Scar Tissue

Exploring disused manufacturing can sometimes be a bit depressing – all that decay, all those jobs that no longer exist, all that busy industry that has gone.
I have been painting in the increasingly empty Large Erecting Shop of the Eveleigh Railway Workshops, as they are being slowly stripped of all but the barest essentials,
leaving desolate floors and abandoned walkways.
Echos follow your every move, mimicking and daring you to make your presence known.

'Release' 2017 oil on canvas 41 x 31cm

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Painting is less documentary, more subjective,definitely slower and more labour intensive than photography.

However these qualities can be assets as well.

The painter has to select one image showing a definitive moment and yet implying others, to reveal layers of meaning that reward further viewing.

A bit like an onion. And sometimes it can make you want to cry.

I value the quality of authenticity, of being a witness.
This practice of painting on site produces a more genuinely felt memory of my experience and an understanding of the location’s properties and mood, providing me with a truer record of the colour palette than photography.

'Release' 2017 oil on canvas 41 x 31cm
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With the removal of so many items, I focus intensely on what remains. Instead of panoramas of the interior, I am working on a series of close ups of details I have previously overlooked, attempting to preserve what is left of the once chaotic jumble of relics of over 100 years of railway history.

The paint itself can give a feeling of the volume and presence of the scene being painted.
Texture such as rust, stains or water damage can be scraped back with a palette knife or engraved into the surface. The term for this is “sgraffito”.

'Release' 2017 oil on canvas 41 x 31cm
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The colours and textures, crumbling render, faded pigments, verdigris, scrapes and scratches – the scar tissue that stand witness to moments in time and history, may be lost in the rush towards the future.

More paintings of the Eveleigh Railway Workshops

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This is how the light gets in

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Ghost train

Work in progress - 'Engine shop,

Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops'

2017 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm

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There has been a lot of uncertainty about the future of the 3801 Ltd, and even of the Large Erecting Shop itself. Many of the relics will probably be lost or put into storage if the site is to become a running shed. This would mean that trains would still run from the shed, but no repair or maintenance work could be carried out. Anything not required merely to run the trains would then be removed from the interior and either sent to Thirlmere, put in storage or even put in a skip bin.

Already a lot of items have been put in the skip or just disappeared.

Work in progress - 'Engine shop,

Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops'

2017 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm

Enquiries

This old office in the Large Erecting shop of Eveleigh Railway Workshops, had been used to store stacks of windows and doors waiting to be repaired to refurbish a carriage.

In front of it are lathes, drills and boxes of rusting tools that obviously are many decades old.

Work in progress - 'Engine shop,

Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops'

2017 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm

Enquiries

This old office is an example of the sort of item that may not be kept, despite its historical interest.

Before it was used to store windows, it had been the headquarters of the 51⁄2 year restoration of 3830, which was carried out by a team of about 12 volunteers from the Powerhouse Museum and 3801 Limited.
There are still ghost signs that haven't been erased from when the restoration of 3830 started in 1992.

Work in progress - 'Engine shop,

Large Erecting Shop, Eveleigh Railway Workshops'

2017 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm

Enquiries
On the weathered sky blue boards are inscriptions in white chalk about its time of service.
"3830 18 years 11 months 4 days
Into service 27/9/49
Withdrawn 31/10/67 (Illegible) birthday 23 years
Cost £53,145/2/0 Basic Wage 4/8 11/20d/hour
Builders' No 170 40 hours £8/12/0 approx"

Work in progress - 'Engine shop,

Large Erecting Shop,

Eveleigh Railway Workshops'

2017 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm

Enquiries

The blackboard on the left hand side of the window of the old office has a mysterious list of the 38 class locos, split into 2 sections.

The left hand side of the blackboard starts with 3826, 3830, 3802, 3801, 3810, 3812, 3825, 3804, 3813, 3826, 3823, 3818, 3808, 3807, then there is a vertical line.
On the other side 3806 has been almost erased, then 3814, 3811, 3819, 3828, 3806, 3809, 3811, then a few illegible words with "38's are great mate" written over them.

'Engine shop, Large Erecting Shop,

Eveleigh Railway Workshops'

2017 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm

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I had wondered why the numbers had been written in such a haphazard order, and why some were missing and others repeated.

