Painters and dockers - Artist in Residence on the tall ship 'James Craig' Part 2

Starting my plein air painting of

"Painters with 'James Craig ' in Garden Island dry dock"

Available

I had originally stored my paints, brushes, canvases, table, chair and easel in the deckhouse of the James Craig, but I realised that the ritual of unlocking and sorting through all my stuff wasted too much time. Now I keep the half-finished canvases on the 'tween deck of the James Craig, and leave the table and easel in a corner on the floor of the dry dock.

unfinished plein air painting of

"Painters with 'James Craig ' in Garden Island dry dock"

Available

It's quite a hike down from the ship to the floor of the dry dock.

unfinished plein air painting of "Painters with 'James Craig '

in Garden Island dry dock"

Available

I choose a position where the ship looms toward me between the walls of the dry dock.

Unfinished plein air painting of "Painters with 'James Craig '

in Garden Island dry dock"

Available

I try to make sure that I have enough room for the mast, rigging and the dockyard crane overhead.

unfinished plein air painting of

'James Craig in drydock being painted'

2013 oil on canvas 100 x 75cm

Available

I knew that it would be overcast and so prepared a few canvases with a black imprimatura (underpainting). I find that this gives the clouds a more 3 dimensional quality.

Artist Jane Bennett with her unfinished plein air painting

of 'James Craig in drydock being painted'

2013 oil on canvas 100 x 75cm
Available

Portrait of the artist in full PPE (personal protective equipment) regalia.

Artist Jane Bennett with her unfinished plein air painting

of 'James Craig in drydock being painted'

2013 oil on canvas 100 x 75cm
Available

Hard hat, hi res jacket, tinted safety glasses, earmuffs and metal capped boots.

Unfinished plein air painting of

'James Craig in drydock being painted'

2013 oil on canvas 100 x 75cm
Available

There is another tall ship, the HMB Endeavour, in the dry dock, but I can't get too close to her as she is being sandblasted back to her original wood and can barely be seen in the dust haze.

Unfinished plein air painting of

'James Craig in drydock being painted'

2013 oil on canvas 100 x 75cm
Available

The dark bulk of the 'James Craig' stands out dramatically in front of the threatening clouds.

Unfinished plein air painting of

'James Craig in drydock being painted'

2013 oil on canvas 100 x 75cm
Available

I was worried that it was going to rain. It's risky starting such a large canvas as it takes so many trips back up to the top. The dockyard steps are narrow and a wet canvas has to be carried on its own without other luggage.

.

Unfinished plein air painting of

'James Craig in drydock being painted'

2013 oil on canvas 100 x 75cm
Available
Suddenly I realized that I wasn't the only painter on the dock floor, as 2 white clad men started to haphazardly spray patches of red on the prow of James Craig.

Unfinished plein air painting of

'James Craig in drydock being painted'

2013 oil on canvas 100 x 75cm
Available  

They cheekily "offer" to pose for me. They don't actually mean it, but I paint them in anyway.

Their figures provide a useful gauge to judge scale. This painterly device is known as "staffage" - the size of the figures can be compared and contrasted with the size of the ship
Tim Drinkwater, the dockyard manager of the Sydney Heritage Fleet, told me that the painters would only be there for 8 minutes, but that was long enough for me to block in the basic shapes.
The painters came up later to take photos of my painting of them.
They will be back to finish their painting on Tuesday.
I like the patchy 'work in progress' look of the hull, so I'll try to finish my painting before theirs.


My half - finished painting of
'James Craig in drydock being painted'
2013 oil on canvas 100 x 75cm
Available 
This canvas is in a 'portrait' format - vertical rather than the more usual horizontal one, which is unusual for a painting of a ship.


My half - finished painting of
'James Craig in drydock being painted'
2013 oil on canvas 100 x 75cm
Available 

I wanted the ship to dominate the canvas and used the extreme perspective to make it feel as though it is towering over the onlooker, and the prow almost poke you in the eye.

