Selfie at South Eveleigh (Watching the forge fires fade)

I don't usually paint self portraits, but this is the exception.

I've been asked to exhibit in "Selfie", an exhibition of self portraits by artists who don't normally specialize in portraiture.

I have painted myself in front of the largest surviving forge remaining in Australia, the Eveleigh Locomotive Workshop

"Selfie" is on display from 11th - 26th May at 1047 Gallery, 1047 Botany Road Mascot.

Opening Saturday 11th may 2-5pm, closing drinks 26th May 2-4pm.
 Open Saturday & Sunday 11 am - 4pm
0401 037 359     ten-forty-seven@mail.com

Invitation to "Selfie" Exhibition at 1047 Gallery

 

 E158 'Watching the forge fires fade'
 2019 acrylic on canvas 31 x 61cm

 

Available for sale

From 1886 until the 1980s, the Blacksmith’s Workshop produced equipment and parts for manufacturing and maintaining steam locomotives.

The modern blacksmiths of Eveleigh Works still use traditional machinery in homage to this bygone era of steam trains and handmade tools.

However, despite their much-loved status as icons of industrial heritage, the blacksmiths face an uncertain fate as a Woolworths will be built next door. 

In the maelstrom of inner city gentrification, blacksmiths are anachronisms; living fossils from the 19^th century.

Much like plein air painters, I suppose.

The deep shadows and dramatic lighting of the forge evoke the evocative, melancholy poetry of nocturnal scenes painted by my heroes Caravaggio, Joseph Wright of Derby and Georges de la Tour. Their nocturnes are ‘memento mori’ paintings contemplating  transience and mortality. The flickering flame will soon be extinguished. 

My canvas is cloaked in darkness, yet a flash of intense illumination throws eerie green highlights across my face. Behind me the blacksmith darts gracefully backwards and forwards in his dangerous dance with fire.

My face looms in the foreground towards the viewer, lost in thought. My gaze doesn’t meet the viewer directly, but peers intently at something just out of sight. Am I looking back in nostalgia to the past, or staring warily at an unknown future?

Related posts

Irons in the fire

Playing with fire

Macdonaldtown - A Station without a suburb
Strike while the iron is hot

Eveleigh- Industrial Heritage Artist at Work

ATP Open Day - Saturday, 25 Feb 2012
 Eveleigh paintings
The village smithy (sydney-eye.blogspot.com)
The slow return from the fire 
The fire within 
En plein air with street cred (sydney-eye.blogspot.com)

Strike while the iron is hot

Starting a small painting of an anvil,
one of the blacksmith's
basic tools of the trade
" Anvil" 2014 31 x 31cm oil on canvas
Enquiries

At the ATP community heritage days on the 16th and 17th May, I had 2 exhibitions, one in Bay 1 and 2 of the Blacksmith's workshop and the other in the carriage displayed by the volunteers of 3801 limited, as well as painting throughout the blacksmith's demonstrations .
I am still recovering from being seriously injured not long ago, (fractured pelvis) so I had to be extremely careful. I was given a great deal of help by the volunteers and the management of the ATP, who gave me a room to store my paintings and easels, and a trolley to move them. I am truly grateful, as even just walking still causes me a great deal of pain.

" Anvil" 2014
31 x 31cm oil on canvas
Enquiries
This time I kept the paintings fairly small and simple, so as to not put too much pressure on myself, while I'm still recuperating.
However, I have always meant to paint some of the heritage tools anyway. I have previously painted anvils as part of a larger, more complex painting, but it is a beautiful and evocative item in its own right.

Enquiries
I had often painted Chris before in a variety of poses, but you have to be fast!
However, after I watch for a while I notice various stages of the process, and get a feeling for the timing and rhythm.
It's hard to decide on which of the hundreds of potential poses to choose to paint. I leave the arms in an unfinished state, as I can't decide on whether to paint him wielding a hammer or a pair of tongs.
Decisions, decisions.

