Industrial Revelation - Jane Bennett

Time for Safety

2012-03-04T12:30:00.000+11:00

"It is with fire that blacksmiths iron subdue
Unto fair form, the image of their thought :
Nor without fire hath any artist wrought
Gold to its utmost purity of hue.
Nay, nor the unmatched phoenix lives anew,
Unless she burn."

Michelangelo, Sonnet 59

I've finally completed my portrait of Chris forging chisels.

Portrait of "Chris Sulis forging chisels" 2011-12 oil on canvas 183 x 122cm with the tools of trade.

Portrait of "Chris Sulis forging chisels" 2011-12 oil on canvas 183 x 122cm on the easel

In Renaissance and Baroque paintings, the artist would often paint dark red velvet drapery fluttering behind the subject. The dye used for this colour was extracted from the murex shell. It was prohibitively expensive and difficult to obtain, so using it as a backdrop would emphasise the aura of aristocratic power. Think of the background to Van Dyck's portraits of the pre-Civil War English court or Titian's portraits of the Papacy.
My luxurious crimson curtain is actually the welding screen, but it does give a feeling of the lost glories of the past.

Detail from portrait of "Chris Sulis forging chisels" 2011-12 oil on canvas 183 x 122cm

"Time for Safety" detail from portrait of "Chris Sulis forging chisels" 2011-12 oil on canvas 183 x 122cm

A decrepit "Time for Safety" sign is propped against the arched window frame. It reminds me more of a late Victorian moralizing wall plaque than an early example of Occupational Health and Safety regulations.

"Time for Safety" detail from portrait of "Chris Sulis forging chisels" 2011-12 oil on canvas 183 x 122cm

These days people have become risk averse to a ridiculous degree. In doing so they lose the chance to turn their fear into courage.

To paraphrase an old song, there is a time for safety and there is a time for risk.
Being an artist is risky. Doing anything interesting is always inherently risky.

Risks aren't always obvious.
The major risk to the blacksmiths isn't their hair catching fire, as they are too skilled. The real threat is that a combination of economic and political conditions could make their entire existance no longer viable.

"Blacksmith forging chisels" 2011-12 oil on canvas 122 x 183cm

I'm now touching up the background of this painting of a different stage of the chisel forging process. This painting shows Euan crouched in the centre as the Massey hammer pounds the point into shape.
I'm very happy with both of these paintings.
So happy that next week I'll enter the painting of Chris in the Archibald Prize and the one of Euan in the Sulman Prize at the Art Gallery of NSW.
I'm not famous and neither are they, so I haven't a prayer with either work.
I'll waste $60 and half a day delivering them, but I feel like entering just for a stir.

Might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb.

Unlike most of the entries, these haven't been whipped up just to enter a prize but are part of my normal work. I'm sick of the typical Archibald formula for prize winning entries - a giant close up of a head, without context or content, painted from a slide projector.

Detail from portrait of "Chris Sulis forging chisels" 2011-12 oil on canvas 183 x 122cm

I hadn't originally expected this to be a portrait, but one of a series of paintings of the process of chisel forging. The previous painting showing Euan at the hammer is a very good likeness, but the figure is in the midground, although he is the focus of the whole work. The blacksmiths could not "pose" for me in any formal sense of the word, or even stay still for more than a few seconds as they were very busy working to their deadline. I took an immense risk painting a large full length figure dominating the foreground in a pose that he could not sustain for longer than a few seconds. I had to watch and wait whilst immersing myself in their world. The more I painted Chris, the more his pose seemed to gather authority and purpose.
As I have painted Chris doing the work that he loves in the place that he loves, this painting will probably be tagged with the pejorative term "genre piece". Yet it tells you more about the thoughts and values of the subject than most Archibald portraits.

The fire within

2012-03-03T13:02:00.001+11:00

"What is accomplished by fire is alchemy, whether in the furnace or kitchen stove."