My half - finished painting of
'James Craig in drydock being painted'
2013 oil on canvas 100 x 75cm
Available 

I am quite short, so I have to fold the legs of the easel up and set it on the ground as I'm not tall enough to paint the masts and rigging with it in the ordinary position.

My half - finished painting of
'James Craig in drydock being painted'
Available 

At least this way it won't fall over in the wind.

My half - finished painting of 'James Craig in drydock being painted'
2013 oil on canvas 100 x 75cm
Available 
They keep moving the dockyard crane. Any further to the left and it will be out of the picture. I can only just manage to squeeze it in without it looking too cramped.



My half - finished painting of
"Painters with 'James Craig ' in Garden Island dry dock" 2013
oil on canvas 75 x 100cm
Available 

I like the final position of the crane, though, as it won't be obscured by the masts and rigging. It gives the composition a little more drama, as it looks as though it could topple into the dock with a gust of wind.

My half - finished painting of
"Painters with 'James Craig ' in Garden Island dry dock"
2013 oil on canvas 75 x 100cm
Available 

The end of my first full day painting on the floor of the dry dock - time to lug my easel, paint, chair, paints, brushes and large wet canvases all the way up the stairs of the dock and across the gangplank to my studio on the 'tweendeck of the James Craig. It's a long way up and takes several trips so I won't need to join a gym anytime soon.

My studio on the 'tween deck of the 'James Craig'
World's coolest studio!
 Available

'James Craig in drydock being painted'
2013 oil on canvas 100 x 75cm
Available

'James Craig and HMB Endeavour in drydock 2'
2013 oil on canvas 75 x 100cm
Available

 

Related posts

Artist in Residence on the James Craig Part 1

Painting Spirit of Tasmania 1 in Garden Island Drydock

Australia Day 2011 at Darling Harbour Part 1: Endeavour

Artist in Residence on the tall ship James Craig Part 1- Sailing to Garden Island

I packed before dawn so that I could hitch a ride with Sydney Heritage Fleet's Tall Ship James Craig on its way from its usual berth at Wharf 7, Pyrmont to the dry dock at Garden Island.

My small gouache study of the

Sydney Heritage Fleet's tug

'Bronzewing' alongside the 'James Craig'

Available

I painted a few small, quick gouache studies of the tall ship and tug on board, just to warm my hands up.

My small gouache study of the

Sydney Heritage Fleet's tug

'Bronzewing' alongside the 'James Craig'

Available

I will be 'Artist in Residence' at the Garden Island dry dock painting two tall ships, the 'HMB Endeavour' replica and the 'James Craig'.

They will be getting their undersides ship shape in preparation for the International Fleet Review in October.

My small gouache study of the

Sydney Heritage Fleet's tug 'Bronzewing'

alongside the 'James Craig'

Available

I have stashed my easel, paints, brushes and lots of spare canvases in the deckhouse of the 'James Craig' which will be my studio until its departure from Garden Island on or about 15th June.

Related posts

Artist in Residence at the Sydney Heritage Fleet Part 6 - 'Hail, hail, the gang's all here!'
Painting the Spirit of Tasmania in Garden Island Drydock
Painters and dockers - Artist in Residence on the tall ship 'James Craig' Part 2

Not the Writers Festival- Exhibition of Pyrmont Paintings by Jane Bennett at 2013 Pyrmont Festival

I exhibited these historic paintings of Pyrmont at the 2013 Pyrmont festival in conjunction with the Frances Keevil Gallery

Exhibition of paintings of Pyrmont by Jane Bennett

at the 2013 Pyrmont Festival

contact me

The weather couldn't have been better for the 2013 Pyrmont Festival. A couple of the calmest, sunniest autumn days I've ever experienced in Sydney.

This festival is held on the former Water-Police site, where I used to have several studios during the late 1980s - mid 1990s.

Exhibition of paintings of Pyrmont by Jane Bennett

at the 2013 Pyrmont Festival

contact me

This time the festival in Pirrama Park was for the whole weekend, which gave many more people a chance to see my exhibition.

