Millers Point from the top of the Harbour Control Tower

Before the inevitable demolition of the Harbour Control Tower, I wanted to paint a very large panorama of this amazing view.

I'd had the run of the top floor and the amenities level of the 87 metre high Harbour Control Tower from the early 2000s until port operations finished there in April 2011. Afterwards I had occasional access to create paintings of various stages of the construction of Barangaroo. 

I'd spent many unforgettable New Year’s Eves on the top floor, painting 360 degrees of the fireworks exploding underneath against the spectacular harbour view.

The perspective was very tricky, so I warmed up with a few smaller works first.

This is a small study of the rooftops of the heritage Miller's Point terraces and the former Bond stores of the Walsh Bay Wharves.

Work in progress " Miller's Point  and Walsh Bay Wharves

from top of the Harbour Control Tower "

2014 oil painting on canvas 36 x 46cm

.

There was such an overwhelming mass of tiny details that I needed to tackle this subject in a series of small works before risking getting bogged down in a huge oil painting. I wanted to understand the rhythm of the landscape.

The perspective is made more complex by the landbridges over the twisting streets winding their way from the angled rows of Walsh Bay Wharves up the hills.

The entire suburb of Miller's Point lies at my feet and the roads seem to curve towards the Opera House in the middle distance.

HCT47  'Millers Point from top of Harbour Tower'
oil on canvas 36 x 46cm

As you can see, my palette changed by the time I finished this work - one of the hazards of working 'en plein air'. I started early, but didn't finish for a few hours, so the clear pale yellows of the morning deepened to the burnt orange and rich purple shadows of the afternoon.
I had to stand on a chair to paint this, as the windows on the Amenities floor were a bit too high for me to see the terraces.
I'm only 5'1"- short, even for a woman.
Exactly the same height as Toulouse-Lautrec. Unfortunately I love painting canvases on an epic scale.

The tower would sway in the wind, sometimes almost imperceptibly, and sometimes with a rolling motion that can induce seasickness which is distracting when trying to paint fine details.

In the far distance, you can see the silhouette of the half-demolished Hammerhead Crane on Garden Island, which was finally removed by October 2014. I had just finished a stint as 'Artist in Residence' on Garden Island painting this before the demolition started.

The demolition of the Harbour Control Tower would be next. However I did manage to finish a few large scale panoramas from the top floor, before I lost one of my best studios forever.

The State library now has several of these works in their collection.

Related articles

Paintings of the old Port

Millers Point, 3 Years On

Out from the storerooms -paintings from the State library Collection

Related Posts

Last of the Hungry Mile

Tie a yellow ribbon

Eaten by robots

The mother art is architecture

Meltdown-Oxycutting, William Wallbank and Sons, Auburn

The now derelict 'William Wallbank and Sons' was a foundry on the Parramatta Road, Auburn, built in 1932.

I've been painting the machinery before it is all stripped out and sent to a scrap metal yard.

AWW5 Oxycutting, William Wallbank + Sons foundry

2017 oil on canvas 46cm tondo

Some of the ladles and other machinery that couldn't be sold intact were being broken up for scrap by oxycutting. 

During this exciting process, I painted some small and medium circular canvases, known as tondos.

In Art, the circular format of the tondo was often used for religious subjects.

Extreme chiaroscuro was also exploited by artists such as Caravaggio, to heighten the contrast between the gloomy background and the intensely illuminated saints or angels.

The fire in the dim interior gave the scene a mysterious atmosphere, reminding me of the nocturnal paintings of one of my favourite artists, Georges de la Tour.
Figures in his paintings are enveloped in shifting accretions of darkness - hands and features picked out by pooling, smoky light. 

AWW5 Oxycutting, William Wallbank + Sons foundry

2017 oil on canvas 46cm tondo"

Oxycutting is one of the oldest welding processes.

A torch is used to heat the metal to its kindling temperature. When it's cherry red, a stream of oxygen is focused on the heated part and chemically reacts with the ferrous metal, producing more heat and forming molten iron oxide which is then blasted out of the cut.

The melting point of the iron oxide is about half that of the metal being cut, so it will immediately turn to liquid iron oxide and flow away from the cutting zone.

AWW5 Oxycutting, William Wallbank + Sons foundry

2017 oil on canvas 46cm tondo"

Starting a cut in the middle of a workpiece is known as piercing.

Once it has started, steel can be cut surprisingly quickly, far faster than if it were completely melted through.

Sometimes remnants of iron oxide remain on the workpiece, forming a hard "slag" which can be removed by tapping or grinding.

AWW6 Oxycutting, William Wallbank + Sons foundry
2017 acrylic on paper 56 x 76cm

The hottest part of the flame is approximately 6,000 °F (3,300 °C) - hot enough to easily melt steel.

But the flame of the cutting torch is not intended to melt the metal, just bring it to its ignition temperature.

The rest of the heat is created by the burning metal itself.

AWW5 Oxycutting, William Wallbank + Sons foundry

2017 oil on canvas 46cm tondo"

.

A basic oxy-acetylene rig is faster than a petrol-driven cut-off grinder, as well as lighter, smaller, quieter and not as prone to severe vibration. 

Oxy-acetylene torches can easily cut through ferrous materials as thick as 200 mm. 

However oxy-acetylene has its limitations. It can only efficiently cut low- to medium-carbon steels and wrought iron.

High-carbon steels aren't suitable because the melting point of the slag is closer to the melting point of the parent meta.The slag from the cutting action mixes with the clean melt near the cut, which means the oxygen doesn't reach the clean metal to burn it. With cast iron, graphite between the grains interferes with the cutting action of the torch. Stainless steels can't be cut either with this process, because the material doesn't burn as easily.

AWW7 Oxycutting, William Wallbank + Sons foundry 2

2017 oil on canvas 46cm tondo

Painting this was fascinating, but there was an undercurrent of sadness, as it

marked the point of no return.

The life of the former foundry was at an end, and its vivisection will be the last fires lit inside.

"Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice."

"Fire and Ice" by Robert Frost

Related posts

Rust Bucket

Steady Rest

Scar Tissue

Wrong side of the tracks - Darling Island Bond and Free

All fired up

Eveleigh - Industrial heritage artist at work

Irons in the fire

White Bay Power Station - Inside Out

Power Base - Artist in Residence at the White Bay Power Station