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.
Showing posts with label still life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label still life. Show all posts

Monday 2 August 2021

Half Nuts

 I'm sure this title will resonate with most people's feelings at the moment!
"Half nuts" certainly isn't too far from my current state of mind, so I thought this would be an appropriate painting to resume my Covid lockdown gallery on the deck.
Still life oil painting of industrial heritage tools from Eveleigh Railway Workshops by Jane Bennett
E132B Half nuts 2017 oil on canvas 20 x 25cm













 
 
 
 
However the title should really be "Half-inch nuts"!
This small canvas of rusty old oil cans, was from a series of still life studies painted in the Large Erecting Shop of the Eveleigh Railway Workshops. 
The inscriptions in the background of half, three quarter, five eighths and seven eighth inch nuts, were on a tool box in front of a work cabinet. Needless to say, none of the sections contained any nuts at all, so it was a brave but doomed attempt to impose some sort of order into an assortment of motley widgets. People had obviously been putting tools back into whatever came to hand for quite some time.
During lockdown, I've been making a half-hearted attempt to organize my own shed and sort the useful items from the potentially useful, and the downright rubbish that mysteriously accumulates. I hopefully attach labels as I go, then cross them out if I have too many widgets or not enough. If there's anything that doesn't fit in an obvious category, but isn't quite rusty or broken enough to toss out, I put it in a large wooden box labelled "half nuts" in honour of my time at Eveleigh.


Tuesday 7 July 2020

Shadowboard

A shadow board is one of the most common options for tool storage found in amateur and professional workshops and sheds the world over. Its noble aim is to organize the workplace so that tools are near the work station where they are to be used.
plein air oil painting of still life of tools and machinery interior of the Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Work in progress on the easel
E135A 'Shadowboard - No Brake' 2017
oil on metal panel 51 x 51cm
Available

















Shadow boards have the outlines of a work station's tools marked on them, so operators can quickly identify which tools are in use or missing.
As well as providing easy access to tools,they are supposed to reduce time spent searching for the correct tool; to reduce losses due to carelessness, lack of proper maintenance or theft; to improve work station safety as tools are replaced safely after use, rather than becoming potential hazards; to reduce clutter; and to maximize the space available.

plein air oil painting of still life of tools and machinery interior of the Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Work in progress on the easel
E135A 'Shadowboard - No Brake' 2017
oil on metal panel 51 x 51cm
Available
















Well that was the Platonic ideal anyway.
The dream of imposing order on chaos is often cruelly exposed as exactly that - a dream, when reality kicks in.
How should a shadowboard be organized?
Sounds so easy and straightforward, but it reveals fundamental and often irreconcilable differences in temperament, age and level of expertise, and can be the source of perpetual bickering, even long-running feuds.

plein air oil painting of still life of tools and machinery interior of the Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Work in progress on the easel
E135A 'Shadowboard - No Brake' 2017
oil on metal panel 51 x 51cm
Available















Should it be organized by type of tool (all spanners, screwdrivers etc grouped together), by size (aesthetically pleasing to have a hierarchy of tools descending by size, but not necessarily the most practical), by frequency of use (commonly used tools in the middle where they are easily removed or replaced) by ease of removal /replacement (large, awkwardly sized or heavy tools placed where people don't have to reach up or down for them) or by what is required for common tasks (a particular size of wrench/saw/hammer/screwdriver etc are often needed together for a task that crops up frequently).
Sometimes it can even be a passive-aggressive wish list, like a recent commercial for a hardware line of products where empty outlines were left for needed or desired tools, either in hope of a future financial windfall or thoughtful gift.
Plein air oil painting of the interior of the Large Erecting Shop in the Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
E135B'Shadowboard with 44 class diesel
-(Do not pull all way out) '
2017 oil on metal panel 51 x 51cm
Available






















