Industrial Cathedral

Industrial Cathedral
"Industrial Cathedral" charcoal on paper 131 x 131 cm Jane Bennett. Finalist in 1998 Dobell Drawing Prize Art Gallery of NSW Finalist 1998 Blake Prize Winner 1998 Hunter's Hill Open Art Prize

About Me

My photo
Sydney, NSW, Australia
I'm an Industrial Heritage Artist who paints "en plein air".If it's damaged, derelict, doomed and about to disappear, I'll be there to paint it.

Saturday 17 December 2011

Brewer's Droop - Painting the Carleton United Brewery, Chippendale

The southern edge of the Sydney CBD, adjacent to Central railway station incorporating Broadway and Chippendale, was dominated by a walled off 'Empire of Beer' for over 170 years.
Kent Brewery was built by John Tooth and Charles Newnham in 1835. It exploited the fresh water from nearby Blackwattle Creek. However, Blackwattle Creek didn't stay fresh for long, and soon the surrounding area was a notorious slum.
The unregulated and noxious local industries included the Swamp Abattoirs across Parramatta Road in Ultimo, which provided the Char House of the Colonial Sugar Refinery with bones to burn to produce charcoal for filtering sugar.
Plein air oil painting of the Carleton United Brewery site in Chippendale painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
CH4 Pub with no beer- Carleton United Brewery 2
2009 oil on canvas 75 x 100cm
Available
When bubonic plague hit waterside Sydney in the first decade of the 20th century, the authorities embarked on a program of slum clearances and 350 Chippendale houses were resumed by 1911.
Tooth's brewery site moved into the vacuum, extending their empire of beer more than 6 acres into the surrounding residential areas. Tooth's owned the western side of Kensington Street, and demolished properties  to construct new brewery buildings, as well as a wall to exclude the public. Yet another wall was built on the northern side of Wellington Street.
You can see this wall running behind the Irving Street Brewery boiler house in the painting above, which was painted during the demolition craziness not long after the property had been bought by Frasers Property for redevelopment.
Tooth’s Irving Street Brewery was built in 1912, and covered most of the land between Carlton and Balfour Streets.
Plein air oil painting of the Carleton United Brewery site in Chippendale painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
CH3 Pub with no beer- Carleton United Brewery
2009 oil on canvas 100 x 75cm
Available

This iconic Sydney landmark is an 180 ft high octagonal brick tapering structure with metal strapping with cracked coping. Brick buttresses transfer the structure to a square base. 
The Irving Street Brewing Tower ceased its brewing operation in 1979, as it was superseded by the New Brewhouse.
It was one of the earliest and most prominent chimney stacks built in the CBD, and one of the last remaining in inner Sydney.
In the 1980s, a large redevelopment saw the demolition of all but one of the original Kent Brewery buildings. and Carlton and Uniting Breweries purchased it.
Until 1983 there were 1000 personnel at the brewery including lab staff, engineers, plumbers, fitters and turners, coppersmiths, blacksmiths, coopers, trades assistants, storemen, drivers and security.
In 1983 Tooth and Co were taken over by the Adelaide Steamship Company and the brewing assets were sold to Carlton and United Breweries and in 2003 the brewery closed forever.
Frasers Property bought the 5.8 hectare site in 2007 and embarked on a wildly ambitious $2 billion urban renewal project. It incorporates mixed use development including high density apartments,student accommodation in Kensington and Abercrombie Streets, a shopping centre, office blocks, and the old Brewery will be turned into a boutique hotel.
In my paintings you can see how the Irving Street Brewery building resembled a ruined castle on an island in the middle of a moat. It was a dreadfully boggy site after all the other buildings were clear felled around it and therre was a perpetual pool of water surrounding the old brewery.
Some heritage features have been selectively kept in the mix. Run down terraces in Kensington Street have become "Spice Alley", a funky "Eat Street", the sandstone gateway has been kept and the Irving Street Brewery building has now been adaptively reused as a community facility while also housing the site’s sustainable features including the tri generation plant providing the power, heating and cooling.
Chippendale, once an embarrassing slum, is now the fashionable hipster enclave known as Central Park.

