Keep your eyes on the prize (and your finger off the trigger)

3 "Highly Commended" Awards in the past 3 days!

One off winning $1,250. One off winning another $1,250. And one off winning $5,000.

Don't know whether I should accept congratulations or commiserations.

I hadn't known until I collected my paintings today that I had been awarded two "High Commendations" for my entries in the Camden Art Prize.

I had been awarded the "Highly Commended" for  "The Art of Navigation". This is a memento mori painting of antique navigation instruments, and pays tribute to the famous 18th century navigator La Perouse.

"The Art of Navigation" oil on canvas 75 x 100cm

$7,700

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Yet another "Highly Commended" in the "Works on Paper" Section for a moody charcoal and ink interior, "The Turbine Hall Of the White Bay Power Station"

"The Turbine Hall Of the White Bay Power Station" 2011 charcoal, pastel and ink on paper 75 x 100cm

$7,700

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The "Blacksmiths, Eveleigh" ranked first of the five "High Commendations" awarded in the Open Section of the Hunters Hill Art prize, making it the runner-up.

"The Blacksmiths, Eveleigh Railway Workshops" oil on canvas 91 x 122cm

$9,900

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I had known that it had received at least a "Commended", as its title was in bold print on the website, but I had no idea that it was the runner up until the end of the presentation night when I read the judges comments :

"Gripping subject matter - the painterly shadows take on a rainbow hue from the furnace which is the source of all light and tension in this finely rendered genre painting"

There was a lot more tension, although a bit more heat than light, the other day in the Hunters Hill Club, the venue where my painting is hanging.

This year, paintings in the Hunters Hill Art Prize are hung at 3 historic venues - the  Hunters Hill Town Hall, the Congregational Church and the Hunters Hill Club - all within a short walking distance from each other.
My 2 largest paintings are displayed in the Town Hall, my entry in the 9 x 5" section is in the church, and the painting of the Blacksmiths, which was the runner up, is hung on the wall of the Club.
 It's a great idea, as people who don't usually go to art exhibitions will get an opportunity to check out the art.
However there were a couple of sightseers that we would all have been happy to live without.
There was a terrifying incident at the Hunters Hill Club on the night before the art prize opening, which I was told about at the opening by John Booth, the editor of the local paper "The Weekly Times".
At 9.30pm, two robbers armed with an axe and a rifle smashed their way through a locked door.
As they approached the bar, three of the club's employees  managed to lock themselves in a room to escape.
 Fortunately the robbers weren't able to get into the room after them.  Just as fortunately no-one else was injured, although one of the robbers had pushed a patron off his bar stool before jumping the bar. However as they fled, one of the robbers can be seen threatening patrons with a long rifle as he forces them to hand over their belongings.

I'm relieved that these thugs were apparently neither art fans nor art critics.

No paintings on display in the Club were damaged or stolen, and none will return to their creators  with bullet holes as extra decoration.

 And I'm even more relieved that this brazen robbery didn't occur on the opening night, which was attended by hundreds of people.

Related articles
Axe wielding thieves rob club on Sydney's Lower north shore Daily Telegraph 11 May 12
Video of the armed robbery at the Hunters Hill Club
"Armed robbery at club in Hunters Hill" North Shore Times Crime  11 May 12  by Torin Chen

 Related posts in this blog

"The Navigator and the King"

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• Pyrmont Sandstone - Rock On !
• Time for Safety
• The fire within

• The village smithy (sydney-eye.blogspot.com)

Pyrmont Sandstone - Rock On !

My painting of a partly demolished Pyrmont warehouse is a finalist in the 2012 NSW Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize.
This Exhibition will be held:
Tue 1 May - Thu 31 May 2012
NSW Parliament, Macquarie Street Sydney 8.30 AM - 5.45 PM
(Morning viewing only on the final day.) — at Parliament of NSW

P92 'Industrial Cathedral, the Cooperage, C.S.R. Refinery' - oil on canvas 91x61cm

 Enquiries about this painting  

$6,600

On display at the Plein Air Painting Prize until Thursday 31st May 2012

This canvas is of a sandstone escarpment seen through the screen of rotting timber beams that once were part of the Cooperage building in the CSR Refinery.

