Another one bites the dust

Starting a large panorama on Sunday 30th March about 10am

"Harbour Control Tower and Barangaroo

from High Street, Millers Point" 

2014 oil on canvas 61 x 183cm

Enquiries about this painting :

janecooperbennett@gmail.com

I have spent most of the past week painting a large panoramic canvas to show the Harbour Control Tower from High Street in Millers Point.

On the far left hand side is a view of the Barangaroo construction site, with giant chunks of recently excavated yellowblock sandstone forming a pseudo-naturalistic cove. 

On the far right hand side, the workers cottages of High Street stare down disapprovingly onto their brash new neighbour. 

In the centre of the picture is the last bastion of the Hungry Mile, the mushroom topped column of the Harbour Control Tower.

 Monday 31st March about 1pm

"Harbour Control Tower and Barangaroo

from High Street, Millers Point" 

2014 oil on canvas 61 x 183cm

Enquiries about this painting :

janecooperbennett@gmail.com

The Harbour Tower was also jokingly known as ''the Pill" because it "controlled all the berths" in the harbour. According to the National Trust, it should be conserved and reused as it symbolizes more than 200 years of shipping in Sydney.

However, this is an unlikely fate, as the Barangaroo Delivery Authority then bought the concrete, steel and glass structure from Sydney Ports for $2.6 million. 

Despite its unsurpassed 360 degree harbour views, the Harbour Control Tower quite obviously doesn't fit into their vision for Barangaroo, so its days are numbered.

Tuesday 1st April about 11am

"Harbour Control Tower and Barangaroo

from High Street, Millers Point"

2014 oil on canvas 61 x 183cm

Enquiries about this painting :

janecooperbennett@gmail.com

Sydney Ports once manned it 24/7, but it has not been operational since April 11th 2011, when vessel control services for Sydney Harbour finally moved to Port Botany.

 Wednesday 2nd April about 11am

"Harbour Control Tower and Barangaroo

from High Street, Millers Point"

2014 oil on canvas 61 x 183cm

Enquiries about this painting :

janecooperbennett@gmail.com

The tower opened in 1974 to give Harbour Control the best possible views of the harbour to ensure safe passage for thousands of ships each year. The architectural drawings and plans for its construction used to be hung in the foyer of the amenities level, just in front of the lift, until some light fingered wharfie pinched them.

'Evening Harbour Control Tower

from Moore's Wharf' 2013
oil on canvas 178 x 122cm

This is my huge canvas painted from my Moore's Wharf studio, showing the last time that the gorgeous sandstone escarpment was completely visible.

It has by now totally disappeared under a layer of scaffolding and the retaining wall for the North Barangaroo Headland Park.

The park will slope from its soi disant naturalistic 1788 coastline up to Clyne Reserve and Merriman street. Obviously the Tower will get short shrift. It is an emblem of another era and different values.

It looks as though Precision Demolition will be getting more work!

I last caught their act at Port Kembla, where they lived up to their name, neatly and precisely dropping the Port Kembla Copper Stack onto the grounds of Port Kembla Copper. Previously I had met them during the saga of the sinking of ex-HMAS Adelaide.

I am surprised, and more than a little concerned, that as the demolition of the Harbour Control Tower was virtually a foregone conclusion, that it wasn't demolished before construction of the headland was so far advanced. However neatly they drop it, it would make a bit of a dent in the painstakingly arranged faux natural headland. Unless they are planning to leave the pieces there as a giant water feature or a Brutalist concrete novelty sundial in the centre of the park. 

It would certainly be a conversation piece.

Or perhaps the charming terraces of Merriman Street are also superfluous to their requirements?

There's no accounting for taste.

'The Shipping News - Last  view of interior

of Harbour Control Tower '
 2011 oil on canvas 25 x 51cm

Enquiries about this painting :

janecooperbennett@gmail.com

I had been "Artist in Residence" in the Harbour Control Tower by Sydney Ports Corporation for nearly a decade.

This is the final view of the interior of the top floor. The whiteboard has a list of the very last shipping movements on April the last operational day of the Harbour Control Tower.

