Month: March 2026

It began with a tropical storm …

March 29, 2026

I was about to get on the plane when the ominous announcement came through: this plane has been re-routed to Sydney, not Melbourne. There was a storm in Brisbane and all flight schedules on the east coast were in chaos.

Three hours later I ate a bowl of cold noodles, sitting on a rickety stool at the air terminal. Three hours after that, the airline gave me a meal voucher. As I could not face the prospect of more cold noodles, I bought a tin of travel sweets with my voucher. Spent an hour watching the tired cleaners mop the terminal floor. Four hours later I was home.

I was stuck for a still life subject … and the fruits (well, wild berries) of my loooong dark night of the airport came in handy at last.

I paint whatever I can (or, rather, tin). The drops were delicious and recommended, by the way.

Berry good.

Grapes and fig after Manet

March 22, 2026

There is, I think, no better way to look – really look – at a painting than to make a copy of it. That way you appreciate all the little choices the artist made along the way and how they solved the problems that inevitably crop up when doing a picture.

This is a copy of a still life by Manet. A far cry from a Dutch Golden Age “breakfast piece”: nothing more grand here than a couple of small bunches of grapes and a fig.

On torsos and vulnerability

March 14, 2026

News stories by their nature focus on immediate events. Viewed individually they do not always (or even often) identify or explain longer term trends. But when the stories are viewed en masse, over time, trends may become apparent.

The trend I have detected over the last little bit is a growing indifference to the sanctity of human life and the sacredness of every human body.

It does us no harm to look at our naked, vulnerable, bodies, and remind ourselves that our well-being and existence are utterly dependent on the goodwill and help of those around us. And that, without a single exception, we all came from a body more or less like the one in this quick sketch.

Lightning sketch of Torso by Jean Broome-Norton (Art Gallery of South Australia)

The cat expiring on a hot day

March 1, 2026

‘Tis not a cat, ’tis a solar panel.

In the early morning, the cat’s favourite spot is the sunny spot next to her shed door. In summer, by midday she has had her fill of the sun and her favourite spot is this one: in the shade of the tree with the curly leaves, looking like she has been poleaxed.