It was obviously not chronological, but there was obviously a reason behind it.
The secret was finally revealed by a veteran of the restoration.
The 3830 was a sort of 'Frankenstein's monster', composed of parts cannibalized from other 38 class locos.
The list of 38 class locos refers to the original source of particular items that finally ended up as part of 3830.

Ironically, the current (although now non-functioning) boiler of the 3830, was the original boiler of the 3801! The saga of the many attempts to fix /replace the current boiler of 3801 has been dragging on since 2007.

Now in 2020, ironically the boiler has been fixed and the loco is operational, but due to the Covid restrictions, the planned grand opening has had to be postponed.

'Engine shop, Large Erecting Shop,

Eveleigh Railway Workshops'

2017 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm

Enquiries

Unfortunately restoration and maintenance may not be regarded as priorities in the proposed future of this building.

I think that this is a short sighted policy that shows an appalling lack of respect to all the hard work carried out over so many decades by so many volunteers. This attitude will lead to the loss of irreplaceable heritage items and skills.

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Spin me round

'You spin me right round, baby
Right round like a record, baby
Right round round round...'
"You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" a song by the British band Dead or Alive. which was released as a single in 1984, the first UK No. 1 hit produced by Stock Aitken Waterman.
Not long after the last workers from White Bay Power Station left, never to return.

WBPS66 'Spin me round' (record player from
recreation room in White Bay Power Station)
2009 oil on board 51.5 x 25.5cm
Available
The Record player from the Recreation room of the White Bay Power Station is the epitome of Jolie laide "ugly beautiful"
This horrible, yet oddly fascinating object was old and decrepit even back in the days when 'Dead or Alive' recorded their cheesy classic.

Record player from recreation room
in White Bay Power Station
It comes from a "lost" entertainment hall in a forsaken building - equal parts creepy and beautiful.
The Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority had taken ownership of the White Bay Power Station in 2000, but were unaware of this hall's existence for several years.

Recreation room in White Bay Power Station
As you can see from my photo, this room was a time-capsule from the 1950s - murals, the old record player and even a pool table.
The record player sat on the canteen counter, still connected to the room's PA system, ping-pong tables were folded in the middle of the room and murals on the wall had survived.

Recreation room in White Bay Power Station
In this photo, you can see the very kind security guard in the background by the pool table.
In July 2011, shortly after these photos and my painting were done, the record player and pool table were removed, as well as 6 tonnes of pigeon droppings.This was part of a frantic clean out before one of the rare open days.
I was very lucky to be able to see this in situ, and even luckier to have enough time to paint it before it was taken out of its natural context.

Record player from the recreation Room in White Bay Power Station
This was the last time I saw it before it was taken away to be put into storage.
They left it on the ground outside, so I could paint it one last time , waiting for some curator of the future to rediscover it and find a purpose for it.
Waiting for whatever the future holds for the White Bay Power Station.
Art Gallery, funky bar, museum,offices, block of flats?
Tunnels and tollways will encircle it, the schmick new yet-to-be-built fishmarkets will be its neighbour.
The White Bay Power Station remains strangely still and silent in the eye of the tornado of change.
The redevelopment of the surrounding area spins around it.
Like a record, baby, Right round round round...'

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Hidden Beauty

E85 Eveleigh Windows 2011 oil on canvas 51x 41cm

Sold : $2,400

Enquiries

The most apparently unpromising place can reveal unexpected moments of beauty. 

I feel sometimes that my paintbrush can act as a magic wand.

 A fleeting shaft of light can magically transform a pile of rubble or a dilapidated roof in a fraction of a second.

Image by Jane Bennett Artist via Flickr

Related posts in this blog

• Eveleigh - (Very) Stained Glass Windows Part 2
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The Navigator and the King

These 2 paintings will be exhibited in the Laperouse Museum until January 2011.

They were inspired by meditation on the unpredictable nature of history, exploration and the fate of nations.

They are memento mori paintings in the tradition of 17th and 18th century still life 'vanitas' paintings.

The portrait of the gallant yet doomed La Perouse receiving his commission from his equally ill-fated monarch is doubly ironic.

