I painted this panoramic canvas of the western side of Sydney Harbour from the bridge of the "Maersk Gateshead".
DH258 'Pyrmont and the James Craig
from the bridge of the Maersk Gateshead'
2010 oil on canvas 31 x 153cm
Available
This was the last cargo ship to be docked at wharf 5, of the former East Darling Harbour Wharves, which has now been redeveloped into the Barangaroo precinct.
It wasn't unloaded there, but was waiting for repairs and finally left at 3pm Monday 14th June 2010.
The captain watched me painting from the dockside, and was intrigued. After a bit of negotiation I spent the next 4 days having the run of the ship. I painted a series of canvases, from the bridge of the ship itself.
It wasn't unloaded there, but was waiting for repairs and finally left at 3pm Monday 14th June 2010.
The captain watched me painting from the dockside, and was intrigued. After a bit of negotiation I spent the next 4 days having the run of the ship. I painted a series of canvases, from the bridge of the ship itself.
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| DH258 'Pyrmont and the James Craig from the bridge of the Maersk Gateshead' 2010 oil on canvas 31 x 153cm Available |
During my previous 6 or so years as 'Artist in Residence' at the East Darling Harbour Wharves, I had often been invited by various captains to paint from their ship.
This is a view of my 'studio on a ship, with the unfinished canvas on my French Box easel.
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| DH258 'Pyrmont and the James Craig from the bridge of the Maersk Gateshead' 2010 oil on canvas 31 x 153cm Available |
This shows a close up detail of the left hand side of the same canvas, showing the former wharves of Pyrmont in the shadow of the towers of Jackson's Landing and the Anzac bridge.
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| DH258 'Pyrmont and the James Craig from the bridge of the Maersk Gateshead' 2010 oil on canvas 31 x 153cm Available |
This close up detail shows the containers of the Maersk Gateshead, and in the distance is the 'Pacific Jewel', the last time a cruise ship would dock at Wharf 8, the 'old' cruise ship terminal. I've put 'old' in inverted commas because it was only built in 1999, as part of the Sydney 2000 Olympics building boom, and now redundant after just over 10 years. Sydney's urban landscape makes 'dog years' look languid.
As soon as the 'Pacific Jewel' left, the fences enclosed the perimeter of the Cruise ship Terminal, and demolition began.
I contrasted the boxy lines of the modern white cruise ship with the lovingly restored tall ship of the Sydney Heritage Fleet, the 'James Craig' making its way back to its home next to Wharf 7, Pyrmont.
DH260 'Millers Point from the bridge of the Maersk Gateshead'
2010 oil on canvas 31 x 103cm
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DH260 'Millers Point from the bridge of the Maersk Gateshead'
2010 oil on canvas 31 x 103cm
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I'd often record the bustle of a working wharf beneath me, as well as the workers' terraces perched on High Street and Merriman Street directly opposite and almost at my eye-level.
But this time, everything had changed.
Forever.
The wharf has been scraped to the bone. Wharf buildings, cranes and forklifts have gone, and there is a vast empty void framed with a randomly curved blue line supposedly echoing the original shoreline. A couple of security guards bored out of their tiny minds, walk aimlessly up and down. At least they're getting fit.
I was glad to be on the bridge of the ship and not on the wharf, because on the bridge I was mostly left to paint in peace as the crew had work to get on with.
On the wharf, the guards were nice, but driving me bonkers, because they had no other distractions to relieve their boredom. As it was obvious that the days of painting on the Wharves were numbered, I didn't have time to waste.
The sandstone escarpment and Millers Point workers terraces glow in the reflection of the setting sun, as does the doomed Harbour Control Tower, which was still my studio.
Compare this to a similar panorama of the wharf painted from a similar vantage point of the bridge of another ship, the 'Taiko' only 4 years before.
DH33A-B'From the Bridge of the 'Taiko' Diptych''
2006 oil on board 20 x 40cm each
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DH33A-B'From the Bridge of the 'Taiko' Diptych''
2006 oil on board 20 x 40cm each
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The lines on the wharf in the 2006 diptych are not random or imposed by a landscape designer. They are pedestrian walkways, and grids to designate parking for trucks, freight or cars, but create a complex interplay of arrows and lines worthy of Jeffrey Smart.
I knew this would be the last cargo ship to ever dock here, and the last time it would be a working wharf. So it was my last chance to see and paint the harbour from this vantage point, and I made the most of it.
After the Maersk Gateshead left, a temporary Cruise Ship Terminal was set up in a large white tent (ok then, a marquee) marking time until the new terminal was built at White Bay.
As soon as that opened developers were free to literally cut along the dotted line, and the 200 year history of the East Darling Harbour Wharf, aka the 'Hungry Mile' would end.
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