Paracelsus

Fire is still a source of mystery and magic. It is a transforming element as well as a symbol of destruction. The discovery that fire could smelt metal was an immense technical advance in the evolution of humanity.
The smiths had at their command a material that could be cast, moulded, or hammered into a tool, an ornament, a vessel for cooking or storing food or drink, or a weapon.

Unfinished painting of "Chris, the blacksmith of Wrought Artworks, forging chisels" 2011-12 oil painting on canvas 183 x 122cm

I started this large (183 x 122cm) canvas of the blacksmith Chris Sulis quenching a chisel late last year. This is how the canvas looked when I displayed it at the recent ATP Open Day on Saturday 25th February 2012.
I was interrupted in the progress of this large canvas by having to prepare for 3 major solo exhibitions in less than 4 months. Most artists hold only 1 solo show every 2 years so this totally disrupted the progress of my painting.

I hate displaying unfinished paintings, but I did so at the ATP Open Day as I thought that it would give the audience a useful insight into the painting process. They would see me starting a variety of small canvases, compare these cryptic squiggles to the half finished ones, and then be able to see finished works in the exhibition in Bay 12. One man thought that I was using one of the small canvases as a palette, until an image of Guido hammering started to appear from the cloud of brushstrokes!

A close up detail of the unfinished painting of Chris. He is quenching one of a seemingly endless pile of chisels, which have to be reforged and sharpened weekly.

On Monday I decided it was about time to complete the large canvas. It was certainly worth finishing, but it was a large, complex and ambitious work, full of perspective and lighting problems. I hadn't been able to spend much time painting large scale works this year due to my punishing exhibition schedule, so I felt a bit rusty. And the blacksmiths can't stop to model, however much they might like to - they are very busy!

Unfinished painting of "Chris, the blacksmith of Wrought Artworks, forging chisels" 2011-12 oil painting on canvas 183 x 122cm

This shows my large painting as it was on Tuesday mid-morning.
Chris is working the Massey steam hammer in the background. He will stay in this tense crouch for about 30 seconds - and this will be the longest that he will stay still all day!

Every Tuesday, a pile of 100 - 150 chisels arrive to be reforged, sharpened and picked up the next Tuesday. Some of them have been bent into "J" shaped giant fishhooks and need a combination of heating, hammering on both the traditional anvil and the heritage Massey air hammer and even angle grinding. They are described as "chisels","points" or "tapping bars" - I don't know which of these terms is correct (if any!). Apparently these points are attached to jackhammers. One of the blacksmiths estimated that during his apprenticeship he would have reforged about 1,000 of these in a week.
They have mixed feelings about this task - it seems repetitive and neverending but they love using the old -fashioned machinery.
I have similar feelings - it is so exciting to paint this, but it is incredibly noisy and afterwards I feel drained and exhausted.
The pounding of the Massey hammer can be heard even through earmuffs, and there is a small yet fierce furnace heating the points that makes this an uncomfortable place to work on such a humid day.

Unfinished painting of "Chris, the blacksmith of Wrought Artworks, forging chisels" 2011-12 oil painting on canvas 183 x 122cm

This is how my painting looked after the Tuesday forging session. My next post will show further progress.
I'm grateful to Julie from "Sydney Eye" who has now posted several articles featuring my series of paintings of Wrought Artworks. The most recent are :
En plein air with street cred
The Village smithy

The slow return from the fire

2012-03-01T23:10:00.000+11:00

On the ATP Open Day I had to be in three places at once.
I was to exhibit my paintings of Eveleigh in the Exhibition Hall and paint while the blacksmiths of Wrought Artworks gave their forging demonstrations.

There were to be 38 paintings in the Exhibition Hall, displayed on 20 easels.The selection of works included 2 works on paper framed under glass, that were so large that they could only just be crammed into my station wagon. Some of the paintings were at my home in the north-western suburbs and some at the Frances Keevil Gallery in Double Bay.
In addition to this, I was displaying another 8 paintings of the blacksmiths in Bay 1/2. as well as some large half finished canvases. I also had to bring my French box easel, palette and paint so that I could give the onlookers an insight into the process of painting from life.
The 20 easels required a separate journey, as I have learnt the hard way that trying to transport paintings and easels in the one trip always ends in tears. Unfortunately all of the deliveries and all the setting up of the exhibition had to be on Friday, the day before, so this resulted in five trips.