This painting  focuses on the mysterious patterns of shadow made by the fall of light. The cavernous space and rows of columns reminded me of the interiors of cathedrals and ruined abbeys.
 The wall at the back was the famous butter-yellow Pyrmont sandstone, which has been quarried to decorate the best loved historic Sydney buildings such as the Australian Museum, the Sydney GPO, the University of Sydney. 
At sunset the sandstone rock face caught the last rays of light and the derelict warehouse was transformed.


This painting has come full circle. Out of Pyrmont  into an Eastern suburbs gallery, back to Pyrmont as part of the 2011 Pyrmont Festival, then to Macquarie St as a finalist in the NSW Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize. 
Oddly enough the sandstone wall shown at the back of the painting has made a similar journey as the painting. Some of it has made a triumphant visit to Macquarie Street's heritage showcase of 19th century architecture.
 After being sliced and diced by LendLease during the excavation for the McCaffrey's apartments in Jacksons Landing, it then suffered a few years in ignominious limbo, in a stockpiled pyramid under the noman's land under the Anzac Bridge . 
 Ironically it came from the former "Paradise Quarry" so it should have been spared limbo.
Now these blocks are having a glorious afterlife being lovingly reshaped by master stonemasons in the Alexandria yards,  to adorn the classic façades of Sydney's most beautiful buildings.
Some appropriate graffiti from one of the onsite port-a-loos during the re-opening of the quarry - "Sandstone Rocks!"
Totally. 
  

U230 'Gargoyle, University of Sydney' 2009
oil on board 25 x 20cm

 Enquiries about this painting  

$550

This alarming little creature is one of the refurbished gargoyles hanging off one of the spires of the University of Sydney. He was carved from the sandstone extracted from the Jacksons Landing excavations, possibly even from the escarpment I painted in the background of "Industrial Cathedral". 

The MacLaurin Hall is an important piece of heritage of the University Quadrangle Building. Designed by the Government Architect of the day Walter Liberty Vernon it was constructed in 1911 as the Fisher Library  ,which was later relocated in 1963.

In October 2007, the University began conservation work on the façade of MacLaurin Hall. This included work on the sandstone walls, bosses, windows and gargoyles. They were treated with a poultice to remove salt; the poultice was left on for 10 days or until it fell off, and then re-applied to ensure the salt was removed. 
Before this treatment, some of the gargoyles had shown signs of splitting and falling. As the original  gargoyles crumbled they therefore had to be replaced or extensively refurbished so that they wouldn't fall on people's heads from a great height. 
Imagine one of those landing on your head!

Must be one of the Legendary "drop bears".

Related articles

• Pyrmont sandstone - The Lizards of Oz
• Looking over the overlooked-Urban decay in Pyrmont
• Keep your eyes on the prize (and your finger off the trigger)

• Where do you go after you've been a hole in the ground? (sydney-eye.blogspot.com)
• Sydney's GPO - once a facade always a facade (sydney-eye.blogspot.com)

Pyrmont sandstone - The Lizards of Oz

I used to think that in Sydney, sandstone was as common as dirt.
Sydney is to me, not the emerald city or the Harbour city, but a golden city - the sandstone city. Sandstone seems to be everywhere -from sand and rocks on the beaches to the glorious escarpments revealed by cuttings for expressways. But most of this apparent abundance is commercially useless and the rest is fit only for fill or crazy paving at best.
The only sandstone of sufficient quality and durability to be used to restore or replace the exquisite carvings of Sydney's  iconic 19th century architectural  heritage such as the Queen Victoria building, the buildings on Macquarie St, or the University of Sydney is Pyrmont yellowblock.
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock consisting mostly of quartz or a mix of quartz and feldspar sands, in conjunction with materials such as calcite, clay, iron oxides, and silica which cement it together. It takes on the color of its components, most commonly tan to yellowish or tinted pink to dark red due to varying levels of iron oxide.
 There are a lot of variations of texture and color, not many of which are suitable for commercial use. Common forms of sandstone include arkose which has a high feldspar content, graywacke which contains angular rock fragments, and conglomerate which contains rounded rock fragments. Other common stones included in this category are bluestone- a hard, dense feldspathic sandstone; brownstone- a reddish-brown stone taking its color from its high iron content;and flagstone- a sandstone or sandy slate that is easily split into large, thin slabs.