Starting a painting of the blacksmith Chris.

Enquiries

The blacksmiths of "Wrought Artworks" move quickly.

"Strike while the iron is hot" isn't just an old proverb - it's a way of life.
They must strike quickly, decisively and with force, however their movements must be controlled and accurate as well.
They also must work as a team and have awareness of who and what is around them.

Chris quenching chisels
2011-12 oil on canvas 152 x 122cm
Enquiries
I exhibited some of my paintings of the Blacksmiths in a corner of their workshop, so that onlookers could compare the paintings with the real thing.

"Blacksmith" 2009 oil on canvas 100 x 75cm
Enquiries
It gave viewers an opportunity to see parts of the workshop not visible to the public due to safety concerns.

Enquiries
i displayed some of my smaller paintings and books of photos of paintings of other areas of industrial Sydney on a pair of old dusty workbenches.

Enquiries
The ATP  has largely retained the old industrial ambience of the Eveleigh Railway Workshops.

All Fired up -the Blacksmiths

Eveleigh Railway Workshops"
2012 oil on canvas 91x 122cm
Enquiries
Some more of my paintings of the blacksmiths were exhibited in front of an old signal box.

Enquiries
The visitors on the first day were mostly retired former Eveleigh workers.

Enquiries

However, there was a much larger and more diverse group of people attending on the Saturday.

I hope there will be another heritage day next year.

More Eveleigh paintings

Related posts

Macdonaldtown - A Station without a suburb

All fired Up

Scar Tissue

ATP Open Day - Saturday, 25 Feb 2012
Singing the body electric (sydney-eye.blogspot.com)
The village smithy (sydney-eye.blogspot.com)

En plein air with street cred (sydney-eye.blogspot.com)

Eveleigh Community Heritage Day

The ATP Heritage Community Days run from 10am to 3pm on both Friday 16th and Saturday 17th May 2014.

This is a preview of some of the paintings I will display in the Blacksmith's workshop Bay 1 and 2 

 "ATP" is the acronym for the Australian Technology Park.

Not to be confused with Carriageworks! 

"3801 steaming, Large Erecting Shop,
Eveleigh Railway Workshops"
 2006 oil on canvas 36 x 28cm
Enquiries

The ATP is on the southern side of  Redfern station, while Carriageworks is on the northern side.
I will also have some paintings of the 3801 and other historic steam locomotives as well as interiors of the Large Erecting Shop exhibited in and around the heritage carriages. 

These carriages will be displayed by the volunteers of the 3801 at the western end, near Channel 7's new building.

'Geoff and the 3801 
outside the Large Erecting Shop'
2006  oil on canvas  38 x 76cm
Enquiries

As well as the trains, I've even immortalized a few of the volunteers!

 'Forging,Wrought Artworks '
2010 oil on canvas 20 x 25cm
Enquiries

I will also be painting the blacksmiths from "Wrought Artworks", who will be giving a couple of forging demonstrations in Bay 2 south on both days. 

"Forge, Wrought Artworks, Eveleigh"
2008  oil on canvas 56 x 76cm
Enquiries

In the centre of this painting is the legendary 'Davy Press', built in the era when industry operated on a heroic scale.

Richard Butcher,heritage volunteer and an ex- Eveleigh Workshop Blacksmith, will give tours of Bay 1 and 2 (which has the enormous Davy Press). Richard has written the most amazing book about the Eveleigh Railway Workshops and is a genuine living legend!
More details about the Eveleigh Community heritage days

Related posts

Irons in the fire
Watching the forge fires fadePlaying with fire
Macdonaldtown - A Station without a suburb
Strike while the iron is hot
Eveleigh- Industrial Heritage Artist at Work
ATP Open Day - Saturday, 25 Feb 2012
 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)

Keep your eyes on the prize (and your finger off the trigger)

3 "Highly Commended" Awards in the past 3 days!

One off winning $1,250.

One off winning another $1,250.

