I collect faces – ugly faces, pretty faces, strange faces – but always interesting faces that seem to have a story behind them.I don’t know who this is, when he was painted or whether he was real or not. He’s lurked in my collection and at the back of my imagination for about eighteen months.
Now I know who he is – ‘Red’ Matthew McTiernan, captain of the pirate vessel Sea Scorpion in the sixth and final story in my series Those Scandalous Ravenhursts.
Despite his unflamboyant appearance, McTiernan gets his nickname from his habit of leaving his victims’ decks running with blood, so Clemence, the heroine of The Piratical Miss Ravenhurst is wishing she was anywhere but in the cabin of the Sea Scorpion’s enigmatic navigator, Nathan Stanier.
I haven’t discovered yet how Captain McTiernan is going to receive his come-uppance. I am sure it will be a suitable fate for one of the nastiest pirates in the Caribbean, although I doubt if I’ll be able to conjure up the Kraken from the depths to dispose of him!
Louise Allen
3 comments:
Oooer, Louise. Shivers down the spine time.
Very compelling face, and another book I can't wait to read.
What a super picture - and what a super tale you have woven around him! He certainly looks like a real person and this is what brings history alive, knowing that it is made up of real people, just like us.
Can't wait to read this series (so many good books to read - it's a pity that writing gets in the way..........)
Melinda
What a fantastic painting - the character oozes out of the brush strokes. I am always amazed when I go to an exhibition at the genius of some artists who can create 'life' out of oil and paint!
I am intrigued to know more about your Captain McTiernan.
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