The usual result is a hotch potch of all the above.
Jumble of the useful, the once useful and now obsolete, the broken bits, the spare parts that 'may come in handy'; the lost, strayed and some frankly useless items that seem to breed unchecked in dark corners. When, if ever, were any of these used? Last week? Last century?
plein air oil painting of 44 class diesel with still life of tools and machinery interior of the Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Work in progress on the easel
E135B'Shadowboard with 44 class diesel
-(Do not pull all way out) '
2017 oil on metal panel 51 x 51cm
Available

















I used metal panels to paint on instead of my usual canvas, leaving the metal bare when the tool was shiny and well maintained, and only painting the non-metallic or rusty parts. The work above also includes a 44 class diesel lurking in the background.
The faded, naive lettering found on cryptic signs create abstract yet evocative grids of letters and word fragments, colour and text fading into meditative, elegiac compositions.
Other mysteries abound. As this is a workshop filled with tools and presumably people who know how to use them, why did someone bother to write "Do not pull all way out" on the drawers of the cabinet beneath, instead of fixing the drawer?
I'm no handyperson, but even I can fix drawers - it's fiddly but not that hard.
Plein air oil painting of the interior of the Large Erecting Shop in the Eveleigh Railway Workshops painted by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
E135A 'Shadowboard - No Brake' 2017
oil on metal panel 51 x 51cm
Available























A massive Marie Kondo attack has been carried out in the Large Erecting Shop to tackle decades of clutter. Nothing to do with sparking joy.
Everything deemed not strictly necessary to the re-purposing of the Large Erecting Shop as a running shed is being given the old heave-ho - best case scenario sent to Thirlmere, worst case - the skip.
I was chased from one end of the shed to the other, as wherever I set up my easel, I seemed to get in the way. I was hunting for a quiet corner as the situation brought out crankiness in normally laid back people. I was incessantly asked "why I was painting this rubbish instead of the trains", but most of the trains will still exist somewhere, while this sort of subject, evoking the true spirit of the workshop, is ephemeral.
But fashions change as to what is deemed 'necessary' and unique and quirky items can be lost or destroyed in the rush to impose order on chaos..
In the Large Erecting Shop the shadowboards are no longer functional as no repair or maintenance will be carried out there.
Ghost boards with ghost signs for ghost trains.
They show the never to be filled outlines of lost tools for lost purposes.
Headstones of the workshop.

Tuesday 29 August 2017

Ghost in the machine

I've been painting ghost signs in the Eveleigh Railway Workshops, as one by one, the relics of the past slowly vanish.
There are faded sepia warning signs so old that they are handwritten.
Fire extinguishers have kept a quiet vigil, like forgotten sentries post battle.
plein air oil painting of 'ghost sign' in the Large Erecting Shop of the Eveleigh Railway Workshops by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
E119 'Ghost sign in the Large'
2017 oil on canvas 31 x 15cm
So, what is the 'Ghost in the machine' ?
This phrase, so often used, yet little understood, was coined by the Oxford philosopher Gilbert Ryle to describe the Cartesian dualist account of the mind–body relationship.
One of the underlying assumptions within the famous maxim of the French 17th century philosopher René Descartes, 'Cogito ergo sum' ('I think, therefore I am') is  that the mind is not only distinct, but actually separable from the body.
plein air oil painting of 'ghost sign' in the Large Erecting Shop of the Eveleigh Railway Workshops by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
E119A 'Ghost sign in the Large 2'
2017 oil on canvas 31 x 15cm
According to the philosopher John Locke (1632–1704), a person is defined as ‘an intelligent being, having reason and reflection, which can consider itself in different times and places.’ By this definition, someone is defined as a person if they can think about themselves in the past, future, and conditional, and in a variety of different places. 
If a person has this quality of self-conscious recognition, what is the cause? Does consciousness reside in their body, their brain, or their ‘soul’? If that person has had a serious accident rendering them unconscious and without brain function -so that the body is still alive but the mind is no longer self-conscious nor could ever be again-Is the body still to be regarded as a person? If not, then how can the physical body alone be that which makes them a person?
If the Eveleigh Railway Workshops are emptied of most of their machines and other heritage items, how can they still be considered to be the Eveleigh Railway Workshops?
How much can be removed, before it becomes an empty shell?
When the contents of a container are removed, is it still a container?
What is a body without a mind or a soul?