And one off winning $5,000.
Don't know whether I should accept congratulations or commiserations.
I hadn't known until I collected my paintings today that I had been awarded two "High Commendations" for my entries in the Camden Art Prize.
I had been awarded the "Highly Commended" for  "The Art of Navigation". This is a memento mori painting of antique navigation instruments, and pays tribute to the famous 18th century navigator La Perouse.

"The Art of Navigation" oil on canvas 75 x 100cm

Enquiries

Yet another "Highly Commended" in the "Works on Paper" Section for a moody charcoal and ink interior, "The Turbine Hall Of the White Bay Power Station"

"The Turbine Hall Of the White Bay Power Station"
2011 charcoal, pastel and ink on paper 75 x 100cm

Enquiries

The "Blacksmiths, Eveleigh" ranked first of the five "High Commendations" awarded in the Open Section of the Hunters Hill Art prize, making it the runner-up.

"The Blacksmiths, Eveleigh Railway Workshops" 
oil on canvas 91 x 122cm

Enquiries

I had known that it had received at least a "Commended", as its title was in bold print on the website, but I had no idea that it was the runner up until the end of the presentation night when I read the judges comments :
"Gripping subject matter - the painterly shadows take on a rainbow hue from the furnace which is the source of all light and tension in this finely rendered genre painting"

There was a lot more tension, although a bit more heat than light, the other day in the Hunters Hill Club, the venue where my painting is hanging.
This year, paintings in the Hunters Hill Art Prize are hung at 3 historic venues - the  Hunters Hill Town Hall, the Congregational Church and the Hunters Hill Club - all within a short walking distance from each other.
My 2 largest paintings are displayed in the Town Hall, my entry in the 9 x 5" section is in the church, and the painting of the Blacksmiths, which was the runner up, is hung on the wall of the Club.
 It's a great idea, as people who don't usually go to art exhibitions will get an opportunity to check out the art.
However there were a couple of sightseers that we would all have been happy to live without.
There was a terrifying incident at the Hunters Hill Club on the night before the art prize opening, which I was told about at the opening by John Booth, the editor of the local paper "The Weekly Times".
At 9.30pm, two robbers armed with an axe and a rifle smashed their way through a locked door.
As they approached the bar, three of the club's employees  managed to lock themselves in a room to escape.
 Fortunately the robbers weren't able to get into the room after them.  Just as fortunately no-one else was injured, although one of the robbers had pushed a patron off his bar stool before jumping the bar. However as they fled, one of the robbers can be seen threatening patrons with a long rifle as he forces them to hand over their belongings.
I'm relieved that these thugs were apparently neither art fans nor art critics.
No paintings on display in the Club were damaged or stolen, and none will return to their creators  with bullet holes as extra decoration.
 And I'm even more relieved that this brazen robbery didn't occur on the opening night, which was attended by hundreds of people.

Related articles
Axe wielding thieves rob club on Sydney's Lower north shore

Daily Telegraph 11 May 12
Video of the armed robbery at the Hunters Hill Club
"Armed robbery at club in Hunters Hill" North Shore Times Crime  11 May 12  by Torin Chen

 Related posts

"The Navigator and the King"
The Art of Navigation
New still life paintings of navigation instruments
Inside Out
Power
Time for Safety
The fire within
Eveleigh - Industrial Heritage Artist at Work
Strike while the iron is hot
All fired up
The village smithy (sydney-eye.blogspot.com)
En plein air with street cred (sydney-eye.blogspot.com)

Time for Safety

"It is with fire that blacksmiths iron subdue
Unto fair form, the image of their thought :
Nor without fire hath any artist wrought
Gold to its utmost purity of hue.
Nay, nor the unmatched phoenix lives anew,
Unless she burn."
Michelangelo, Sonnet 59

I've finally completed my portrait of Chris forging chisels.

Portrait of "Chris Sulis forging chisels" 

2011-12 oil on canvas 152 x 122cm .