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Friday 2 December 2011

Painting the Tugboats of Sydney Harbour - the 'Wilga', 'Wonga' 'Woona' and 'Watagan'

Looking for suitable subject matter to paint for the Xmas exhibition at the Frances Keevil Gallery, I couldn't resist the tugs.
Now that there are fewer large ships coming in to Sydney Harbour, they are harder to spot.
Marine painting- plein air oil painting of tug in Sydney Harbour by marine artist Jane Bennett




















The best opportunities are when they escort the tankers in and out of Gore Cove, and when the cruise ships come in to Barangaroo. Peak cruise ship season is from October to the end of February, so this means a bumper crop of tugboat paintings.
Marine painting- plein air oil painting of tug in Sydney Harbour by marine artist Jane Bennett
'The 'Wonga' 2011 oil on board 28 x 35cm
Enquiries about similar paintings



















My studio at Moore's Wharf, opposite Walsh Bay Wharves on the right and Barangaroo to the left, offers good vantage points for tug spotting.
As well as painting from the wharf at ground level when the weather permits, I have studio space on the top floor in the 'loft', which gives me a 'bird's eye view'.
Marine painting- plein air oil painting of tug in Sydney Harbour by marine artist Jane Bennett
'The 'Wilga' 2011 oil on board 28 x 35cm
Enquiries about similar paintings
In this set of paintings, I have varied the viewpoint and the background - the paintings of the 'Wilga' and the 'Wonga' feature the tugs alone against the sea and are painted from the top floor of Moore's Wharf; the 'Woona' (which has recently been repainted in its new livery of Naples yellow and navy - it used to be white with a black hull) is painted in late afternoon against the spectacular backdrop of Goat Island; and the 'Watagan', one of the smaller tugs, is shown dwarfed by the giant white cruise ship it is escorting.
Marine painting- plein air oil painting of tug in Sydney Harbour by marine artist Jane Bennett
And a tugboat in action - 'Watagan' bringing the 'Pacific Dawn' into Barangaroo's temporary cruise ship terminal.
Sydney's new cruise ship terminal will be built at White Bay, as soon as the old White Bay Transit Shed has been demolished.
In the meantime, there are a motley collection of vessels berthed there for me to paint.  
Marine painting- plein air oil painting of tug in Sydney Harbour by marine artist Jane Bennett






















All the previous paintings are of Svitzer tugs and painted from around Moore's Wharf.
This is the odd one out in the series, as it was painted at White Bay, and was tied up rather than out on the water. I thought that it would be a good contrast.
I fell in love with the pale blue tug PB Endeavour, one of the Pacific Basin Tugs.
I was admiring it when it has been berthed at White Bay Berth 5, next to the 'Bob Barker - Sea Shepherd'.
The PB Endeavour was launched just over a year ago, and was a bargain at $9 million or so ! I wish! But as it falls a little bit outside my budget, I'll have to settle for painting it.

Marine painting- plein air oil painting of tug in Sydney Harbour by marine artist Jane Bennett
'The 'PB Endeavour' at White Bay 
2011 oil on board 28 x 35cm
Painted en plein air at White Bay Wharf, Berth 5

Sold
Marine painting- plein air oil painting of tug in Sydney Harbour by marine artist Jane Bennett
'The 'PB Endeavour' at White Bay 
2011 oil on board 28 x 35cm
Painted en plein air at White Bay Wharf, Berth 5
Sold
Marine painting- plein air oil painting of tug in Sydney Harbour by marine artist Jane Bennett
'The 'PB Endeavour' at White Bay 
2011 oil on board 28 x 35cm
Painted en plein air at White Bay Wharf, Berth 5

Sold

































































I'll display this set of little tugboat paintings in the Xmas show at Frances Keevil Gallery, opening on Saturday 10th December 2011

Tuesday 29 November 2011

Homage to Picasso, Part 2 - Postcards from Picasso

The following sketches were all drawn in the Musée National Picasso in 1997 during my Marten Bequest Travelling Art Scholarship.
I had run out of paper, so I took some free postcards from the bookshop to record my thoughts.



This is the other side of the postcard from the bookshop of the Musée National Picasso.
I used the back of these to draw on at first as an act of desperation - I had run out of art materials and money!
However, from that time on, whenever I visit an exhibition I now always use the catalogue or booklet from the gallery to record my thoughts about the exhibition. It gives the sketches some context, I can remember exactly what I have seen and where.
At school I had driven my teachers crazy by annotating my textbooks in a similar fashion whenever I was bored, which meant about 99% of every lesson. This turned out to be a good foundation for my future career rather than timewasting and daydreaming. Somewhere in a dusty school cupboard there might still exist a few of my "illustrated manuscripts".


My sketch of "Study for 'Les Desmoiselles D'Avignon' "
Pablo Picasso 1907
ink on card 18 x 13cm 1997
Available 


During my Travelling Art Scholarship I filled page after page every day with annotated sketches of famous paintings and observations about my surroundings. Sometimes this was to learn some technique or to note some aspect of the painting for use later in one of my own paintings. Mostly it was just to make sure that I really looked at the works and didn't just skim over them. If I draw something I will remember what I have seen. If I've just taken a photo of something, I'll swiftly forget it. The greatest compliment you can pay to a work of art is to give it your time and attention.
I was interested in seeing the working sketches for iconic works such as 'Les Desmoiselles D'Avignon'- what was included; what was discarded - the paths not taken.The painting is now such an icon of modern art that it is easy to forget that its final form was not inevitable, but arrived at after months of struggle.