 I had brought 55 paintings on canvas and board for the exhibition. The largest was the 61 x 183cm canvas of a panorama of "Union Square" and the smallest was a tiny canvas of a strange little sign on top of the former F.L. Barker/Waite and Bull woolstore on the corner of Pyrmont Street and Pyrmont Bridge Road.

Exhibition of paintings of Pyrmont by Jane Bennett

at the 2013 Pyrmont Festival

contact me

This year I had written 2 small booklets about my paintings and drawings of Pyrmont. The text was partly based on some of the posts in this blog.

Exhibition of paintings of Pyrmont by Jane Bennett

at the 2013 Pyrmont Festival

contact me

I printed some prototype copies as an experiment, intending to display them at the festival. I partly wanted people to be able to read the text as, even with the help given to me by  my gallerist Frances Keevil I can't always manage to talk to everyone who wants to know something about a particular painting. My other goal was to get some feedback. 

Exhibition of paintings of Pyrmont by Jane Bennett

at the 2013 Pyrmont Festival

contact me

One of these booklets, "Pyrmont - Shadows of the Past" was about my charcoal, ink and gouache drawings of Pyrmont  in a simple, classic black and white format. 

The other booklet "Pyrmont Paintings" displayed the paintings to great advantage on a dark blue background. but unfortunately this choice made the black text almost invisible. The printer service had offered a very limited choice of templates, fonts and colours. I had used them because I had been flat out painting and exhibiting since the beginning of this year and had very little time or energy left to prepare for the Pyrmont Festival. The booklets were an afterthought. I wrote and designed them both in a single day to meet the deadline for a discount printing deal.

In a way, this was good. I have a tendency to perfectionism, and faced with limitless choice and no deadline I can become paralyzed with fear. I thought that I needed to write something, anything at all, however lame, and then improve it.

I wasn't actually intending to sell them at all. I gave copies to the people who bought paintings, or were seriously interested in purchasing. I also gave a couple to the gallery so that we could . I was stunned at the number of people who flatly insisted on paying $10, $12, $15 or even $20 for a booklet! I tried to insist that they were free, as they were just experiments. Apart from a misplaced comma and a couple of oddly proportioned margins the black and white booklet looked very elegant, but the beautiful blue background of the painting book had unfortunately made the writing completely illegible and there were a couple of font discrepancies. Trying to finish the 2nd booklet by the midnight deadline had nearly sent me cross-eyed.

I pointed out the errors, but it didn't seem to faze anyone; they still insisted on paying for them! 

We sold over 50 booklets, and we weren't actually even trying to sell them at all!

Exhibition of paintings of Pyrmont by Jane Bennett

at the 2013 Pyrmont Festival

contact me

I only have one of each left now, and I'd better hang on to them as I'd like to have them in front of me when I finally sit down with the gallery's designer and plan a better publication.

So, it's not yet the Writer's Festival, and I'm not an author.

However the reaction has given me a great deal of confidence. People have been nagging me for years to write about my paintings, but now I know that they are serious.

"Decisions, decisions... which one should I buy?"

Exhibition of paintings of Pyrmont by Jane Bennett

at the 2013 Pyrmont Festival

contact me

As well as my unexpected excursion into literature, it was a very interesting and successful event on a number of different levels.

I reconnected with lots of people who once lived or worked in Pyrmont as well as many of the new residents of Jacksons Landing and the apartments on top of Pyrmont Point.
There were several sales and I am now preparing to paint an extremely large and prestigious commission resulting from a contact made on these 2 days.
Paintings of Pyrmont by Jane Bennett in Pirrama Park

Related posts

Painting Pyrmont - Sydney Living Museums

We like sheep - Waite and Bull Building


Artist in Residence at the Sydney Heritage Fleet Part 6

Pyrmont paintings past and present- My Exhibition in the Australian National Maritime Museum

I started my series of Pyrmont paintings over 30 years ago and I will still paint in Pyrmont occasionally.

