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

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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.
Showing posts with label Captain Cook. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Captain Cook. Show all posts

Thursday 3 February 2011

Australia Day 2011 at Darling Harbour Part 1: Endeavour

1. endeavour - a purposeful or industrious undertaking (especially one that     requires effort or boldness)
2.earnest and conscientious activity intended to do or accomplish something



3. a sincere attempt.
4. persistent activity
5.To work with purpose
Marine art 'HMB Endeavour' at Darling Harbour  plein air oil painting by artist Jane Bennett
'HMB Endeavour' on Australia Day
 2011 oil painting on canvas 23 x 31cm
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The word 'endeavour' seems appropriate to me on several levels as a theme for Australia Day.
Plein air painting on a popular public holiday, at the hub of all of the festivities, certainly requires a fair bit of 'effort or boldness', is hopefully 'a purposeful or industrious undertaking' and is definitely an 'earnest and conscientious activity intended to do or accomplish something'.
It's also the name of one of the most famous ships to visit Australia, one closely associated with our recent Australian history.
Marine art 'HMB Endeavour' at Darling Harbour oil painting by artist Jane Bennett
'Endeavour' on Australia Day
 2011 oil painting on canvas 23 x 31cm



















A very short tall ship!
I started my painting of the small canvas of the 'Endeavour' on Australia Day 2011, a bit after 9am. She is docked at her customary jetty for the Australia Day festivities and to give her many fans a last opportunity to explore her for quite a 
while.
Tomorrow the HMB Endeavour will go to Garden Island to be prepared for her next heroic voyage - the circumnavigation of Australia. This is the reason why her masts are a lot shorter than normal, as prior to this, she had some work done over at Glebe.
One spectator irreverently referred to the ship as 'Mrs Stumpy'. I think I saw her figurehead wince at this indignity.
I was able to finish this small plein air painting on the day, by just before lunch-time, despite the general craziness of the Australia Day celebrations.
My 'endeavour' had paid off!

Marine art -Cannons of  'HMB Endeavour' at Darling Harbour oil painting on canvas painted 'en plein air' by artist Jane Bennett
Painting the large canvas of the 'Endeavour' on Australia Day 2011
oil painting on canvas 76 x 102cm
An unfinished plein air painting
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I had chosen a good spot at the end of the jetty where I could observe and paint without being trampled.
Now the big decision- do I stay put ? Or move in search of the spot promised to me on the pontoon?
The ship parade was not due to start until after 5pm so I decided to push my luck and start a large canvas. This might be my last chance to paint the Endeavour for a long time, so I might as well make the most of it.
My family motto was "You might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb". (This could have had something to do with how some of my ancestors came to Australia in the first place!)


Marine art -Cannons of  'HMB Endeavour' at Darling Harbour oil painting on canvas painted 'en plein air' by artist Jane Bennett
Painting the large canvas of the 'Endeavour' on Australia Day 2011
oil painting on canvas 76 x 102cm
An unfinished plein air painting
Sold Enquiries about similar paintings

In the background is another tall ship, the James Craig, which was sailing throughout Australia Day, but had returned by the afternoon, in time for me to include it in this canvas.
This is still unfinished, but most of the ship has been completed, leaving only the lighthouse, details of the Australian National Maritime Museum and some of the rigging to finish.


Marine art -Cannons of  'HMB Endeavour' at Darling Harbour oil painting on canvas painted 'en plein air' by artist Jane Bennett
Detail of 'The 'Endeavour' Australia Day 2011 ' - 'Cannons'
'Endeavour' on Australia Day 2011
oil painting on canvas 76 x 102cm
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This is quite a large canvas for a plein air painting.
I have included some close-up details.
Because the other end of the jetty was taken up with queues of people waiting to tour the ship, I had a fairly empty foreground which set off the bold colouring of the ship.
On my left were a magnificent pair of cannons, one apparently aimed at the Endeavour and the other at the distant James Craig, and I couldn't resist including them.
Every now and then a face would peer at me from the dark hold of the ship, squinting against the glaring afternoon sun.
When the shadows began to lengthen, I started to pack.
The Australian National Maritime Museum would be closed by 6pm, and I had at least 2 trips to make to put all of my painting stuff- folding table,chair, easel and canvases, some of it heavy and all of it awkward, on the pontoon. The pontoon wasn't that far away, probably about 400-500 metres, but the heat was stifling, and it is tricky transporting still-wet canvases around through the crowd without smearing the paint. Or getting paint on any of the onlookers! (I didn't)
Links

