Painting 'Millers Point' from Moore's Wharf

This small canvas is of Miller's Point - the boat, that is - not its namesake suburb up the hill!

MW14 'Millers Point'
2013 oil on canvas 41 x 31cm
Available for sale
There's quite a motley collection of work vessels big and small, berthed at the Sydney Port Corporation's Port Jackson headquarters at Moore’s Wharf.

MW14 'Millers Point'
2013 oil on canvas 41 x 31cm
Available for sale
As I arrived, "Millers Point", Sydney Port Corporation’s new emergency response launch, was being lifted from the water onto piles of huge tyres on the wharf, alongside the crane.
Usually it's in the water at its customary berth in front of Moore's Wharf, but it was waiting to get its twin 225hp Honda outboard motors serviced.

MW14 'Millers Point'
2013 oil on canvas 41 x 31cm
Available for sale
I hadn't painted this new addition to Sydney Port Corporation's fleet before, & I decided to capture the drama of the boat lift in a small canvas.

I must admit that I was still mourning the loss of the historic old warhorse, the 'Poolya', which had been broken up at Glebe Island Wharf, in early February 2013, not long before.
"Millers Point" was designed in Western Australia by Global Marine and built by Axiom Alloys of Mt Druitt.
"Millers Point", is 9.3m in length with a beam of 3.35m and a draft of 0.55m. It has a speed that can exceed 40kn. It has a trihedral hull & is fitted with a 6hp stand-alone fire pump.

MW14 'Millers Point'
2013 oil on canvas 41 x 31cm
Available for sale

Related Posts 

Painting the 'Poolya'

Painting the 'Shirley Smith' at Moore's Wharf

Artist in Residence at the Sydney Heritage Fleet Part 6 - 'Hail, hail, the gang's all here!'

I've finally finished painting this monster.
It literally nearly killed me.
My first attempt to paint the entire Rozelle contingent of the Sydney Heritage Fleet ended in disaster .
My canvas stretcher had snapped in two after it was caught by a gust of wind. I fell into the murky waters of Blackwattle Bay and was lucky not to be seriously injured.
This tested the limits of the possibilities of plein air painting.

First version of SHF6 'Sydney Heritage Fleet at Rozelle' 2013 

oil on canvas 122 x 183cm

Available

But all the time and trouble has been worth it.
The entire collection of Sydney Heritage Fleet vessels is here in all its glory, and more details are visible in this canvas than are possible to see from the park opposite Blackwattle Bay.

SHF6 'Sydney Heritage Fleet at Rozelle' 2013 

oil on canvas 122 x 183cm

Available

At 122 x 183cm, this canvas is even larger than the first!

I completed about 80% of it from the park, but to unscramble the confusing mass of masts, ropes and rigging, I had to paint the finishing touches from the Rozelle headquarters of the Sydney Heritage Fleet itself.

I am a member of ASMA, the Australian Society of Marine Artists.
In 2008 the Sydney Heritage Fleet in conjunction with the Australian Society of Marine Artists inaugurated an Artist in Residence programme, with the commission from sale of paintings going towards funding the Fleet's maintenance.
Our group of 10 artists will hold an exhibition of our completed paintings on the 'tween decks of the tall ship 'James Craig', which is the jewel in the crown of the Sydney Heritage Fleet, from 27th April 2013 - 3rd May 2013.
As well as this enormous canvas, I will exhibit 16 other paintings. Some of these were painted at the Rozelle headquarters, some from the Noakes slipways, others from the Australian National Maritime Museum and others from vantage points around Sydney Harbour.
The official opening will be 2pm on Saturday 27th April by Tanya Plibersek MP.
Everyone is welcome!

Exhibition SALT IN THE AIR From Saturday 27th April - Sunday 4th May 2013 (asma-artistinresidence.blogspot.com)

Related posts

"Lashed to the Mast" - Plein Air painting as extreme sport
'From the Hungry Mile to Barangaroo'
Artist in Residence at the Sydney Heritage Fleet - Part 4 'Blowing in the wind'
SlippingAway
Follow the Fleet- Artist in Residence at the Sydney Heritage Fleet-
Part 5
Jane Bennett paints the 'Lady Hopetoun' (asma-artistinresidence.blogspot.com)

We like sheep - Waite and Bull Building 137 Pyrmont Street

'All we like sheep have gone astray' was one of the Advent, Christmas and Easter biblical texts to which Handel set his great oratorio Messiah. This chorus in F major is from Part II and the primary source of the libretto is Isaiah 53 :6.
My Granny, who had a beautiful soprano voice and sang in the Philharmonic for many years, would still get the giggles when singing "We like sheep".
She called it the national anthem of New Zealand.

'Ghost Sign on top of the Waite and Bull Building,
137 Pyrmont Street'
2013 oil on canvas 13 x 18cm
Enquiries

Australia once rode on the sheep's back.

This sheep hasn't exactly gone astray, but it looks a bit perturbed.
It is a surreal adornment to an otherwise solemn warehouse conversion on the corner of Pyrmont Street and the Pyrmont Bridge road.
Nobody seems to notice it except me.
The drivers and pedestrians are too busy negotiating the chaotic intersection to be able to look up.
This building at 137 Pyrmont street, originally called the FL Barker Woolstore, was designed by Arthur Blacket and completed in 1884.
Although the building was built for F.L. Barker and Co. it was actually owned by Sydney businessman John Taylor. A sign on the other side still reads "John Taylor 1893".
From 1895 until 1923 it was leased to wool brokers Hill Clark and Co., then from 1923 until 1951 the Store was a wool store owned and operated by Wool Brokers William Haughton and Company.
From 1951 until 1973 it was owned by the commercial printers Waite and Bull, and it has been commonly known as the Waite and Bull Building ever since. In 1973 the building was bought by Stocks and Holdings Pty Ltd.
In the early 1990s it was extensively refurbished by the architects Allan Jack and Cottier. It was then the headquarters of the City-West Development Corporation, who kick-started the redevelopment of Pyrmont. I remember visiting them to beg permission to be allowed to paint in areas that were being demolished.
City-West Development Corporation later morphed into the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, who now reigns over an empire of the bits of Sydney Harbour not controlled by the Barangaroo Delivery Authority, Sydney Ports Corporation (now privatized) or the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust .
In comparison to other buildings of the time, Blacket's wool store had a simple elegance and dignity showing the influence of the architecture of the Chicago School. The manifesto of their leading architect Louis Sullivan had been 'form follows function' which meant using ornament sparingly and only if it is an integral part of the building's form.
The contrast between the sober dignity of the rest of the building and the sign makes the sheep swinging in a sling an even more startling image.
It was obviously considered to be very important, but I don't know whether this was part of Blacket's vision, or added by a later occupant. Most of Pyrmont's industrial heritage has been obliterated, but if you look carefully you can still find quirky and charming remnants of its industrial past.

In conjunction with the Frances Keevil Gallery, I'll have an exhibition of my Pyrmont paintings at the 2013 Pyrmont Festival at Pirrama Park.
This time my display will be extended to 2 days - Saturday 18th May and Sunday 19th May from 11am - 5pm.

FRANCES KEEVIL GALLERY,
  mob: 0411 821550
info@franceskeevilgallery.com.au

For more information see My Pyrmont page in this blog

Related posts

Marine Art Exhibition at the Australian National Maritime Museum

Looking over the overlooked-Urban decay in Pyrmont
To the Point
Wrong side of the tracks - Darling Island Bond and Free

Pretty vacant

A Tale of two hotels - the Terminus and the Point

Pyrmont Paintings past and present
Paintings of Pink pubs - Painting the Jolly Frog Part 2