On the Open Day I received magnificent help from both of the directors of the Frances Keevil Gallery, Frances Keevil and Lynn Westacott, who both came along to look after the exhibition and stayed to pack up and deliver works back to the gallery.
I also received a great deal of help from a most unexpected source. A couple of weeks before, I had been invited to talk about my work at the inner-western Sydney branch of Rotary. Despite my total cluelessness about Powerpoint ( I managed to disconnect my laptop, but I fortunately had brought some canvases with me in case I messed up the technology), I must have done something right. Fay Thurlow, Ron Bottrill and Tony Bastow from Rotary all turned up, full of enthusiasm and energy.

With my team of helpers!

I was so grateful for this! When I had arranged the display the night before, I didn't know what other activities would take place in the Hall, and as a result, all the paintings were down the wrong end of the enormous space and facing the wrong direction! Left to my own devices, I wouldn't have had the strength to do anything, but after I returned from my first stint of painting I found the entire exhibition had been moved halfway across the hall as though by magic!
This was over and above the call of duty, and it freed me to be able to just be able to paint without worrying about anything else.
I think the relief and gratitude showed in my face as I painted!

This shows me starting a medium size canvas of the blacksmiths hand forging and hammering.

The blacksmith in the background is Chris Sulis, who is also the subject of the very large half finished canvas displayed next to me in the photo below.

Art and life. I'm starting a canvas of Chris hand forging, next to my giant canvas portrait of Chris forging chisels on the Massey steam hammer.


No makeup, no sleep for 2 days, no breakfast and totally knackered! But finally all the hard work of preparation is over and I can relax and get back to painting. On my easel is the start of my painting of one of the furnaces, while on my table is a quick study of the master blacksmith, Guido Gouvernor, hammering.

I quickly started the largest spare canvas that I had. As well as giving the onlookers something to see, it helps just to break the ice. It's important for me to start quickly - to get something on the canvas even if I later paint out every mark I make. If I sit there deliberating too long I can get paralysed with fear that I will make the wrong brushstroke and make a fool of myself in public. There is no time for fear or second thoughts on a day like this.
I have to make every moment count. I make cryptic scribbly marks in paint on a dozen small canvases at my feet, as I try to commit the nonchalent balletic grace of the blacksmiths to memory. They are swift and economical with their movements, as only men who are waving around large pieces of red hot metal in a confined space can be.
Their gestures sometimes bring to mind echoes of half forgotten classical poses from art history. The tense crouch of quenching a chisel in a trough is briefly transformed into the stance of a Roman about to spear a dying Gaul.
Although their movements are swift, once I pick up the rhythmn and sequence of their routine I can isolate gestures that will make interesting paintings
The blacksmiths rarely fire their furnaces now. Most of their work involves welding rather than traditional blacksmithing techniques. This is as much a treat for them as it is for their audience.
There were 2 locations to paint on the Open Day. At the northern end of the Blacksmith's enclosure, Guido and Chris had lit a furnace for a more or less continuous demonstration of hand forging and hammering techniques. About every 2 hours they would open the gates to let people in for the spectacular steam hammer forging sessions. I would then carefully balance my brushes on my palette and scamper past the barriers just in time to set up. I spent all day running from one site to the other in a sort of mad artistic relay race.
I find painting in these circumstances exhilerating, as much sport as art.

This was taken at the end of the first steam hammer forging demonstration. I have just started a small canvas of the master blacksmith, Guido Gouvernor and Chris Sulis at the Massey steam hammer. Guido (wearing a festive pair of bright red earmuffs) is standing tensely in the foreground.

This shows the same canvas after the second forging demonstration. I have been able to add the face and arms of Chris,who is holding the object being forged.

In the afternoon, I visited my exhibition in Bay 12, and was very impressed with the way that it had been re-arranged by my friends.

