Today's painting on my isolation deck gallery is of one of the blacksmiths in Bay 1/2 of the Locomotive Workshops, South Eveleigh, Eveleigh Railway Workshops.
 E93 Blacksmith quenching chisels, Eveleigh Railway Workshops 2011 oil on canvas 152 x 122cm This canvas is so large that parts of it are obscured by the railing and roof of my pergola. However, I did paint it from life - nervously trying to keep my oil paint and turps out of the way of the blacksmiths who were swiftly carrying red-hot metre long metal chisels from the forge and quenching them in a vat of boiling oil! As you do!  |
E93 Blacksmith quenching chisels, Eveleigh Railway Workshops 2011 oil on canvas 152 x 122cm |
I painted a series of blacksmith paintings from life and even exhibited them in Bay 1/2 while the blacksmiths were giving public forging demonstrations.
The blacksmiths at the time were part of 'Wrought Artworks' which had been founded by Guido Gouvernor in 1991 just after the Eveleigh Railway Workshops ceased operations. He conserved the antique heritage machinery and kept it in working order so that they weren't static exhibits, but part of a working forge.
More recently, Matthew Mewburn of 'Eveleigh Works' has taken over this important and historically significant task.
The posts below include the stages of these paintings as works in progress on the easel, and some photos from several Open Days at the Australian Technology Park, Eveleigh Railway Workshops.
Related posts
Irons in the fireWatching the forge fires fade
Playing with fire
Macdonaldtown - A Station without a suburb
Strike while the iron is hot
Eveleigh- Industrial Heritage Artist at Work
Eveleigh paintings
The village smithy (sydney-eye.blogspot.com)
Time for Safety
The slow return from the fire
The fire within
En plein air with street cred (sydney-eye.blogspot.com)