Artist in Residence at the Sydney Heritage Fleet- Part 5 ' Follow the Fleet'

My first attempt to paint the entire Rozelle contingent of the Sydney Heritage Fleet ended in disaster when my canvas stretcher snapped in two.
I was better prepared for my second attempt, with a bigger easel, stronger canvas stretcher, more ballast and longer cable ties.
Armed with a canvas stretched on the strongest and heaviest stretcher frame I could buy, this time I took my "studio" easel. It might be called a studio easel but I can manage to stuff it in the back of the car and use it for plein air painting.
I brought the longest cable ties that I could find to tie the canvas to the easel, and the easel to my trolley luggage, which I am using as an anchor.
The canvas stretcher weighs about 10 kilos; my large easel weighs at least 15 kilos and the trolley luggage with all its contents of extra paint, brushes, palettes, turps, painting medium, sketchbooks, lunch, thermos of water, folding table, first aid kit, spare clothes, hat and boots weighs in at a good 25 kilos. I also took the French box easel, just in case. It took 4 trips to lug this stuff the 200 metres from the car to my painting site, and 5 to lug it back, as a wet canvas has to be handled on its own.
If all of that starts to be blown around in the wind and into the water it really is time to wimp out and go home.
I'll never need to join a gym or a bootcamp. Who knows, large scale plein air painting could become the latest fitness craze!

My plein air painting of the

"Sydney Heritage Fleet from Blackwattle Bay"

2012 oil on canvas 122 x 183cm

Available

It isn't immediately apparent which bits belong to which vessels.
I tried hard to take a photo showing both the painting and all the ships in the same frame to show some of the difficulties.
Apart from the distance making details hard to see, there is a narrow window of opportunity to do any painting. I have to choose a day that has no more than the gentlest breeze, and has enough sun to throw some light on my subject. Even then, there are only a few hours of painting time between when the early morning haze lifts, and when the afternoon sun starts to dazzle my eyes.

My plein air painting of the

"Sydney Heritage Fleet from Blackwattle Bay"

2012 oil on canvas 122 x 183cm

Available

Photography doesn't really work, as a telephoto lens flattens and distorts the relationships between the vessels and the colours are highly misleading. There is such a mad jigsaw puzzle of funnels, prows, awnings and lifeboats all jumbled together. Bits that belong to one vessel can easily be mistaken as belonging to another .
For understanding the close up details, I find it better to visit the Rozelle shipyard and run my canvas past the gauntlet of all the volunteers who have devoted their lives to rescuing these ships. If I've made any truly embarrassing mistakes I can rely on them to correct me. Loudly, often and in great detail!

My plein air painting of the

"Sydney Heritage Fleet from Blackwattle Bay"

2012 oil on canvas 122 x 183cm

Available

In the centre of my painting, the 'Bronzewing' and 'Currawong', tugs recently acquired by the Sydney Heritage Fleet, are face to face like two old friends having a chinwag.
Crammed behind them, the funnel of the a coal-fired steam tug 'Waratah' juts out at a jaunty angle. 'Waratah' was built at Cockatoo Island in 1902.
After a lot of untangling. the steam tug 'Lady Hopetoun' appears shadowed in the background of the dilapidated hulk of the 100 year old ferry 'Kanangra'. The 'Kanangra' is another link with Cockatoo Island. I remember catching her in the morning when I was painting on Cockatoo island in the early 1980s. I think she was retired by about 1985.

My plein air painting of the

"Sydney Heritage Fleet from Blackwattle Bay"

2012 oil on canvas 122 x 183cm

Available

Beyond the 'Kanangra' are the runts of the litter, the 1908 motor launch 'Protex', the 1943 motor launch 'Harmon' and the 1955 motor launch 'Berrima'.

My plein air painting of the

"Sydney Heritage Fleet from Blackwattle Bay"

2012 oil on canvas 122 x 183cm

Available

To the right of the canvas is the graceful 1903 "gentleman's schooner", 'Boomerang', which I have just finished painting on the slipway at Noakes.

My half finished plein air painting of the

"Sydney Heritage Fleet from Blackwattle Bay"

2012 oil on canvas 122 x 183cm

Available

All of these are dwarfed by the bulk of the 1927 steamship "John Oxley", currently being restored to its former glory.

My half finished plein air painting of the

"White Bay Power Station from Blackwattle Bay"

2012 oil on canvas 41 x 51cm

Available

By 1pm the changes in the direction of the light had made it difficult to see any useful details on the ships.
It was still about an hour before the wind would change, so I started painting a small canvas of the silhouette of the White Bay Power Station.
I have frequently painted this beautifully brutal building, from the inside as well as the outside. However I have rarely painted it from Blackwattle Bay, so I'm making up for this oversight.
The wind whipped up about 2pm, so both canvases are going well, but still unfinished. Till next time.