Some visitors in front of my painting of the BHP Goods Yard, Newcastle 1998.

A young train buff taking photos of my paintings of the lamp trikes of the Paint Shop of North Eveleigh.

One of the features of the Open Day was the inaugural Eveleigh Film Festival. The photo below shows two of the heroes of my favourite railway film "Darling Island Shunters". Darling Island was ending its days a a working goods yard, just as I was starting to be serious about my project of painting Pyrmont.

I'm so glad that I had included a tiny little painting of the Darling Island Goods Yard which I had painted in the 1980s, and a book of photos of my other paintings of Pyrmont.

They had also ridden the ancient lamp trikes that I had painted in the canvases behind them.

"Darling Island Shunters"

I have just read Julie's wonderful post about the Open Day Singing the body electric.The Walt Whitman poem chosen to accompany her photos has always been one of my favourite pieces of writing. It manages to put into words the feelings that I have when I paint far better than I ever could.

To a Good Home- St Vincent's in the Art of Darlinghurst update

2012-02-17T11:07:00.002+11:00

A few of the paintings in my exhibition at St Vincent's have found good homes. In fact, the best homes I could have imagined!
A couple of days ago a man walked past the Frances Keevil Gallery and saw the printed article, that I had cut out of the Sydney Morning Herald, on the door. He then went to the hospital to see the exhibition as he recognised the street and houses from the tiny photo of my painting. His parents had apparently lived in one of the houses. I'm not sure whether it was 372 Victoria Street, which later housed Diabetes Australia, or 374 Victoria Street, which later became the R.M.O. He then purchased these 2 paintings as treasured memories of his family history.

"Victoria st terraces Nos 372-4 - the Diabetes Centre & the RMO" 2009 oil on canvas 51x41cm.
$2,400
SOLD

Enquiries about similar paintings

"Victoria st terraces-Diabetes Australia" 2009 oil on canvas 31x31cm.

$990
SOLD
Enquiries about similar paintings

'Victoria Street mural and the clinic' 2010 oil on canvas 38 x 76cm

$3,300
SOLD

Enquiries about similar paintings

Now I have heard that the purchaser of "Victoria Street mural and the clinic" intends to bequeath it to the hospital, where it will stay in the office as "an important reminder of our past".
Often I never get to discover the reasons why someone buys one of my paintings. I love to find their story about the place that has such meaning for them.
When I painted these works, I had received so many lovely comments from the patients and staff of the terraces and clinic, who had loved the World Aids Day mural and the surrounding buildings.
It means a lot to an artist for their artwork to be appreciated by someone with a personal connection to the subject matter. What I do really matters to me, rather than being some intellectual painterly exercise.
Often I have been asked "why do I paint the particular subjects that I do?". I struggle to find the exact words to describe the feelings that I have, as I am a much better painter than I am a writer, but the fate of these paintings goes right to the core of my reasons.
The first two paintings have filled in a missing chapter of someone's lost personal history. The painting of the mural and the clinic will now hang forever as a symbol of hope and recovery.

ATP Open Day - Saturday, 25 Feb 2012

2012-02-14T10:05:00.002+11:00

Just wanted to let you know about theforthcoming Open Day, to be held at the Australian Technology Park on 25February, 2012 from 10 am - 4 pm which includes a large range of heritagerelated events.

The inaugural Eveleigh Film Festival will commencea little earlier at 9.30 am with a tribute to JP McGowan, the son ofan Eveleigh Railway steam locomotive driver who made many railway related filmsin Hollywood in the early 1900’s.

“Blacksmith” 2009 oil on canvas 100x75cm

$7,700

Enquiries

In Bay 1 / 2 I will be exhibiting aselection of my paintings of the blacksmiths of Wrought Artworks on the verysite on which they were painted.

The blacksmiths will be giving hand forging demonstrationson the anvil every half hour and at 11 am and 2pm the Master Blacksmith GuidoGouvernor will give a spectacular demonstration of forging using the massiveVictorian era heritage power hammers. I will be painting canvases to record theseexciting events.