Enquiries :janecooperbennett@gmail.com

Portrait of "Chris Sulis forging chisels" 

2011-12 oil on canvas 152 x 122cm.

Enquiries :janecooperbennett@gmail.com

In Renaissance and Baroque paintings, the artist would often paint dark red velvet drapery fluttering behind the subject. The dye used for this colour was extracted from the murex shell.

It was prohibitively expensive and difficult to obtain, so using it as a backdrop would emphasise the aura of aristocratic power. Think of the background to Van Dyck's portraits of the pre-Civil War English court or Titian's portraits of the Papacy.

My luxurious crimson curtain is actually the welding screen, but it does give a feeling of the lost glories of the past.

Detail from Portrait of "Chris Sulis forging chisels"
 2011-12 oil on canvas 152 x 122cm .

Enquiries :janecooperbennett@gmail.com

"Time for Safety" detail from

 Portrait of "Chris Sulis forging chisels"

2011-12 oil on canvas 152 x 122cm 

Enquiries :janecooperbennett@gmail.com

 A decrepit "Time for Safety" sign is propped against the arched window frame. It reminds me more of a late Victorian moralizing wall plaque than an early example of Occupational Health and Safety regulations.

"Time for Safety" detail from
Portrait of "Chris Sulis forging chisels"
2011-12 oil on canvas 152 x 122cm

Enquiries :janecooperbennett@gmail.com

These days people have become risk averse to a ridiculous degree. In doing so they lose the chance to turn their fear into courage.

To paraphrase an old song, there is a time for safety and  there is a time for risk.

 Being an artist is risky. Doing anything interesting is always inherently risky.

Risks aren't always obvious.

The major risk to the blacksmiths isn't their hair catching fire, as they are too skilled. The real threat is that a combination of economic and political conditions could make their entire existence no longer viable.

"Blacksmith forging chisels"
2011-12 oil on canvas 122 x 183cm
Enquiries : janecooperbennett@gmail.com 

I'm now touching up the background of this painting of a different stage of the chisel forging process. This painting shows Euan crouched in the centre as the Massey hammer pounds the point into shape.

I'm very happy with both of these paintings.

So happy that next week I'll enter the painting of Chris in the Archibald Prize and the one of Euan in the Sulman Prize at the Art Gallery of NSW.

I'm not famous and neither are they, so I haven't a prayer with either work.

I'll waste $60 and half a day delivering them, but I feel like entering just for a stir.

Might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb.

Unlike most of the entries, these haven't been whipped up just to enter a prize but are part of my normal work. I'm sick of the typical Archibald formula for prize winning entries - a  giant close up of a head, without context or content, painted from a slide projector.

Detail from portrait of
"Chris Sulis forging chisels" 
2011-12 oil on canvas 152 x 122cm

Enquiries : janecooperbennett@gmail.com

 

I hadn't originally expected this to be a portrait, but one of a series of paintings of the process of chisel forging.

The previous painting showing Euan at the hammer is a very good likeness, but the figure is in the midground, although he is the focus of the whole work. The blacksmiths could not "pose" for me in any formal sense of the word, or even stay still for more than a few seconds as they were very busy working to their deadline. I took an immense risk painting a large full length figure dominating the foreground in a pose that he could not sustain for longer than a few seconds. I had to watch and wait whilst immersing myself in their world.  The more I painted Chris, the more his pose seemed to gather authority and purpose.

As I have painted Chris doing the work that he loves in the place that he loves, this painting will probably be tagged with the pejorative term "genre piece". Yet it tells you more about the thoughts and values of the subject than most Archibald portraits.

Related posts

• Irons in the fire
  

• Watching 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
  
• ATP Open Day - Saturday, 25 Feb 2012
•  Eveleigh paintings
• The village smithy (sydney-eye.blogspot.com)

• The slow return from the fire 

• The fire within 
• En plein air with street cred (sydney-eye.blogspot.com)