More paintings of the Eveleigh Railway Workshops

Friday 21 July 2017

Oils ain't oils- Painting Still Life in the Eveleigh Railway Workshops

A still life typically depicts inanimate subject matter. 
It was initially despised as the most lowly form of painting. But every still life is a memento mori.
Memento mori is Latin for “Remember that you must die”.
I've delved into the long tradition of the ‘still life’ genre, which celebrates the magic power of painting an arrangement of
commonplace objects to reflect on ideas of mortality.
When captured in paint, they are imbued with a life beyond the ordinary.
"Vanitas” elements reveal the emptiness of material pursuits and futility of earthly ambitions.  
The Latin noun Vanitas literally means “emptiness” and the central theme in these paintings is the Christian view of earthly life and the futility  & worthlessness of all ambition.
I love to paint “useless” things from industrial sites, the minutiae of everyday life. There's a poignant quality in this “rubbish”, so trivial to most. These remnants provide me with an endless source of subject matter. There are no people in these pictures but their presence is always felt. History, memory and observation provide the bones of the story.
Plein air still life painting of old oil cans in Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
E130A Oils ain't oils 1 2017 oil on canvas 10 x 10cm
These rusty old oil cans from the interior of the Large Erecting Shop in the Eveleigh Railway Workshops truly are symbols of transience. They will be discarded and thrown into the skip bin as soon as I've finished my canvases. I've won them a stay of execution with my paintings.
Plein air still life painting of old oil cans in Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
E130B Oils ain't oils 2 2017 oil on canvas 10 x 10cm
They contained the necessary ingredient to lubricate engines to keep them moving. Literally, to make something go. 
And they went.
Locomotives won't be repaired and maintained in the Large Erecting Shop for much longer. The best possible future for it will be as a running shed where only exactly what is strictly necessary to run trains will be tolerated. All else will be relocated at best, or discarded at worst. If it doesn't become a running shed, Mirvac and Channel 7 are lurking just outside to finish it off.
Plein air still life painting of old oil cans in Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
E130C Oils ain't oils 3 2017 oil on canvas 10 x 10cm
Behind the oil cans was a board with inscriptions "1/2 Nuts", "5/8 Nuts", "3/4 Nuts","7/8 Nuts", which always made me laugh. You don't have to be totally nuts to work her, just half.
Plein air still life painting of old oil cans in Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
E132 Oils ain't oils 2 2017 oil on aluminium panel 51 x 51cm.
I've concocted different methods for reproducing variety of surfaces  by experimenting with painting on metal panels.
This works well with the rusty cans - I leave the metal bare of paint and only paint in the rust.
This technique pays homage to the distant past.
When light rebounds from a matte surface, the irregularites of the surface scatter the light. However when light strikes a smooth polished surface such as metal there is a gleam, shimmer or lustre which can even reveal the shape of the original light source. Medieval students of optics called the depiction of reflected light in a painting "splendour". Light was not only regarded as beautiful, but also deemed to be sacred. This quality of light was difficult to reproduce in painting. Early medieval artists would rely on the inclusion of reflective and precious metals such as gold leaf, until the development of oil painting in the 15th century allowed artists like van Eyck the ability to create the illusion of reflection by superimposing thin translucent layers of colour. 
The workmen trained in the Eveleigh Railway Workshops were master manipulators of metal, so in these still life paintings I am using both these artistic traditions to capture every nuance of their lost tools.

Related Posts

Shadowboard

Ghost Train 

Revenant 

Nocturne - painting steam locomotive 3642

38's are great, mate 

Charge your battery 

Scar Tissue

Saturday 20 May 2017

Steady rest

I've been painting the machinery in the William Wallbank and Sons ex- foundry in Auburn, before it is all stripped out and sent to a scrap metal yard.