The antipodean voyage of La Perouse was personally planned by the king together with the explorer. The loss of La Perouse and his expedition caused Louis XVI both personal grief and political humiliation.

'La Perouse - the navigator and the King'
2010 oil on canvas 46 x 46cm
Enquiries about this painting

Louis XVI sought to reinvigorate the stagnating French economy through trade and had invested a great deal of the government finances into improving the French Navy.

This was both a personal and a political goal.

His private study was filled with nautical charts and the burnished brass of mathematical instruments, telescopes, sextants and the locks which the King himself designed and made.

Louis XVI desperately wanted to regain the colonial power and prestige lost by his grandfather in the Seven Year’s War. Most of the debt burdening his government was from French involvement in the revolt of the American colonies against Britain.

A radical program of naval reconstruction was undertaken by first Turgot, then Sartine and finally de Castries. These brilliant, though fiscally irresponsible men attempted to transform the French navy into the equal of the British fleet, but heroic projects such as the transformation of Cherbourg harbour came at a ruinous price.

La Perouse - 'The Art of Navigation'
2010 oil on canvas 75 x 100cm
Enquiries about this painting

It was a real 'Sliding Doors' moment.

If Governor Philip and all his ships had been lost at sea and instead La Perouse had made a triumphant return to France after adding the continent of Australia to France’s extensive colonial empire, what could have been the outcome?

Would Australia have been settled by French colonists or become a battleground between the French and British Empires as Canada had been?

If La Perouse’s expedition had ended in a blaze of glory, would the good publicity have sufficiently enhanced the reputation of the monarchy to withstand the economic and social pressures that resulted in the anarchy of the Revolution?

Now that the exhibition in the LaPerouse Museum has finished, I'm going to enter "The Art of Navigation" in the Camden Art Prize.

It's far too strange to win, it'll just confuse the judges.

But I feel like being brave.

And it will certainly stand out in the crowd.

Update : It was runner-up!

See my blog post "Keep your eyes on the prize and your finger off the trigger!"

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The Art of Navigation

The Navigators : Captain Cook and La Perouse

These paintings were created to celebrate the life and achievements of the famous navigators Captain James Cook and the Comte de la Perouse, in exhibitions held by the Australian Society of Marine Artists.

The paintings inspired by Captain James Cook were exhibited at the Kurnell Museum from June 2009 in “Where cultures meet’ Exhibition at the Visitor’s Centre, Captain Cook Landing Site, Kurnell.

The paintings inspired by La Perouse are exhibited in"Windows on History - Aspects of the Story of La Perouse" at the La Perouse Museum.

I had to do extensive research to create these paintings.

Instead of painting historical re-enactments of the events and the ships, I decided to focus on their mastery of the art of navigation.

The Lunar Distance Method

'The Lunar Distance Method' 
2009 oil painting on canvas 20 x 25cm
Sold Enquiries about similar paintings
 

Before John Harrison’s Chronometer No. 4, which Cook successfully tested on the “Resolution” during his 2nd great voyage of exploration, the best way to find longitude was the lunar distance method.

The reflecting quadrant (also called an octant because its curved scale formed the eighth part of a circle) helped sailors find both latitude and longitude, and was invented in 1731 simultaneously but independently by John Hadley in England and by Thomas Godfrey In America.

Previously, astrolabes had been used to find longitude and local time by estimating the height of the sun or a star above the horizon.

The reflecting quadrant allowed direct measurement of the elevations of 2 celestial bodies such as the moon and the sun during daylight or between the moon and the stars at night, as well as the distances between them. When the horizon disappeared in fog or darkness, or the ship pitched and rolled, the readings weren't affected as the quadrant provided an artificial horizon.

The quadrant was improved by adding a telescope and a wider measuring arc, becoming an even more accurate instrument known as the sextant.

The navigator measured the lunar distances from the deck, then consulted tables listing the angular distances between the moon and the sun or stars for particular times of the day as they would be observed from London or Paris.

The angular distances are the degrees of arc - the size of the angle made by two lines of sight from the eye of the observer to the 2 chosen objects. Then the navigator compared the time of his observation with the time that particular position had been predicted for his home port. If the observation was at 1am local time when the tables predicted the same configuration over London at 4am, the ship’s time was 3 hours earlier, so this meant the ship was currently sailing at longitude 45 degrees west of London.

