongoing opportunity to paint an ever-shrivelling pepper for the next couple of weeks. Or so one might think...

I was so tired after tea that I opened a can of fizz to pep myself up a bit. It wasn't the usual vile goop that allegedly gives you wings, but a different vile goop that they're trying to foist on our sugar-craving youth. My wife was given them free in some shop or other. Probably as a sweetener.  Anyway, with my new wings flapping wildly, I set this still life study up on my kitchen counter and painted while I listened to the wireless, trilled a bit and sipped a Jameson and water to try to get rid of the taste of that sweetened toilet cleaner I'd imbibed. I should have just eaten the chili pepper raw. It would've tasted better and I'd imagine it would have pepped me up for a while, too.

So how are you doing?

No. 68. I got hot Chilis for ya

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

This is last night's work. I had to pop out to get some bread in the supermarket and I picked up these shiny chili peppers along the way. Curiously, of the three peppers in the pack, one was a real little runt, as if the other two had sucked away its life-force while in the pack. I know some people like that; but I digress. I placed the peppers on a piece of fabric that's starting to become overly familiar on these pages. I'll have to get some more off-cuts from the haberdasher's.

It all took about an hour and a half. I had a glass of whiskey to keep out the cold. Despite that, after a while I got an intense ache in the knuckles of my right hand [my brush hand]. I thought it might be the result of  holding the brush too tensely, but it also could be the onset of rheumatism, in this cold, damp weather we're having. It surely put the *ahem* pain in painting.

Incidentally, according to Wikipedia, chili peppers are the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae, which also includes Aubergines. Cool. Somebody get me a glass of water!

No. 67. Courgettes and Échalottes

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

Pay cuts, dodgy bank managers, inept government officials, doom gloom and apocalypse. Is there no escape from this ragout of despond? Yes, I say! Grab a couple of vegetables and stew up a hearty eyeful of spiritual nourishment. Tuck in, but keep an eye on your wallet.

I'm afraid I can't think of anything more jocular on this cold day, when our government and economic system is in disarray. When, once again, our captains have been shown to be either appallingly incompetent, or downright selfish nest-feathering usurers, without even the most fleeting of thoughts about their responsibilities to their employees, customers or country.

No. 66. Silvery Vine

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

I started this a little late in the day and now it's lunchtime. I'm glad I managed it though. The little silver [EPNS] jug I picked up at the same time as the tea-strainer from yesterday's painting. Silver has a lovely warm lustre, unlike the cool shine from stainless steel. On top of that, this one has been over-polished so it's down to base metal in places, adding another dimension. The grapes were commandeered from the kitchen, as usual and draped artfully across, in a decadent, come-hither way. 

I managed to keep it all quite loose and impressionistic, so all in all, I'm very pleased with today's studying. 

Another bit of news is I've booked several days in Cill Rialaig for the early next month, so I'll be able to do some landscape studies of the dramatic scenery down there in far-flung south Kerry. I'm hoping to be able to keep posting to this blog while I'm away. 

How do you think it's been going so far?

No. 65. Tea with Lemon?

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

This wasn't long brewing. I found this little silver tea-strainer on one of my trawls through the charity shops of Dublin just before Christmas and I was waiting for an opportunity to put it in a composition. The mug has a dark blue glaze that was reflecting the wooden panel upon which my shadow-box sat, you can just about see it in the second picture. It also reflected the strainer itself in an interesting way.

I seldom take tea with lemon -usually only when the cow has run dry. I send one of the servants down to the citrus groves with a basket and a pair of nail scissors. If lemons are out of season, my wife will make me a plate of buttered tea bags. Scrumptious.

No. 64. Clementines and Limes...

...as the bells of St. Clement's didn't say.

I thought a dose of vitamin C would give us a welcome boost this morning. This is the first of my daily studies this year. I simply couldn't summon up the energy before now and 'flu was only part of it. I've really been over it for several days but during the break, I just fell out of the habit. But now I'm back in the saddle and roaming the range in search of new subjects to paint. I decided that once the weather improves, I'm going to indulge in a spot of plein air painting in a couple of the local parks. It'll mean hoiking an easel with me when I take the children to school in order to get out there early. It might be a while, though, as the Irish winter doesn't end until May. Then it starts again in June.

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

Below is the setup in my studio.

Happy New Year

Hello to you all, I hope that you enjoyed your Christmas and holiday. I have to excuse my inactivity for the last week or so; I've been suffering from a hefty dose of the 'flu. Not 'Man-flu', either. I started into a study a couple of nights ago but had to call it off mid-way as I couldn't face it. I'm hoping to get back to normal by the end of this week. Till then...