If you enjoy my Pyrmont paintings please visit the Frances Keevil Gallery or contact me

Painting 'Millers Point' from Moore's Wharf

This small canvas is of Miller's Point - the boat, that is - not its namesake suburb up the hill!

MW14 'Millers Point'
2013 oil on canvas 41 x 31cm
Available for sale
There's quite a motley collection of work vessels big and small, berthed at the Sydney Port Corporation's Port Jackson headquarters at Moore’s Wharf.

MW14 'Millers Point'
2013 oil on canvas 41 x 31cm
Available for sale
As I arrived, "Millers Point", Sydney Port Corporation’s new emergency response launch, was being lifted from the water onto piles of huge tyres on the wharf, alongside the crane.
Usually it's in the water at its customary berth in front of Moore's Wharf, but it was waiting to get its twin 225hp Honda outboard motors serviced.

MW14 'Millers Point'
2013 oil on canvas 41 x 31cm
Available for sale
I hadn't painted this new addition to Sydney Port Corporation's fleet before, & I decided to capture the drama of the boat lift in a small canvas.

I must admit that I was still mourning the loss of the historic old warhorse, the 'Poolya', which had been broken up at Glebe Island Wharf, in early February 2013, not long before.
"Millers Point" was designed in Western Australia by Global Marine and built by Axiom Alloys of Mt Druitt.
"Millers Point", is 9.3m in length with a beam of 3.35m and a draft of 0.55m. It has a speed that can exceed 40kn. It has a trihedral hull & is fitted with a 6hp stand-alone fire pump.

MW14 'Millers Point'
2013 oil on canvas 41 x 31cm
Available for sale

Related Posts 

Painting the 'Poolya'

Painting the 'Shirley Smith' at Moore's Wharf

Artist in Residence at the Sydney Heritage Fleet Part 6 - 'Hail, hail, the gang's all here!'

I've finally finished painting this monster.
It literally nearly killed me.
My first attempt to paint the entire Rozelle contingent of the Sydney Heritage Fleet ended in disaster .
My canvas stretcher had snapped in two after it was caught by a gust of wind. I fell into the murky waters of Blackwattle Bay and was lucky not to be seriously injured.
This tested the limits of the possibilities of plein air painting.

First version of SHF6 'Sydney Heritage Fleet at Rozelle' 2013 

oil on canvas 122 x 183cm

Available

But all the time and trouble has been worth it.
The entire collection of Sydney Heritage Fleet vessels is here in all its glory, and more details are visible in this canvas than are possible to see from the park opposite Blackwattle Bay.

SHF6 'Sydney Heritage Fleet at Rozelle' 2013 

oil on canvas 122 x 183cm

Available

At 122 x 183cm, this canvas is even larger than the first!

I completed about 80% of it from the park, but to unscramble the confusing mass of masts, ropes and rigging, I had to paint the finishing touches from the Rozelle headquarters of the Sydney Heritage Fleet itself.

I am a member of ASMA, the Australian Society of Marine Artists.
In 2008 the Sydney Heritage Fleet in conjunction with the Australian Society of Marine Artists inaugurated an Artist in Residence programme, with the commission from sale of paintings going towards funding the Fleet's maintenance.
Our group of 10 artists will hold an exhibition of our completed paintings on the 'tween decks of the tall ship 'James Craig', which is the jewel in the crown of the Sydney Heritage Fleet, from 27th April 2013 - 3rd May 2013.
As well as this enormous canvas, I will exhibit 16 other paintings. Some of these were painted at the Rozelle headquarters, some from the Noakes slipways, others from the Australian National Maritime Museum and others from vantage points around Sydney Harbour.
The official opening will be 2pm on Saturday 27th April by Tanya Plibersek MP.
Everyone is welcome!