E90 "The Forging Demonstration - All fired up"2011 oil on canvas 36 x 46cm

$1800

Enquiries

Bay 1/2, Eveleigh Railway Workshops.My half - finished canvas of the blacksmith forging a chisel. This is a close up detail of the large canvas (183 x 122cm) showing the tension and concentration on the face of Chris as he quenches the white-hot chisel in the water trough.

Bay 1/2, Eveleigh Railway Workshops. My half - finished canvas of the blacksmith forging a chisel. This shows the entire canvas against the background of this atmospheric time capsule of a bygone era.

Bay 1/2, Eveleigh Railway Workshops. This shows even more of the interior and the fascinating relics of the Industrial Revolution. Most of the machines are still in working order, as they have been lovingly cared for by the blacksmiths of Wrought Artworks.

These photos show my half finished large canvas of one of the blacksmiths quenching a chisel which he had just forged with one of the majestic Victorian era power hammers, which can be seen lurking in the background of the horizontal photo.

The forges of Bay 1/2, Australian Technology Park, Eveleigh Railway Workshops have been kept glowing for over 140 years!

“The 3801 steaming” 2008 oil on canvas 36 x 28cm

$1100

Enquiries

'The 'SMR 18'-interior of Large Erecting Shop' 2007oil on canvas 51x76cm

$4,200

Enquiries

There will be a steam train, SMR18, displayed near Channel 7 by the volunteers from 3801 limited (see www.3801limited.com.au for more details) and I will also exhibit aselection of my paintings of the steam trains of the Large Erecting Shopnearby. I have included a canvas of SMR 18 inside the Large Erecting Shop in myexhibition.

For more information please see http://www.atpopenday.com.au/heritage

You can find further details at the followingwebsites:

http://www.atpopenday.com.au/ http://eveleigh-film-fest.com/

FREE ADMISSION - FREE ONSITE PARKING OR COME BY RAIL
ENTRANCE- HENDERSON ROAD, ALEXANDRIA
HOW TO GET HERE

Hope to see you on the 25th February!

Both sides of the street - My new exhibition "St Vincent's -In the Art of Darlinghurst"

2012-02-10T10:32:00.000+11:00

Hanging my exhibition St Vincent's -In the Art of Darlinghurst

In this exhibition I have displayed 16 paintings of Victoria Street.
As the Xavier Art Space is a long corridor, I decided to add another 16 or so paintings of other inner city streetscapes.
Most of these other paintings whether of Pyrmont, White Bay, Surry Hills, Darlinghurst or Waterloo seem to be of pubs or former pubs. Derelict pubs like the Terminus, recently closed pubs like the Hopetoun, pubs that were burnt down in the dead of night under mysterious circumstances like the White Bay Hotel, or pubs that had a narrow escape from these fates and are enjoying a precarious Renaissance like the Iron Duke. There are also 2 paintings of the half-demolished Carleton United Brewery.
A minor irony was that Dr Robert Graham, who had kindly agreed to open my exhibition, was the head of Drug and Alcohol Treatment. Another minor irony is that I am (and have always been) a teetotaller.

Hanging my exhibition St Vincent's -In the Art of Darlinghurst


Hanging my exhibition St Vincent's -In the Art of Darlinghurst

Hanging my exhibition St Vincent's -In the Art of Darlinghurst

All of the paintings in this exhibition were painted "en plein air". Most of the art of other plein air painters concentrates on the natural environment and seems to be painted in a field or a wood. I prefer to paint inner city urban landscapes and all my art that hasn't been painted on a wharf, a ship or a demolition site, is painted by the side of the road.
"By the side of the road " is the common idiom, however this road was actually a street. "On the road" sounds almost romantic, evoking the ghost of Jack Keroac, whereas "on the street" has an air of desperation. I am often "on the road" when I paint - my car is a mobile studio with a fold-up table and chair and a French box easel in the boot at all times. I am not a "street" artist in the sense of a graffiti artist such as "Banksy", as I take my paintings home when I have finished painting them, although I bet that I spend a lot more time actually painting in the street. According to one definition Street Art is traditionally unsanctioned as opposed to a government funded initiatives . The artist attempts to have their work communicate with everyday people about socially relevant themes by placing their work in non-art contexts. In that sense, my art is definitely "street".