Plein air oil painting of machinery in abandoned William and Wallbank and Sons Foundry by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Work in progress -
AWW8 'Boys toys -Steady rest 1'
oil on steel press plate tondo 16 x 16cm 2017
Available 


























I've been painting a series of still life studies on salvaged "press plates".
These leftover circles of mild steel were found lying on the machine shop floor, and were being gathered up to be thrown away.

Plein air oil painting of machinery in abandoned William and Wallbank and Sons Foundry by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
AWW8 'Boys toys -Steady rest 1'
oil on steel press plate tondo 16 x 16cm 2017
Available 

























It was fascinating painting the relics of industry on salvaged objects that were part of the waste product from that industry.
The lustre of the smooth metallic surface shows through every brushstroke, reproducing every sparkle, shine and glimmer of the knobs and finials.

Plein air oil painting of machinery in abandoned William and Wallbank and Sons Foundry by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Work in progress - AWW11
'Boys toys -Steady rest 2'
oil on steel press plate tondo 16 x 16cm 2017
Available



















Although the William Wallbank foundry dated from 1932, some of the machinery was much older. I found a nameplate on one from "Russia", which meant that it must have dated from before the Soviet era, and probably from before World War I.

Plein air oil painting of machinery in abandoned William and Wallbank and Sons Foundry by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
AWW11 'Boys toys -Steady rest 2'
oil on steel press plate tondo 16 x 16cm 2017
Available 

























The steady rest on a lathe, has a frame and 3 adjustable jaws to support a workpiece such as an axle or a shaft while it is being turned, milled or drilled.
It prevents slender, flexible pieces springing back and forth, and also allows deep cuts, drilling, boring, or internal threading.

Plein air oil painting of machinery in abandoned William and Wallbank and Sons Foundry by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Work in progress on the easel -
AWW10 'Boys toys -Boring machine'
oil on steel press plate tondo 16 x 16cm 2017
Available 



























The over arm with the top jaw can be unfastened and swung out of the way so that pieces can be removed and replaced without needing to adjust the jaws.
There should be 0.001 inch clearance between the jaws and the workpiece.
The bearing surface is usually machined directly on the work.

Plein air oil painting of machinery in abandoned William and Wallbank and Sons Foundry by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
AWW10 'Boys toys -Boring machine'
oil on steel press plate tondo 16 x 16cm 2017
Available 

























When the work is too small or awkwardly shaped to machine the bearing surface, a 'cathead' can provide the bearing surface.
The cathead has a bearing that is surfaced, a hole through which the work extends, and adjusting screws to fasten the cathead to the work.

Plein air oil painting of machinery in abandoned William and Wallbank and Sons Foundry by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Work in progress on the easel -
AWW9 'Boys toys -Control'
oil on steel press plate tondo 16 x 16cm 2017
Available 



















When it isn't possible to hold the work in the chuck, one end can be supported by the headstock centre and the other by the steady rest.
A leather strap or rawhide thong is used to tie the work to the driveplate and to prevent it from moving off the headstock centre.

Plein air oil painting of machinery in abandoned William and Wallbank and Sons Foundry by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Work in progress on the easel -
AWW9 'Boys toys -Control'
oil on steel press plate tondo
16 x 16cm 2017
Available 




















After the locking screws on the adjustable jaws are tightened, the bearing surface needs lubrication with heavy oil before turning on the lathe.

Plein air oil painting of machinery in abandoned William and Wallbank and Sons Foundry by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
Work in progress on the easel -
AWW9 'Boys toys -Control'
oil on steel press plate tondo
16 x 16cm 2017
Available 




















The bearing surface and adjustable jaws always need a heavy oil film between them, as when the workpiece heats up it will expand, closing the distance between it and the jaws.

Plein air oil painting of machinery in abandoned William and Wallbank and Sons Foundry by industrial heritage artist Jane Bennett
AWW9 'Boys toys -Control' 2017
oil on steel press plate tondo 16 x 16cm
Available


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