Facebook page - HMB Endeavour Circumnavigation 2011-2012 


Facebook page - Australian National Maritime Museum

Tuesday 9 November 2010

The Art of Navigation

The Navigators : Captain Cook and La Perouse
These paintings were created to celebrate the life and achievements of the famous navigators Captain James Cook and the Comte de la Perouse, in exhibitions held by the Australian Society of Marine Artists.
The paintings inspired by Captain James Cook were exhibited at the Kurnell Museum from June 2009 in “Where cultures meet’ Exhibition at the Visitor’s Centre, Captain Cook Landing Site, Kurnell.
The paintings inspired by La Perouse are exhibited in"Windows on History - Aspects of the Story of La Perouse" at the La Perouse Museum.
I had to do extensive research to create these paintings.
Instead of painting historical re-enactments of the events and the ships, I decided to focus on their mastery of the art of navigation.

The Lunar Distance Method
oil painting of sextant  by heritage artist Jane Bennett
'The Lunar Distance Method' 
2009 oil painting on canvas 20 x 25cm
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Before John Harrison’s Chronometer No. 4, which Cook successfully tested on the “Resolution” during his 2nd great voyage of exploration, the best way to find longitude was the lunar distance method.
The reflecting quadrant (also called an octant because its curved scale formed the eighth part of a circle) helped sailors find both latitude and longitude, and was invented in 1731 simultaneously but independently by John Hadley in England and by Thomas Godfrey In America.
Previously, astrolabes had been used to find longitude and local time by estimating the height of the sun or a star above the horizon.
The reflecting quadrant allowed direct measurement of the elevations of 2 celestial bodies such as the moon and the sun during daylight or between the moon and the stars at night, as well as the distances between them. When the horizon disappeared in fog or darkness, or the ship pitched and rolled, the readings weren't affected as the quadrant provided an artificial horizon.
The quadrant was improved by adding a telescope and a wider measuring arc, becoming an even more accurate instrument known as the sextant.
The navigator measured the lunar distances from the deck, then consulted tables listing the angular distances between the moon and the sun or stars for particular times of the day as they would be observed from London or Paris.
The angular distances are the degrees of arc - the size of the angle made by two lines of sight from the eye of the observer to the 2 chosen objects. Then the navigator compared the time of his observation with the time that particular position had been predicted for his home port. If the observation was at 1am local time when the tables predicted the same configuration over London at 4am, the ship’s time was 3 hours earlier, so this meant the ship was currently sailing at longitude 45 degrees west of London.

Drawing of lunar method applied on a ship with...
Diagram of lunar method  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)






The lunar method required considerable mathematical skill.
As well as measuring the altitudes of various celestial bodies and the angular distances between them, the navigator would have to factor in how near these objects were to the horizon as the steep refraction of light would put their apparent positions considerably higher than their actual ones.
There was also the problem of lunar parallax, as the tables were formulated for an observer at the Earth’s centre, and the deck of a ship is of course many feet above sea-level (Hopefully!)
Some days the moon is too close to the sun to make lunar distance measurements, and other days the distance between moon and sun is too great so that during these times the navigator would have to plot the moon against the stars, often with lesser accuracy. 
Navigation Instruments
still life vanitas oil painting of sextant maps and other antique navigation instruments by heritage artist Jane Bennett
'The art of Navigation' 2009
oil painting on canvas 25 x 20cm
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The instruments of navigation : sextant, compass, telescope, hourglass, nautical charts and gentleman’s pocket spheres are fragile and exquisitely wrought relics of the heroic age of exploration. They now look quaint but the life or death of hundreds of men once depended on the captain’s skill and  judgement in using them. The mythological emblems on the celestial sphere are a reminder that not long before, navigation was an esoteric mystery, more an art than a science. I hadn’t realized how much things like accurate timekeeping and  knowing exactly where you are at sea, we now take for granted.
It is so difficult in our age of “Google Earth” and mass communications to appreciate the isolation and danger of such a journey.
The hourglass and the skull are ‘memento mori’ emblems, common to still life "vanitas" painting of the 17th and 18th centuries. "Vanitas" paintings are warnings against pride and indicate the transitory nature of life, power and fame.



My paintings were inspired by reading :

“Citizens” by Simon Schama

“LONGITUDE" by Dava Sobel

“SEA OF DANGERS ” by Geoffrey Blainey