Many years ago a witless journalist stunned me into silence during a radio interview. After hearing a description of how I explored Sydney's urban landscapes outdoors instead of painting in my studio from photos, he turned the interview into farce by describing my art as "streetwalking".
English can be a dangerous language full of traps for the unwary.
The word "street" I discovered has some odd quirks of meaning aside from its obvious use as a word for a paved thouroughfare. Some of these carry a lot of pejorative nuances.

Definitions of "Street"
a situation offering opportunities ("He worked both sides of the street")
as a depressed environment in which there is poverty and crime and prostitution and dereliction ("She tried to keep her children off the street")
The people who spend a great deal of time on the street in urban areas, especially the young, the poor, the unemployed, and those engaged in illegal activities.
(slang) Street talk or slang.
(figuratively) a large amount ("He's streets ahead of his sister in all the subjects in school.")
(poker slang) Each of the 3 opportunities that players have to bet, after the flop, turn and river.
Illicit, contraband, especially of a drug:e.g. "street drugs".
not in prison, or released from prison. ("He's on the street again after leaving Long Bay jail")
Without a home; without the means to afford good shelter.
without a job or occupation; idle.

The term "street" is used with the preposition "in". Something is "in" the street, but "in" or "on" the road. To be "on the street" means to be living an insecure life, often one associated with homelessness or crime. To "hear something on the street" means to learn about something through rumor.
In the Middle Ages, a road or way was merely a direction in which people rode or went, the name street was always reserved for the built road.
The "Man in the street" meaning the ordinary non-expert person, is first recorded in 1831. Street-car is first recorded 1862. Street-walker "common prostitute" first recorded 1590s. Street people is first recorded 1967; street smarts is from 1972; and street-credibility is from 1979.

The good and bad points of the urban environment are captured by the many meanings of the term "street" . It carries a feeling of fast-paced opportunity, reality and authenticity - but also uncertainty, edginess, decay and even a whiff of danger.

All the photos in this post were kindly taken by Frances Keevil, Director of the Frances Keevil Gallery, who also did most of the work hanging my show
Update

The redoubtable flaneur and photographer Julie of "Sydney Eye" took some great photos at the opening of my exhibition which can be seen at "The poof factor"

St Vincent's- In the Art of Darlinghurst

2012-01-30T20:15:00.000+11:00

My exhibition at St Vincent's Public Hospital

Victoria st 2009 oil on canvas 75x100cm

$7,700
Enquiries

In December 2009 I was asked by some people who worked at St Vincent's if I could create paintings of some terrace houses on a Darlinghurst block adjacent to St Vincent’s Public Hospital. Almost an entire block of Victoria Street between the Garvan Institute and the Green Park Hotel would be replaced by the construction of a new 11-storey medical centre.

'Victoria Street mural and the clinic' 2010 oil on canvas 38 x 76cm

Enquiries

The structures on this side of Victoria Street included the RMO, the Diabetes Centre, the Rankin Court Clinic for Drug and Alcohol treatment and a bright green mural which honoured World Aids Day.

"Victoria st -The World AIDS Day Mural between the Green Park Hotel and Rankin Court" 2010 oil on canvas 36 x 46cm.

$1,800
Enquiries

Victoria st terraces-The Mural to honour 'World AIDS Day' 2009-10 Ink,gouache on paper 43x61cm.
$2,500

Enquiries

By the time that I started this series of paintings, these services were in the process of being relocated to neighbouring buildings. By mid 2010, the breakthrough new cancer treatment Centre, the Kinghorn Centre, was already under construction.

The Kinghorn Centre, which will be opened in June 2012, is a joint Garvan Institute and St Vincent's Hospital project. It will pioneer a revolutionary method of customizing patient treatment instead of the previous one-drug-fits-all approach.

