During the recent International Fleet Review celebrations I painted on the Barangaroo wharf, close to my Moore's Wharf studio. On Wednesday 9th and Thursday 10th I completed 3 paintings of the USS Chosin, HMS Daring and the 2 Australian ships HMAS Parramatta and HMAS Perth.
My previous post showed the stage by stage development of these 3 canvases.
In this post I show the completed canvases of these ships, as well as 2 canvases I painted on Friday 11th October of their departure from the vantage point of my studio at the Sydney Ports Corporation Headquarters at Moore's Wharf.
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| IFR2A 'HMS Daring at Barangaroo' 2013 oil on canvas 25 x 51cm Enquiries : janecooperbennett@gmail.com |
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| IFR3A 'HMAS Parramatta with HMAS Perth at Barangaroo' 2013 oil on canvas 25 x 51cm Enquiries : janecooperbennett@gmail.com |
Thursday was blisteringly hot, especially on the bare concrete wharf, but it rained Friday morning during the departure of the first 2 ships.
As you can see from the photo, there wasn't much difference between the grey of the sea, sky or ships - they were all of a piece.
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Starting a panoramic canvas of
Sydney Harbour from Moore's wharf
IFR5 'HMS Daring + HMAS Perth departing Barangaroo-painted from Moore's Wharf' 2013 oil on canvas 25 x 153cm
Enquiries : janecooperbennett@gmail.com
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A few months before, I had started to paint a Sydney Harbour panorama on a stormy day. I wanted to put some ships in the centre, as it seemed a little empty, but I couldn't decide which ships to include.
The sky colour on Friday morning was so similar to this half finished canvas that I decided to use it to record the departure of the last of the ships from the International Fleet Review.
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| IFR5 'HMS Daring + HMAS Perth departing Barangaroo-painted from Moore's Wharf' 2013 oil on canvas 25 x 153cm Enquiries : janecooperbennett@gmail.com |
By a stroke of luck, HMS Daring and HMAS Perth departed so close together that I could place them both on the same panoramic canvas. It provided the perfect opportunity to combine the beauty of Sydney Harbour with a historic event.
HMAS Perth was flanked by 2 small black and red tugs, the oddly named 'Rhumb Melba' and 'Rhumb Matilda'.
In the left foreground is the Ausbarge Marine Services boat, from the Barangaroo North Headland Park, currently under construction to the west of Moore's Wharf.
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| IFR4 'HMAS Parramatta departing under the Sydney Harbour Bridge' 2013 oil on canvas oil on canvas 31 x 61cm Enquiries : janecooperbennett@gmail.com |
By the afternoon, the weather had cleared, so that the HMAS Parramatta left Sydney under a glorious cobalt blue sky.
To continue my naval theme, the iconic Hammerhead Crane will be demolished early in 2014, and I have just received permission from the Navy to paint it from the vantage point of Garden Island itself.