Related posts

Artist in Residence at the Sydney Heritage Fleet Part 1
Artist in Residence at the Sydney Heritage Fleet Part 2 : The 'Lady Hopetoun'
Slipping away
Artist in Residence at the Sydney Heritage Fleet - Part 4 'Blowing in the wind'
'From the Hungry Mile to Barangaroo'
"Lashed to the Mast" - Plein Air painting as extreme sport
Painting the 'Poolya' at Glebe Island
Jane Bennett paints the 'Lady Hopetoun'
Exhibition SALT IN THE AIR 27 April - 3rd May 2013 (asma-artistinresidence.blogspot.com)
Boat at Goat (janebennettartist.blogspot.com)

To the Point

Half finished canvas on the easel
"The 'Terminus' versus the 'Pyrmont Point Hotel' "
2012 oil painting on canvas 31 x 61cm
Sold
Enquiries about similar paintings:
janecooperbennett@gmail.com
Last week I returned to a painting that I had started 2 years ago but had left half finished due to having to complete other projects.
I had painted the two hotels from this viewpoint on the corner of John and Harris Streets countless times before. I still had several canvases of the Terminus but I especially wanted to paint a panorama giving equal space to the Terminus and Pyrmont Point Hotels.
59 versus 61 Harris Street Pyrmont - the old versus the new Pyrmont, divided by the striding legs of the Anzac bridge looming over the towers of Jackson's Landing.




Half finished canvas on the easel
"The 'Terminus' versus the 'Pyrmont Point Hotel' "
2012 oil painting on canvas 31 x 61cm
Sold
Enquiries about similar paintings:
janecooperbennett@gmail.com

I had completed a similar canvas from this viewpoint about 2 years ago, but had sold it almost immediately to a local couple who had met each other at the Point Hotel.


Half finished canvas on the easel
"The 'Terminus' versus the 'Pyrmont Point Hotel' "
2012 oil painting on canvas 31 x 61cm
Sold
Enquiries about similar paintings:
janecooperbennett@gmail.com
In the first photo of the work in progress, the previous colour scheme of the "Pyrmont Point Hotel" from 2 years before is still visible. The strange faded plum tone reminded me of an over-ripe version of the once ubiquitous "Paddo pink" in the first wave of gentrification that spread all over the 1980s inner city. It clashed horribly with the dark crimson awning.
Now it is under new management, with a brand new colour scheme to mark the change. The walls are a more subdued and elegant pale yellow green, with awnings and window frames in chocolate. One effect of the new wall colour is to make the "ghost sign" of the hotel's original name the "Royal Pacific" more apparent.
Meanwhile the Terminus hasn't changed a bit.

Half finished canvas on the easel

"The 'Terminus' versus the 'Pyrmont Point Hotel' "

2012 oil painting on canvas 31 x 61cm
Sold
Enquiries about similar paintings:
janecooperbennett@gmail.com

I spent the first afternoon repainting the walls of the "Pyrmont Point Hotel" to the new colour. It probably would have been quicker and easier to just start a completely new canvas.

The practice of plein air painting often results in many half finished and potentially unfinishable canvases, so that you have to grit your teeth and accept it as an inevitable part of the process. So many elements are beyond the artist's control that plein air painting becomes hopelessly frustrating if you can't cope with "unfinished business".
I love being able to revive a canvas that I have had to turn face to the wall for weeks, months or even years.

Half finished canvas on the easel

"The 'Terminus' versus the 'Pyrmont Point Hotel' "

2012 oil painting on canvas 31 x 61cm
Sold
Enquiries about similar paintings:
janecooperbennett@gmail.com
By the end of the first day, I had the basics blocked out and the canvas only needed the finishing touches.
And just as well.
When I delivered another work to the Frances Keevil Gallery, I discovered that a couple from Pyrmont were extremely interested in this painting. They had actually watched me while I was painting it!
Unfortunately they were due to leave Australia the next week.
I would have to complete the painting by Wednesday at the latest if it was going to be dry (well... dryish!) by Saturday, when the clients came in to the Frances Keevil Gallery to view it.
I don't think that they realized that it was an oil painting and they were cutting it a bit fine if it was to be finished, dry and ready to be delivered.


Half finished canvas on the easel
"The 'Terminus' versus the 'Pyrmont Point Hotel' "
2012 oil painting on canvas 31 x 61cm
Sold
Enquiries about similar paintings:
janecooperbennett@gmail.com

It was Tuesday.

And there were many distractions.
I love chatting to people as I paint. I get to meet interesting people and learn a lot of fascinating things about the location.
But I was under a bit of time pressure and I must admit that I was worried.
The painting looks almost finished in this photo, but the final touches which can make or break a painting are very fiddly and it's perilous to rush them.
One of the most important of these was the "ghost sign" of the Pyrmont Point's previous incarnation as the Royal Pacific. Another vital detail was the light coming from the interior of the Pyrmont Point which contrasted with the dead heart of the Terminus.

The artist with local resident Van Le

with the nearly complete canvas

"The 'Terminus' versus the 'Pyrmont Point Hotel' "

2012 oil painting on canvas 31 x 61cm
Sold
Enquiries about similar paintings:

janecooperbennett@gmail.com

Tuesday seemed to be an extremely busy day on the corner of John and Harris St.
I became a bit of a tourist attraction. Here I am with Van Le, a local resident.