In early December 2011, cancer survivor Delta Goodrem, who is the patron of the Kinghorn Centre, spoke to assembled staff and construction workers at its launch .
See articles:"Delta Goodrem helps break ground on cancer centre" ; Article in Daily Telegraph

My aim was to paint the exciting transition of the area from past to future. I painted all the works in this exhibition on site, sheltering under the awnings of the local restaurants and coffee shops, whose staff would keep an eye on my easel and belongings. The area is colourful and picturesque with a great diversity of buildings: from garish to subdued; from shabby to plush - and the characters who live, work and visit this area, rival the buildings for diversity and raffish charm.

Victoria Street is a peculiar mélange of architecture ranging from the charming, to the quirky, to the downright hideous. English colonial grandeur rubs shoulders with crumbling terraces overgrown with vines and painted in brightly sub-tropical hues. Hole-in-the-wall coffee bars contrast with the sleek corporate steel and glass of the Victor Chang Institute in the background. In between a few examples of faded glamour it's scruffy and noisy but the place feels busy and vibrant. An oasis of calm in all this frenetic activity is Green Park. From the Green park Bandstand, I painted the classical facade of St Vincent’s heritage De Lacey wing framed by ferny canopies of lime green trees.

'A Corinthian column, St Vincents' De Lacy wing' 2011 oil on canvas 20 x 20cm
$400

Enquiries

'An Ionic column, St Vincents' Public Hospital, De Lacy wing' 2011 oil on canvas 20 x 20cm

$400

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Some of these buildings have heritage value, and all of them are regarded with genuine affection by the locals. Most of the architecture of this block has been compromised to a greater or lesser extent by tasteless modern extensions, but taken as a whole, they express the character of a colourful and unique area of Sydney street-life.

"Victoria st terraces-The RMO "2009-10 oil on canvas 46 x 36cm

$1,800
Enquiries

"Victoria st terraces Nos 372-4 - the Diabetes Centre & the RMO" 2009 oil on canvas 51x41cm.

$2,400

SOLD

Enquiries

"Victoria st terraces-Diabetes Australia" 2009 oil on canvas 31x31cm.

$990
SOLD
Enquiries

"Victoria st terraces-The RMO" 2009-10 Ink, gouache on paper 63x41cm.

$2,500

Enquiries

My paintings of the buildings of this demolished block of Darlinghurst terraces honour the memories of the past, while celebrating the exciting possibilities of the future.

My exhibition will be held at the Xavier Art Space, Level 3 (which is the ground floor entry level) in the foyer of the St Vincent's Public Hospital. The Exhibition period is from 4 February - 8 March 2012, with the official opening on Tuesday night the 7th of February from 6-8pm. The works will be able to be viewed during the general hospital opening hours.

I am represented by the FRANCES KEEVIL GALLERY , Bay Village, 28-34 Cross Street Double Bay, NSW 2028, Gallery Hours M-F 10am-5pm Sat 10 - 4pm Sun 11-4pm , ph/fax: 02 93272475 mob: 0411 821550

Email: info@franceskeevilart.com.au
The Director, Frances Keevil will be curating and hanging the exhibition.

For more information about my paintings of the Victoria Street Terraces see my Urban Landscape Page

See Australian Art Review

A photo of the mural in its heyday can be seen at Monday Mural - Victoria St, at Julie's fascinating photoblog "Sydney Eye"

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

2011-12-02T11:30:00.000+11:00

Looking for suitable subject matter to paint for the Christmas 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.
The best opportunities are found 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.
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'.
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.

'The 'Wonga' 2011 oil on board 28 x 35cm

$990

Enquiries

'The 'Wilga' 2011 oil on board 28 x 35cm

$990

Enquiries

'The 'Woona' passing Goat Island' 2011 oil on board 28 x 35cm.

$990

Enquiries

'The 'Watagan' with the 'Pacific Dawn' 2011 oil on board 28 x 35cm

$990

Enquiries

And a tugboat in action - the '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.