The spine of the Pyrmont peninsula is a sandstone ridge, still visible at Pyrmont Point despite reshaping by deforestation, quarrying, land reclamation and subsequent industrialization and de-industrialization.

Pyrmont's topography was dramatically altered as the quarrymasters cut vast swathes through its famous yellowblock, stripping it bare to make the rest of Sydney beautiful.

" Ways Terrace"
1994 oil on board 41x122cm

 $4,500

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Often the demolition madness that engulfed the peninsula throughout the 1990s would have the unexpected bonus of revealing the hidden beauty beneath the surface. 

In 1989 the gardens planted by local residents in the James Watkinson  Reserve in front of Ways Terrace were demolished and left derelict. The 2 dead trees on the hill were a notorious landmark for over a decade.
The hole became a pond with many waterfowl, so possibly it was the site of the original Pyrmont spring. 

When LendLease started the demolition of the CSR Distillery for the Jackson's Landing development, McCaffery's stables were excavated and revived as a premium source of sandstone. 
 It was cut like giant blocks of cheese and stored under the newly built Anzac Bridge before being sculpted to restore heritage projects on historic buildings all over Sydney.

"Pyrmont - McCaffery's Hill -Demolition of CSR Distillery "
2000
oil on canvas 61 x 46 cm

  $2,800

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This painting shows the site of the old "Paradise Quarry" , renowned as the source of the best Pyrmont yellowblock sandstone during the 19th century. 
The "paradise stone" was a warm honey-yellow to brown colour but was dense fine-grained and comparatively difficult to work compared to the stone from the other 2 quarries, "Purgatory" and "Hellhole".
After the quarries closed in the late 19th century, the McCaffrey's stables were built there by the CSR to stable the horses that transported the sugar and rum from the refinery and distillery.  Later the stables were used to house the brilliant green sugar trucks which had replaced the horses and carts.

 " Sandstone under the Anzac Bridge" 1998
oil on canvas 41 x 61cm

 $2,800

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After these blocks of sandstone had been quarried at McCaffrey's Stables, they were then sent to cool their heels for a while under the Anzac Bridge, where the dragon boats are now stored.
Later these blocks were sent to the stone masons trained by the master mason George Proudman under the Centenary Stoneworks Programme. Eventually this sandstone was used to restore heritage items such as the gargoyles of the University of Sydney.
 Pyrmont’s sandstone has decorated the best loved historic Sydney buildings such as the Australian Museum, the Sydney Post Office, the Lands Department and the University of Sydney. 

These intricate swirls of foliage writhe around the top of the columns of the western entrance of Sydney Technical College in Ultimo.

P258 'Capital of Sydney Technical College' 2012 oil on canvas 20x20cm

 $400

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The Sydney Technical College building, which is part of the  main campus of Sydney Institute of TAFE (Technical and Further Education), is on Mary Ann Street at the southern end of Bulwara Road in  Ultimo, although the street address is given as 651-731 Harris Street. Built in 1891, it was designed by William Kemp in the Federation Romanesque architectural style.  I call it Glebe Gothic.  P259 'Capital of Sydney Technical College' 2012 oil on canvas 20x20cm  $400 Enquiries   The heavily ornate brick and terracocotta construction is adorned with bizarrely incongruous Australian ornamental plants and animals such as waratahs, kangaroos, wombats, echidnas, platypuses and lizards.  There is a similar outburst of patriotism with the sculptors of the gargoyles and grotesques of the University of Sydney. Some Australian fauna can be adapted into truly frightening gargoyles and it's a pity that their forms were unknown to the master craftsmen of Cluny. One of the bug-eyed twitchy kangaroos with bared claws poised to hurtle off the roof of the Quadrangle is  known fondly by the students as "Skippy on a 3 day meth binge". 'The Lizards of oz- Sydney Technical College, Ultimo Tafe' 2012 oil on board 20x40cm   $880 Enquiries

Lizards do enjoy soaking up the warmth, and the golden sandstone attracts the few feeble rays of sun that have been available this wet summer.
These goannas have picked a precarious but attractive perch to catch up on their tans while stalking the hapless marsupials and monotremes that cling to the arches below. The platypus seems unaware but the possum looks very alarmed and turns to hiss in anger.
The sculptor has done a wonderful job of reproducing the scaliness of their skins, and even the slight greying discolouration of the sandstone on their backs helps add to the illusion of reptilian flesh.

