In the Shadows- Painting the Justice and Police Museum

The Sydney Open will be held next Sunday. For just one day a year, the secrets of Sydney’s most treasured and architecturally significant buildings are revealed to the public.
So, in the spirit of this event, I decided to paint one of Sydney's most beautiful sandstone buildings.
Although it was difficult, bordering on the impossible,I managed to set up an easel and paint 'en plein air' right in the heart of the CBD.

Plein air painting of the "Justice and Police Museum"
2015 oil on canvas 13 x 18cm

 

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The Justice and Police Museum is one of the city's most overlooked heritage gems. It is hidden away on the quiet leafy corner of Phillip and Albert Streets, a stone's throw from Circular Quay.

It was a tight squeeze for the bendy bus!

Plein air painting of the "Justice and Police Museum"

2015 oil on canvas 13 x 18cm

 

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It incorporates the old Water Police Court (1856), designed by Edmund Blacket; the Water Police Station (1858), attributed to Alexander Dawson and the Police Court (1886), designed by James Barnet. 
The complex had remained in use as a police station as late as 1985, when the area was a busy legal hub.
Today the museum tells the story of the seamy side of Sydney’s past.

Plein air painting of the "Justice and Police Museum"

2015 oil on canvas 13 x 18cm

 

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The golden sandstone, graceful columns and dappled shade give a deceptive impression. 
Behind the elegant facade lurk dingy 1890s holding cells, offices, charge room and courts. A century of underworld Sydney is contained inside.

Plein air painting of the "Justice and Police Museum"

2015 oil on canvas 13 x 18cm

 

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The guilty, the innocent and the unknown. 

Mug shots of bushrangers, sly groggers, drifters, razor gangs and "colourful racing identities" rub shoulders with cops and judges.

Plein air painting of the "Justice and Police Museum"

2015 oil on canvas 13 x 18cm

 

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So very Sydney.

Related Posts

Sydney Sandstone - Painting the Lands Department Building

Paintings of Pink pubs - Painting the Jolly Frog Part 2

Another painting of the "Jolly Frog" before the fire.
I've just read the excellent historical notes on theself-guided Windsor Heritage Walks, that I found in the Macquarie Arms Hotel.
I painted this view from the site of the Windsor Barracks and Guardhouse opposite.
According to the guide "in 1818 a substantial brick barracks accommodating up to 60 soldiers was completed on this site by Richard Fitzgerald. The foundations of the guardhouse constructed in 1830 at the entrance to the barracks were unearthed by roadworks in 1976 and the site preserved. The guardhouse consisted of 3 small cells which were used for the confinement of subordinate soldiers. The site was surrounded by a high wall, remnants of which survive today. The barracks and guardhouse were demolished in about 1928 to make way for the construction of a police station and lockup."

WJF4 'The 'Jolly Frog' from the foundations

of the Military Barracks
 2013 oil on canvas 31 x 61cm
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Whenever I painted the "Jolly Frog" I found myself thinking about Edward Hopper's paintings, while listening to the Buena Vista Social Club on my mp3 player.In Edward Hopper's paintings, encroaching shadows express the tension between nature and culture, and past and present.

Although roads are typically associated with the noise, speed, and rapid change of modern life, this scene is curiously still and silent.

I've finally tracked down the Edward Hopper painting that I feel it most resembles " Early Sunday Morning" 1930.
After crossing the Fitzroy bridge over South Creek, for a minute I thought I had arrived at a sleepy Cuban shanty town. The shabby facade of the "Jolly Frog" painted like a block of liquorice allsorts , a combination of sublime architecture and gorblimey colour evoked the streets of Old Havana.
I've always wondered about the inspiration behind the surprising and lurid colour schemes of moribund pubs.
For comparison, I have included 2 of my paintings of the ex-pub "The Pyrmont Arms".

"P248A The 'Pyrmont Arms' from the CSR 2
1991 oil on canvas 31 x 31cm
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The pink paint job is startling enough on the close up bird's eye view study I painted from the roof of the CSR boilerhouse (now the 'Elizabeth' apartment of the Jackson's Landing LendLease development)

But just look at how it sticks out like a sore thumb amongst all the dark decaying bond stores and warehouses!

P249 "Pyrmont panorama- from the CSR 2"
 1991 oil on canvas 38 x 76cm
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Same fabulously horrid "glow in the dark" shade of "Paddo pink", but a very different fate was in store for the ex- Pyrmont Arms Hotel. It is no longer a hotel, but has been reasonably sympathetically renovated and is now a combination of apartments above and a bottle-o below.

The real mystery is how the "Terminus Hotel" a block further south in Pyrmont has so far escaped. The Terminus has been derelict since the mid 1980s, and must surely be a candidate for the Guinness Book of Records for the longest existence as a derelict building without having suffered a mysterious fire. If you're interested in its strange history see my posts in this blog "To the Point" , "Looking over the overlooked" and "A tale of Two Pyrmont Hotels"

Update

WJF4 'The 'Jolly Frog' from the foundations
of the Military Barracks
 2013 oil on canvas 31 x 61cm
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Past and present at the Jolly Frog, 26th January 2014

WJF4 'The 'Jolly Frog' from the foundations
of the Military Barracks
 2013 oil on canvas 31 x 61cm
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 Past and present at the Jolly Frog, 26th January 2014

WJF5 'The 'Jolly Frog' (there's nothing...)
 2013 oil on canvas 25 x 31cm
Private Collection : Windsor
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Related posts

See my page of Windsor paintings

See my page of Pyrmont paintings

"A tale of Two Pyrmont Hotels"

"Looking over the overlooked"

"To the Point"

The Boiling Frog

The Phantom Toll House

Historic Sydney pub The Jolly Frog destroyed in blaze (abc.net.au)

6 Year sentence for Jolly Frog Arsonist  Hawkesbury Gazette 26/10/16

The Boiling Frog

 WJF1 'Door of the 'Jolly Frog' 
2013 oil on canvas 15 x 15cm

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The "Jolly Frog", was "mysteriously" burnt down at about 10pm on the 20th January.

A popular local watering hole, it had been derelict for several years.

Its lurid fluoro pink paint job was the first visible landmark after crossing the bridge into Windsor.

Now it's gone up in smoke.
A few months before, I painted some small studies from a small road opposite the "Frog"  I also painted a few small studies from my car behind the pub, where there was a wasteland used as a carpark.
The "Jolly Frog" certainly had the atmosphere of an accident waiting to happen. it reminded me of  the former White Bay Hotel, which a couple of years ago had suffered a similar fate.

 WJF3 'Study of the 'Jolly Frog' 
2013 oil on canvas 18 x 13cm
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WJF2 'Sign of the 'Jolly Frog' 
2013 oil on canvas 18 x 13cm
Private Collection : Winmalee
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This trio of tiny oil studies have a slightly "Edward Hopper" air about them; never a bad thing to have.
Closed shutters, boarded up doors and a disquieting mystery inside.
In my next post about painting the 'Jolly Frog' I have some 'before and after' paintings.

Related posts

See my page of Windsor paintings

Paintings of Pink pubs - Painting the Jolly Frog Part 2

 
The Phantom Toll House

Fish and chips

 Painting Thompson Square, Windsor

Historic Sydney pub The Jolly Frog destroyed in blaze (abc.net.au)

Friends of the Jolly Frog

6 year jail sentence for Jolly Frog Arsonist

Hawkesbury Gazette 26/10/16

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

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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

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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

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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)