My ink drawing of
"Head of Marie-Therese Walter" Pablo Picasso, Boisgeloup 1932
ink on card 18 x 13cm 1997
Available 


My drawing of "Le Viel Homme Assis" by Pablo Picasso
graphite on card 18 x 13cm 1997
Available 


My drawing of
"Le Fou", a bronze sculpture by Pablo Picasso from 1905
graphite on card 18 x 13cm 1997
Available 
This little bronze was also exhibited in the current exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW "Picasso: masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris".


My ink drawing of one of Pablo Picasso's classically inspired heads.
ink on card 18 x 13cm 1997
Available 
I love the Protean nature of Picasso's art - how he would switch from the restrained classical poise in this example to the wild energy and cartoonish violence of the next example without missing a beat.


My gouache and ink drawing of
Pablo Picasso's Le baiser (The kiss) 1969, oil on canvas,
97 × 130 cm, and above it "Les Banderilla"
ink and gouache on card 18 x 13cm 1997
Available 

This oil painting is also included in the current exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW "Picasso: masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris".

My gouache and ink drawing of
Pablo Picasso's 1961 "Woman and child"
ink and gouache on card 18 x 13cm 1997
Available 


My gouache and ink drawing of Pablo Picasso's
1961 project for a monument
"Femme aux bras ecartes"
ink and gouache on card 18 x 13cm 1997
Available 


My gouache and ink drawing of
Pablo Picasso's"La Jeune Fille assise"
ink and gouache on card 18 x 13cm 1997
Available 


My gouache and ink drawing of a faun by Pablo Picasso
ink and gouache on card 18 x 13cm 1997
Available 


My gouache and ink painting of
"L'homme au mouton (Man with sheep)" Pablo Picasso, 1940s
ink and gouache on card 36 x 13cm 1997
Available 

Close up detail of my gouache and ink painting of
"L'homme au mouton (Man with sheep)" Pablo Picasso, 1940s
ink and gouache on card 18 x 13cm 1997
Available 

"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." (Pablo Picasso) I loved the gentle expression on the face of "L'homme au mouton (Man with sheep)" Pablo Picasso, 1940s. If I was having a difficult day, I would feel revived by looking at his calm and tender features.
"I paint the way someone bites his fingernails; for me, painting is a bad habit because I don't know nor can I do anything else." (Pablo Picasso)
In the very first week of my Travelling Art Scholarship, I had accidentally dropped my camera off a bridge in Rotterdam. It seemed like a disaster at first, but it turned out to be the best thing I could have ever done to hone my drawing skills, as it forced me to get faster and more decisive with my work or miss the moment entirely. My drawings were more interesting than my photos were anyway and I didn't bother replacing my camera until after I got back to Australia.
Another thing that initially seemed to be a disaster and turned out to be a blessing in disguise, was that I am completely useless at learning new languages. Despite my best efforts, my German is appalling, my French is pitiful and my Italian is worse. And according to the English, I don't speak English all that well either! If I wanted to make myself understood, I would have to draw whatever I needed. This would at least get a laugh, if nothing else. It worked a treat, and I had no problems with communication wherever I went. Art is truly a universal language.
It taught me that a work of art can have many purposes, from shallow to deep.

Related articles
(guardian.co.uk)

Related posts in this blog

Homage to Picasso Part 1

Sunday 27 November 2011

Homage to Picasso Part 1

My drawings of the exhibition "Picasso: masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris" Art Gallery of NSW
I dropped off my entry to the Dobell drawing Prize at the Art Gallery of NSW just before the cut-off time on Friday afternoon and had a rare spare couple of hours to myself before the opening of the "Ship to Shore" exhibition at the Mosman Art Gallery.
The Art Gallery didn't look too crowded for once so I visited the Picasso exhibition.
During my Marten Bequest Travelling Art Scholarship 1996 -7, I spent a total of 6 months living in Paris, almost long enough to feel like a local. As I had won a studio residency from the Trustees of the Art Gallery of NSW, I had spent most of that time living in the Moya Dyring studio at the Cite Internationale des Arts in the Marais. However, after my residency had finished, I then spent about a month living in the charming hotel L'Hostellerie du Marais in a 17th-century building located near Place des Vosges and the historic Marais district.
It was not far from the Cirque D'Hiver and just down the road from the Picasso museum in the rue de Thorigny. I would often drop in there on my way back to my hotel, so most of the works on display in this exhibition were old friends.