Starting my painting of WBT2 'The 'PB Endeavour' at White Bay 2011 oil on board 28 x 35cm
Painted en plein air at White Bay Wharf, Berth 5

All of the previous paintings are of Svitzer tugs and painted from vantage points around Moore's Wharf. This painting is the odd one out in this series, as it was painted at White Bay, and was tied up rather than out on the water, so 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 have been admiring it while 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.

Starting my painting of WBT2 'The 'PB Endeavour' at White Bay 2011 oil on board 28 x 35cm
Painted en plein air at White Bay Wharf, Berth 5


WBT2 'The 'PB Endeavour' at White Bay 2011 oil on board 28 x 35cm Painted en plein air at White Bay Wharf, Berth 5

$990

Enquiries

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

Homage to Picasso, Part 2 - Postcards from Picasso

2011-11-29T06:30:00.000+11:00

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

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

My drawing of "Le Viel Homme Assis" by Pablo Picasso

My drawing of "Le Fou", a bronze sculpture by Pablo Picasso from 1905

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.

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"

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"

My gouache and ink drawing of Pablo Picasso's 1961 project for a monument "Femme aux bras ecartes"

My gouache and ink drawing of Pablo Picasso's"La Jeune Fille assise"

My gouache and ink drawing of a faun by Pablo Picasso

My gouache and ink painting of "L'homme au mouton (Man with sheep)" Pablo Picasso, 1940s

Close up detail of my gouache and ink painting of "L'homme au mouton (Man with sheep)" Pablo Picasso, 1940s

"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 accidently 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.

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Homage to Picasso Part 1

Homage to Picasso Part 1

2011-11-27T00:08:00.001+11:00

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

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"

My sketch of a Pablo Picasso sculpture

My sketches of Pablo Picasso's "L'homme au mouton" and his assemblage of the bicycle seat/bull's head

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.

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

2011-11-24T09:33:00.001+11:00

For my submission to the 11th annual art exhibition by the members of the Australian Society of Marine Artists, I decided to enter 2 of my paintings of the drama surrounding the controversial scuttling of the ex HMAS Adelaide off North Avoca Beach in April 2011.

The artist painting the ex HMAS Adelaide on Glebe Island wharf 2010

"Ex HMAS Adelaide- flag raising at dawn" 2010
oil on canvas 31 x 103cm

Painted 'en plein air' on Glebe Island Wharf, 1 year almost to the day before her long awaited departure and eventual scuttling.

The artist painting the ex HMAS Adelaide for the very last time at North Avoca Beach in April 2011

I was painting this view of the ex HMAS Adelaide from the look-out opposite the surf club. Inside the surf club were police monitoring the activities of the largely non-existent protesters.
One of the police inside called out to me. I was startled at first, but then realised that he had recognised me as the artist who was at the top of the Harbour Control Tower painting the Pope's visit to Barangaroo during World Youth Day celebrations in 2008. Small world!

Painting the ex HMAS Adelaide for the very last time at North Avoca Beach in April 2011

That sinking feeling...

Painting the ex HMAS Adelaide for the very last time at North Avoca Beach in April 2011

The very next day, the ex HMAS Adelaide was underwater.

"The ex HMAS Adelaide from North Avoca"
2011 oil on canvas 31 x 61cm

Now that all the controversy has settled down, the wreck has already become a major dive site and tourist attraction. It was amazing how quickly marine life has been attracted to the Adelaide and has adopted it as a new home.

These 2 paintings will be exhibited in "Ship to Shore: 11th National Australian Society of Marine Artists Exhibition" from Saturday 26 November – Saturday 31 December 2011 at the Mosman Regional Art Gallery.

At the opening of "Ship to Shore" with the Principal of the Julian Ashton Art School, Paul Delprat

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

Ghost ship- ex-HMAS Adelaide at Glebe Part 2

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

2011-11-18T09:35:00.001+11:00

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.

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.

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 ship 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.

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.

"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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