Exhibition SALT IN THE AIR From Saturday 27th April - Sunday 4th May 2013 (asma-artistinresidence.blogspot.com)

Related posts

"Lashed to the Mast" - Plein Air painting as extreme sport
'From the Hungry Mile to Barangaroo'
Artist in Residence at the Sydney Heritage Fleet - Part 4 'Blowing in the wind'
SlippingAway
Follow the Fleet- Artist in Residence at the Sydney Heritage Fleet-
Part 5
Jane Bennett paints the 'Lady Hopetoun' (asma-artistinresidence.blogspot.com)

We like sheep - Waite and Bull Building 137 Pyrmont Street

'All we like sheep have gone astray' was one of the Advent, Christmas and Easter biblical texts to which Handel set his great oratorio Messiah. This chorus in F major is from Part II and the primary source of the libretto is Isaiah 53 :6.
My Granny, who had a beautiful soprano voice and sang in the Philharmonic for many years, would still get the giggles when singing "We like sheep".
She called it the national anthem of New Zealand.

'Ghost Sign on top of the Waite and Bull Building,
137 Pyrmont Street'
2013 oil on canvas 13 x 18cm
Enquiries

Australia once rode on the sheep's back.

This sheep hasn't exactly gone astray, but it looks a bit perturbed.
It is a surreal adornment to an otherwise solemn warehouse conversion on the corner of Pyrmont Street and the Pyrmont Bridge road.
Nobody seems to notice it except me.
The drivers and pedestrians are too busy negotiating the chaotic intersection to be able to look up.
This building at 137 Pyrmont street, originally called the FL Barker Woolstore, was designed by Arthur Blacket and completed in 1884.
Although the building was built for F.L. Barker and Co. it was actually owned by Sydney businessman John Taylor. A sign on the other side still reads "John Taylor 1893".
From 1895 until 1923 it was leased to wool brokers Hill Clark and Co., then from 1923 until 1951 the Store was a wool store owned and operated by Wool Brokers William Haughton and Company.
From 1951 until 1973 it was owned by the commercial printers Waite and Bull, and it has been commonly known as the Waite and Bull Building ever since. In 1973 the building was bought by Stocks and Holdings Pty Ltd.
In the early 1990s it was extensively refurbished by the architects Allan Jack and Cottier. It was then the headquarters of the City-West Development Corporation, who kick-started the redevelopment of Pyrmont. I remember visiting them to beg permission to be allowed to paint in areas that were being demolished.
City-West Development Corporation later morphed into the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, who now reigns over an empire of the bits of Sydney Harbour not controlled by the Barangaroo Delivery Authority, Sydney Ports Corporation (now privatized) or the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust .
In comparison to other buildings of the time, Blacket's wool store had a simple elegance and dignity showing the influence of the architecture of the Chicago School. The manifesto of their leading architect Louis Sullivan had been 'form follows function' which meant using ornament sparingly and only if it is an integral part of the building's form.
The contrast between the sober dignity of the rest of the building and the sign makes the sheep swinging in a sling an even more startling image.
It was obviously considered to be very important, but I don't know whether this was part of Blacket's vision, or added by a later occupant. Most of Pyrmont's industrial heritage has been obliterated, but if you look carefully you can still find quirky and charming remnants of its industrial past.

In conjunction with the Frances Keevil Gallery, I'll have an exhibition of my Pyrmont paintings at the 2013 Pyrmont Festival at Pirrama Park.
This time my display will be extended to 2 days - Saturday 18th May and Sunday 19th May from 11am - 5pm.

FRANCES KEEVIL GALLERY,
  mob: 0411 821550
info@franceskeevilgallery.com.au

For more information see My Pyrmont page in this blog

Related posts

Marine Art Exhibition at the Australian National Maritime Museum

Looking over the overlooked-Urban decay in Pyrmont
To the Point
Wrong side of the tracks - Darling Island Bond and Free

Pretty vacant

A Tale of two hotels - the Terminus and the Point

Pyrmont Paintings past and present
Paintings of Pink pubs - Painting the Jolly Frog Part 2