My drawing of
Pablo Picasso's Le couper des tetes
(the head-cutter) Spring 1901
Available  

However, there were still a few surprises. Just when I had thought I was familiar with all of Picasso's early work, I came face to face with a very confronting little sketch, which I sincerely hope wasn't done from life!
I was trying to pin down what the unnerving look on the face of the "head cutter" reminded me of. The droogy leer of Malcolm Mc Dowell in Stanley Kubrick's iconic film of "A Clockwork Orange" perhaps, plus the stance of the swaggering murderer Lacenaire, played by Marcel Herrand in Marcel Carne's "Les Enfants du Paradis" . The artistic ancestors of this drawing surely include Picasso's countryman Goya and the caricaturist Daumier, but the most immediate influence would have been the recently deceased Toulouse-Lautrec, who had a taste for subject matter verging on the morbid or perverse. Possibly Picasso would even have been aware of Walter Sickert's series of paintings about the Camden Town murders.



As you can see here, whenever I run out of pages in my drawing books, I will use whatever comes to hand.
I like using the catalogue to record my impressions of the exhibition.


My sketch of
Pablo Picasso's "La Celestine" 1904 and "Etude academique"
Available 


My sketch of a Pablo Picasso sculpture
Available 

My sketches of
Pablo Picasso's "L'homme au mouton"
and his assemblage of the bicycle seat/bull's head
Available  
In my next post "Homage to Picasso, Part 2 - Postcards from Picasso" I will show some of the sketches I did when I visited the Musée National Picasso in Paris in 1997.

Related articles
"Picasso: masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris"
Garance: our lasting affair | Agnès Poirier (guardian.co.uk)
Picasso's Hungry Hand Stars in Flipbook Show at Frick: Review (businessweek.com)
Les Enfants du Paradis - review (guardian.co.uk)
Les Enfants du Paradis - review (guardian.co.uk)
Stanley Kubrick & Malcolm McDowell on the set of A Clockwork Orange (1971, dir. Stanley Kubrick) (via The Stanley Kubrick Archives) (sgtr.wordpress.com)
Letters: Tainted Paradise (guardian.co.uk)
Pablo Picasso show pays belated homage to Spanish genius (guardian.co.uk)

Thursday 24 November 2011

Ship to Shore - the 11th annual exhibition by the Australian Society of Marine Artists at Mosman Regional Art Gallery


Related Posts

Ghost ship - ex-HMAS Adelaide at Glebe - Part 1






See my Hungry Mile page in this blog

For more paintings and information about the ex-HMAS Adelaide:

See my White Bay Wharf / Glebe island Wharf page in this blog

Friday 18 November 2011

Sea no evil? Painting the 'Sea Shepherd' at White Bay

The sign of the pirate, the snarling teeth on the bow and the spikes protruding from the helipad. 
Yes, the 'Bob Barker' from Sea Shepherd Australia was in Sydney until Friday.
I was there intending to paint the White Bay Transit Shed before its demolition, but the crew of the "Sea Shepherd", who were curious about the "Artist in Residence" on the wharf, challenged me to see if I could paint their ship while they filmed me. 
I picked up my easel and moved a bit closer to the ship, but out of the way of the crane delivering supplies for their Antarctic voyage. 

Jane Bennett industrial heritage artist painting the Sea Shepherd's 'Bob Barker' at White Bay Wharf en plein air











 
"Bob Barker - Sea Shepherd"
2011 oil on canvas 25 x 51cm 

The "Bob Barker - Sea Shepherd" crew challenged me to paint their ship before their departure. 
Nothing like a bit of pressure! These 2 photos of me and my canvas were taken by some of the crew.
"Bob Barker - Sea Shepherd" 
2011 oil on canvas 25 x 51cm

With my completed canvas of the "Bob Barker - Sea Shepherd" in front of the ship.
The ship's crazy paint job made it hard to discern its proportions against the blue sky and sea.
I don't know whether this helps to camouflage it or make it stand out against the backdrop of the icy Southern ocean.
The vessel didn't exactly have classical lines, and there were a lot of strange and fiddly details to cope with. Some of these I didn't really understand until after I had finished my painting and was given a celebratory tour of the ship. Strange yellow and black attachments turned out to be barricading to prevent easy boarding. Later in the afternoon more of these were attached to the upper deck helipad at a jaunty angle - giving the ship an even more raffish and piratical air.
Jane Bennett industrial heritage artist painting the Sea Shepherd's 'Bob Barker' at White Bay Wharf en plein air
I had completed the canvas of the "Bob Barker - Sea Shepherd" by mid - afternoon and here it is on my easel in front of the ship.
Jane Bennett industrial heritage artist painting the Sea Shepherd's 'Bob Barker' at White Bay Wharf en plein air
"Bob Barker - Sea Shepherd"
2011 oil on canvas 25 x 51cm 













 
I started the canvas about 10.30 am and finished it by about 1.30pm, then spent a couple of hours having a guided tour of the ship. Unfortunately the next day was quite windy and I aggravated an old shoulder injury while chasing a runaway canvas that had been caught in a sudden gust of wind, so I missed their departure on Friday.

 

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