• My Pyrmont page in this blog (janebennettartist.blogspot.com)
• Where do you go after you've been a hole in the ground? (sydney-eye.blogspot.com)
• Sydney's GPO - once a facade always a facade (sydney-eye.blogspot.com)

Related articles

• Pyrmont Sandstone - Rock On !
• Looking over the overlooked-Urban decay in Pyrmont

Looking over the overlooked-Urban decay in Pyrmont

"Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others." — Jonathan Swift

The next Pyrmont Festival of Food Wine and Art will be held 11am - 5pm on Sunday 20th May at Pirrama Park, the old Water Police site.

I will exhibit a selection of my Pyrmont canvases painted from the early 1980s - 2012. Pyrmont has changed beyond recognition from the early 1980s, from an almost deserted industrial ghost town to a media, retail and entertainment hub.

I painted 'en plein air' and was 'Artist in Residence' at many locations including Pyrmont Power Station, the CSR Refinery and Distillery, Pyrmont Goods Yard, the Waterpolice site, Jones Bay Wharf, Union Square and the top of the half completed Anzac Bridge. Most of my paintings were created on sites that were off-limits to the public.

However, sometimes I set up my easel by the side of the road - or even right in the middle of the road. There were few passers-by and almost no traffic. I have returned to paint scenes that I last painted a couple of decades ago to compare and contrast the past with the present.

On Harris Street a handful of derelict buildings still rub shoulders with the clean sharp angles and acidic colours of Jacksons Landing.

The "Terminus Hotel" on the western corner of Harris and John Street has become a pin-up for lovers of urban decay.

Its burnt sienna brickwork and emerald green doors mock the tastefully muted hues and expensive renovations of the up market "Point Hotel" on the other side of the road. This vine encrusted ex-pub proudly flaunts an air of seedy glamour, and stories about its scurrilous past and its mysterious closure have become part of the local mythology. It is going to hell in the proverbial handbasket and doesn't care who knows it.

'Old bakery corner of John and Harris St' 2012
oil on board 35x28cm.

 $770

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However the opposite corner of Harris and John Street has an equally haunting ruin which has been gently mouldering away for at least as long as its more spectacular neighbour.
This building on the corner of Harris and John Street was once a bakery. 

I have painted in Pyrmont and Ultimo for over 30 years now, but I don't actually remember when this ceased to be a thriving business.
If it ever really thrived.

"Pyrmont streetscape : Anzac Bridge from the corner of John, Pyrmont and Point streets" 1994
oil painting on canvas paper 100 x 75cm

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ANZAC Bridge from John st 1994 oil 91x31cm
PRIVATE COLLECTION SYDNEY

SOLD

 Enquiries  about similar paintings

Next door to the ex-bakery is "Chicks on Harris" ("chicks" in this context refers to fast food- I'm not sure that the owners thought through the implications of their name as a number of establishments in this area in the past have had chequered reputations).

'Black Dog (old bakery from John St)' 2012
oil on board 31x25cm

$660

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The old bakery had already been boarded up for some time, as there were archaeologically interesting layers of tatty posters layered on top of the boards which sealed the doors - a tradition that has continued to this day.

Related articles

• The end of the line (sydney-eye.blogspot.com)
• Both sides of the street - My new exhibition "St Vincent's -In the Art of Darlinghurst" (janebennettartist.blogspot.com)
• My Pyrmont page in this blog (janebennettartist.blogspot.com)
• Where do you go after you've been a hole in the ground? (sydney-eye.blogspot.com)
• Pyrmont Sandstone - Rock On! (janebennettartist.blogspot.com)
• A Tale of two hotels - the Terminus and the Point    (janebennettartist.blogspot.com)
• The 'poof' factor (sydney-eye.blogspot.com)
• "Empty dwellings"  (Sydney Morning Herald - About the eccentric couple Sydney property magnates Isaac and Susan Wakil, who own the Terminus Hotel and a swag of 15 other derelict properties in Pyrmont and other areas of inner Sydney)