The artist with local resident

Francis Lee with the nearly complete canvas

"The 'Terminus' versus the 'Pyrmont Point Hotel' "

2012 oil painting on canvas 31 x 61cm
Sold
Enquiries about similar paintings:
janecooperbennett@gmail.com
And with Francis Lee, another local resident, who kindly took these pictures of me in action.

"The 'Terminus' versus the 'Pyrmont Point Hotel' "
2012 oil painting on canvas 31 x 61cm
Sold
Enquiries about similar paintings:
janecooperbennett@gmail.com
I needn't have worried.
The painting was completed.
And the couple loved it and bought it.
Apparently one of the pair had been covertly watching me paint the finishing touches on this canvas from a safe distance at the pub opposite.
I'm glad that I didn't know that at the time or I would have suffered stage fright.
I actually think that this painting turned out better than the one that I had painted 2 years before. Mind you, I've certainly had quite enough practice painting these pubs. The first time was about 30 years ago - doesn't time fly when you're having fun!
Also watching me were 2 photographers who were checking out the Terminus. They took a few photos of me (no makeup, covered in paint from head to foot, looking like a bag lady...oh well!) and chatted about the charms of urban decay as I desperately tried to finish my commission. Like many photographers, they seemed more interested in the freshly squeezed oil paint on my palette than the actual canvas. The process not the result.
Check out the photos they took of me and my painting here at the blog on their site.
Tristan Stefan Edouard Photography
For more information about the Terminus and Pyrmont Point Hotels see My Pyrmont page in this blog

Related posts
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

The bad twin of Pyrmont Street

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

Homage to Picasso, Part 2 - Postcards from Picasso

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
ink on card 18 x 13cm 1997
Available 

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
ink on card 18 x 13cm 1997
Available 


My drawing of "Le Viel Homme Assis" by Pablo Picasso
graphite on card 18 x 13cm 1997
Available 


My drawing of
"Le Fou", a bronze sculpture by Pablo Picasso from 1905
graphite on card 18 x 13cm 1997
Available 
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.
ink on card 18 x 13cm 1997
Available 
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"

ink and gouache on card 18 x 13cm 1997
Available 

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"
ink and gouache on card 18 x 13cm 1997
Available 

My gouache and ink drawing of Pablo Picasso's

1961 project for a monument

"Femme aux bras ecartes"

ink and gouache on card 18 x 13cm 1997
Available 


My gouache and ink drawing of
Pablo Picasso's"La Jeune Fille assise"
ink and gouache on card 18 x 13cm 1997
Available 


My gouache and ink drawing of a faun by Pablo Picasso
ink and gouache on card 18 x 13cm 1997
Available 


My gouache and ink painting of
"L'homme au mouton (Man with sheep)" Pablo Picasso, 1940s
ink and gouache on card 36 x 13cm 1997
Available 

Close up detail of my gouache and ink painting of
"L'homme au mouton (Man with sheep)" Pablo Picasso, 1940s
ink and gouache on card 18 x 13cm 1997
Available 

"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 accidentally 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.

Related articles

Pablo Picasso show pays belated homage to Spanish genius

(guardian.co.uk)

Related posts in this blog

Homage to Picasso Part 1

Homage to Picasso Part 1

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

Available  

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.

Available 

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"
Available 


My sketch of a Pablo Picasso sculpture
Available 

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

Related articles
"Picasso: masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris"
Garance: our lasting affair | Agnès Poirier (guardian.co.uk)
Picasso's Hungry Hand Stars in Flipbook Show at Frick: Review (businessweek.com)
Les Enfants du Paradis - review (guardian.co.uk)
Les Enfants du Paradis - review (guardian.co.uk)
Stanley Kubrick & Malcolm McDowell on the set of A Clockwork Orange (1971, dir. Stanley Kubrick) (via The Stanley Kubrick Archives) (sgtr.wordpress.com)
Letters: Tainted Paradise (guardian.co.uk)
Pablo Picasso show pays belated homage to Spanish genius (guardian.co.uk)

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

For 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

on Glebe Island Wharf 2010-11
'The ex HMAS Adelaide'' at Glebe Island Wharf
2011 oil on canvas 61 x 183 cm
Enquiries about this painting:
janecooperbennett@gmail.com 

"Ex HMAS Adelaide- flag raising at dawn" 2010 
oil on canvas 31 x 103cm
Enquiries about this painting:
janecooperbennett@gmail.com  

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, April 2011
Enquiries about this painting:
janecooperbennett@gmail.com  

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

Enquiries about this painting:

janecooperbennett@gmail.com 

That sinking feeling...

Painting the ex HMAS Adelaide

for the very last time at North Avoca Beach,April 2011
Enquiries about this painting:
janecooperbennett@gmail.com  

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

"The ex HMAS Adelaide from North Avoca"
2011 oil on canvas 31 x 61cm
Enquiries about this painting:
janecooperbennett@gmail.com 

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

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

Related Posts

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

Beyond the Sea

Two Ships in dock

Tugs, barges and tall ships

From the Tampa to Strictly Ballroom

See my Hungry Mile page in this blog

For more paintings and information about the ex-HMAS Adelaide:

See my White Bay Wharf / Glebe island Wharf page in this blog