OddThinking

My father, Joe, had an occasional drinking buddy, Thomas Cleghorn, a local painter.

Joe’s home contained a handful of Cleghorn’s paintings; most of them roughly the size of an A5 page (or about 8″ x 5″ for you imperialists). They show images of flocks of native birds rising from lagoons, and similar pleasant Australian landscapes.

One of the paintings was quite different. It held pride of place in the lounge-room, and almost dominated the room – both because of its size and subject matter.

From memory, the painting is about 6′ high and 3′ feet wide, (Oops, looks like I am an imperialist at heart!) surrounded by an ornate frame. In the words of Cleghorn, it was one of his “bugger-of-a-size” paintings.

It is titled “Lambing Paddock’. It, indeed, depicts a paddock; the backdrop is an Australian farm area – a dry yellow field. Gentle rolling hills sectioned into more paddocks form a backdrop.

However, these don’t draw the eye immediately – the awkward shape in the foreground is what you see first. It clearly isn’t a sheep, despite the title. It is black and white, and appears to be floating very slightly off the ground. It is an kangaroo, but it is oddly shaped.

Some viewers get confused at this point, and ask. Others keep looking.

Wait a minute. They aren’t kangaroo ears! They are the open jaws of an animal with a snout – like a dog. Is it a dog? A bit like a border collie? Some sort of three-legged dog? Wait, is that another leg being obscured by the body? Yes? So that’s it’s tail, not a leg on the underside? How does a dog get into that position? Mid-air, upside-down, with its body twisting under it? What’s going on?

Most viewers get confused at this point, and ask. Others keep looking, and the horrible truth dawns on them.

It is titled “Lambing Paddock”. Dogs aren’t allowed in lambing paddocks. Dogs scare the pregnant ewes and attack the lambs. Farmers don’t like that. If a stray dog is discovered in a lambing paddock, a very rough form of justice is dealt, generally with a .22-calibre rifle.

Cleghorn had chosen to immortalise on a giant canvas the moment of a stray dog being shot, its body contorted into a weird ballet position.

Apparently, Cleghorn’s wife was not a fan of the painting. She had insisted that it be turned face to the wall.

Joe had a different opinion. He saved the painting from this fate. He purchased it and presented it prominently in his home.