Diagram of lunar method  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The lunar method required considerable mathematical skill.

As well as measuring the altitudes of various celestial bodies and the angular distances between them, the navigator would have to factor in how near these objects were to the horizon as the steep refraction of light would put their apparent positions considerably higher than their actual ones.

There was also the problem of lunar parallax, as the tables were formulated for an observer at the Earth’s centre, and the deck of a ship is of course many feet above sea-level (Hopefully!)

Some days the moon is too close to the sun to make lunar distance measurements, and other days the distance between moon and sun is too great so that during these times the navigator would have to plot the moon against the stars, often with lesser accuracy. 

Navigation Instruments

'The art of Navigation' 2009
oil painting on canvas 25 x 20cm
Sold

Enquiries about similar paintings 

 

The instruments of navigation : sextant, compass, telescope, hourglass, nautical charts and gentleman’s pocket spheres are fragile and exquisitely wrought relics of the heroic age of exploration. They now look quaint but the life or death of hundreds of men once depended on the captain’s skill and  judgement in using them. The mythological emblems on the celestial sphere are a reminder that not long before, navigation was an esoteric mystery, more an art than a science. I hadn’t realized how much things like accurate timekeeping and  knowing exactly where you are at sea, we now take for granted.

It is so difficult in our age of “Google Earth” and mass communications to appreciate the isolation and danger of such a journey.

The hourglass and the skull are ‘memento mori’ emblems, common to still life "vanitas" painting of the 17th and 18th centuries. "Vanitas" paintings are warnings against pride and indicate the transitory nature of life, power and fame.

My paintings were inspired by reading :

“Citizens” by Simon Schama

“LONGITUDE" by Dava Sobel

“SEA OF DANGERS ” by Geoffrey Blainey

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Keep your eyes on the prize & your fingers off the trigger

My New Still life Paintings of Antique Navigation Instruments

I'm exhibiting these miniature still life paintings in 'Shelf Life' at the Trinity Delmar Gallery
Saturday 13th November- Sunday 5th December 2010

Reflecting quadrant and map

2009 oil on paper 10 x 10 cm

John Bird's sextant 2009

oil on paper 10 x 10 cm

Celestial Globe 2009 oil on paper 10 x 10 cm.

 

"Shelf life"

Trinity Delmar Gallery

144 Victoria St,
Ashfield NSW 2131
Tel: (02) 9581 6070
When: This exhibition opens 3pm on Saturday 13th November 2010
The exhibition continues to Sunday 5th December 2010

Gallery Hours: Open Wednesday to Sunday, 12-5pm

Enquiries

Related posts

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

Out of Time

Painting inside the hall of the former cruise ship terminal at Wharf 8, South Barangaroo

"Out of time " 2010
oil painting on canvas 31 x 31 cm
Available
Enquiries about this painting

A poignant little genre painting. Stopped clocks; a security sign; an abandoned storeroom.

Industrial memento mori.

A memento mori, or "reminder of death" is a familiar motif from medieval art. Sometimes a gruesome skeleton clothed in tattered flesh holds a scroll bearing the Latin inscription, "I am what you will be. I was what you are. For every man is this so."

Other paintings have more subtle ways of implying the same message - a piece of rotting fruit or an overblown rose in a Dutch 17th century still life; an hourglass or a mirror may mark the passage of time in a portrait.

Every good still life painting should have at least a whiff of mortality about it; a slight sting in the tail; a spoonful of medicine to make the sugar go down.

I found a plaque commemorating the opening of this building - 1999. Not all that long ago, but already it seems like an eon has passed.

Sydney Ports Corporation has just arrived to take possession of this sign.

I found its inscription hilarious - it was about how passengers with cardiac pacemakers were not to go through the X ray machines, but had to be bodily searched by the security guards!

if they didn't have heart problems to start with they would when they finished; all the excitement might prove too much!

It is such an insecure security sign.

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Sitzkrieg (barangarooartist.blogspot.com)

Storm warning,Goat Island (barangarooartist.blogspot.com)