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phil mcaloon s paintings the thing i do instead of watching television skip to content phil mcaloon s paintings the thing i do instead of watching television menu home this blog is about messing about in acrylics and now oils contact sumatran tiger august 16 2026 if you get the opportunity to visit taronga zoo in sydney i recommend you take it it is a beautiful place and the animals seem happy it has come a long way from the days when elephant rides and afternoon tea with the chimps were on offer this sumatran tiger sat in front of us with fathomless indifference to our presence she was smallish for a big cat but elegant sufficient unto herself magnificent leave a comment sumatran tiger great wave off kurranulla august 9 2026 waves are notoriously difficult to paint as with most objects they are at their most interesting at times of crisis this wave is smashing into the rock platform near blackwoods just south of south cronulla slightly difficult to capture and has left me with a hideous cold 10 comments great wave off kurranulla a unit of paint for a unit of time august 1 2026 my week was measured out in coffee spoons each unit of time was allocated a corresponding unit of work or sleep or washing or eating or whatever i had a small unit of time available for painting this is the unit of painting i did in that unit of time reduced to its essence it is a study of a stick in a small vase with a whole bottle and bit of a bottle in the background i look forward to when i can measure my time in great surging unallocated waves 8 comments a unit of paint for a unit of time still life trying to live up to its frame july 26 2026 i prefer the functional to the decorative and the functional and decorative still more a simple collection of tea cups and a stoneware ginger beer bottle i found by the creek fit the bill the frame is secondhand when i first saw it it framed a picture of a highland bull sitting on the toilet reading a newspaper now i may not be a farmer but i know bulls do not use the toilet i suspect computerised magic may have been involved the result was execrable neither decorative nor functional i cut a board to paint the picture to fit the frame it is about 30 x 24 cms or so i say or so because millimetres are relevant to the true measure but can anyone really read millimetres on a ruler 6 comments still life trying to live up to its frame on your blocks july 19 2026 after a hiatus lasting many decades i have rediscovered the joy of playing with blocks i bought an old beaten up second hand set for five dollars and have been experiencing a proustian rush here some of them are on my studio table leave a comment on your blocks wood auger drill bits july 12 2026 a sculpture made of found objects specifically a set of wood auger bits the man who sold these to me warned that they will pull away when i use them and may well destroy any wood i use them on for the moment i am content merely to look at them 7 comments wood auger drill bits night thoughts on art july 5 2026 art is large and it enlarges you and me to a shrunk up world its vistas are shocking art is the burning bush that both shelters and makes visible our profounder longings jeanette winterson i am not especially worried that ai will replace artists it will not it can not it might generate a passable or even very good simulation of something a human might have made indeed based on things humans did make but it will never produce a thing solely made by a human and that a human making a thing that expresses something inside them is the entire point for both the maker and her audience here are two bottles one glass one ceramic and a curry jar all empty 4 comments night thoughts on art still life with orange and toothache after chardin june 28 2026 i wanted to know what it was really like to paint in the 18th century a sudden dental misadventure gave me access to the sort of oral discomfort not usually experienced this side of the industrial revolution so i set to work to do a copy of another chardin ever noticed why you never see teeth in those old portraits thank goodness for fluoride this picture was done an a4 sheet of loose canvas pinned to a cardboard delivery box 10 comments still life with orange and toothache after chardin still life in a frame from another time and place june 21 2026 no time to finish a painting this week i must break this habit instead i found an ancient frame in an op shop the frame had been turned into a mirror and painted black at some time in its long long life and at some point in its 3 274 km journey from fremantle in western australia to kyneton in southeastern australia at 12 the frame was more than i would usually pay but i figured that the 3 000 tiny nails in the back of it and the label were worth the extra cost i removed the mirror from the frame and replaced it with a little still life i did of an orange a few years back it fitted almost perfectly a happy marriage it is a chunky frame they do not make labels like this any more 4 comments still life in a frame from another time and place when tarka the otter met salar the salmon june 14 2026 whenever i interact with a wild or semi wild animal i remember tarka the otter we can of course never know what an otter or our cat for that matter is thinking but i suspect henry williamson came close in his little book about tarka there is a focus on the immediate a preoccupation with what is in front of you and an admirable ability to not worry about things that are not an immediate threat i am sure this is how our cat thinks to the extent she thinks at all i envy her i found salar the salmon less easy to relate to because fish there is an otter on the top of a fountain at the corner of queen and oxford streets in woollahra it seems the fountain was cast in the coalbrookdale foundry in shropshire so this otter may be related to tarka and the salmon in its mouth may be related to salar 5 comments when tarka the otter met salar the salmon posts navigation older posts search search for i don t know much about art but i paint what i like archives august 2026 july 2026 june 2026 may 2026 april 2026 march 2026 february 2026 january 2026 december 2025 november 2025 october 2025 september 2025 august 2025 july 2025 june 2025 may 2025 april 2025 march 2025 february 2025 january 2025 december 2024 november 2024 october 2024 september 2024 august 2024 july 2024 june 2024 may 2024 april 2024 march 2024 february 2024 january 2024 december 2023 november 2023 october 2023 september 2023 august 2023 july 2023 june 2023 may 2023 april 2023 march 2023 february 2023 january 2023 december 2022 november 2022 october 2022 september 2022 august 2022 july 2022 june 2022 may 2022 april 2022 march 2022 february 2022 january 2022 december 2021 november 2021 october 2021 september 2021 august 2021 july 2021 june 2021 may 2021 april 2021 march 2021 february 2021 january 2021 december 2020 november 2020 october 2020 september 2020 august 2020 july 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