The clock has stopped at 10.44am, Tuesday 24th May, and has been left that way.

After the last operational use of the Tower, maintenance staff had to still have access to be able to remove furniture, cables and other equipment. If I arrived early enough, I would be allowed to tag along and do a bit more painting. 

My very last visit was just before its eventual demolition.

Related posts

Paintings of the Harbour Control Tower

Paintings from the Top of the Harbour Control Tower

Painting the Port Kembla Copper Stack

Painting ex-HMAS Adelaide

Another city landmark gets the brush-off 

March 31 2014 Sydney Morning Herald  Nicole Hasham

Beyond the Sea

Millers point paintings

Tie a yellow ribbon

The last of the Hungry Mile

May close without warning

From the Tampa to Strictly Ballroom

I'll write a few posts about some of the paintings on display at my exhibition of Pyrmont paintings in the members lounge of the Australian National Maritime Museum.
The first two paintings on the left hand wall of the room as you enter, were both painted from the roof of the half demolished Pyrmont Power Station a couple of years apart. I was very pleased that I was able to place these together so that viewers can understand the stages of development of this area of Pyrmont.

P103 "From the roof of Pyrmont Power Station" 

1994 oil/canvas 92 x 122 cm 

Enquiries about these paintings

I was "Artist in Residence" at the Pyrmont Power Station for over a decade. At the time of painting these 2 works, it was partially demolished, yet still functional, and served the western side of the CBD as a source for power and lighting. It has now been replaced by Star City Casino.
The rhythmic sweeping lines curving under the bridge are remnants of the old Pyrmont goods line.This was once part of the former Metropolitan Goods Line. There was a goods line from Darling Harbour to Central that had been in existence from about 1856, but a loop line that completed a circuitous route of the inner suburbs became necessary when heavy industry expanded in the early 20th century. Diverging at Dulwich Hill it headed north beneath the Main Suburban line at Summer Hill to Lilyfield before heading east to Rozelle and Pyrmont, and then south under Railway Square through NSW's oldest tunnel to join the Main Suburban line outside Central. This line served the ports at Glebe Island (diverging via a spur from Lilyfield) and Darling Harbour and was approved on 23 November 1914, and the line was finally opened on 23 January 1922. The Darling Island/Darling Harbour section had 19km of track.
The John Street tunnel, a 124m double-track tunnel cut deep into the sandstone under Pyrmont Point, is still in use for the light rail.
During the 1970s and 1980s Darling Harbour traffic reduced considerably and the yards officially closed in October 1984. At vast expense, this goods line was torn up in June 1993 and replaced by the dubious benefit of light rail. Much of the trackbed was used for the light rail that opened to Wentworth Park in August 1997 and extended to Lilyfield in August 2000.
The pile of rubble in the centre marks where an old signal box in the Pyrmont Goods Yard had been just demolished. It was immortalized as the “Spanish café” in Baz Luhrmann's 1992 classic film “Strictly Ballroom”. One person’s eyesore is another’s urban icon.

The brilliant vermilion ship was the “MV Tampa”! It wasn’t notorious then!

The “Tampa” was an early Mark 1 “ConRo” ( roll-on/roll-off container ship) completed in 1984 by Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. in South Korea for the Norway based firm, then known as the “Barber Line” and later the “Wallenius Wilhelmsen Line”. It was extensively refurbished and another deck added before it was involved in the controversial event in August 2001 known afterwards as the "Tampa affair".

That wasn't the last scandal involving the MV Tampa.
In October 2006, MV Tampa was one of two Wilhelmsen ships involved in a cocaine-smuggling operation intercepted by the New Zealand Customs Service and the Australian Federal Police. Allegedly 27 kilograms of cocaine had been attached in purpose-built metal pods to the side of the 2 cargo ships bound for Australia. However the New Zealand authorities stated they did not believe the ship's crew or owners were involved.
At the time of this painting Jones Bay Road continued up to the land bridge which then bisected Darling Island and looped around the lower level of Darling Island
All of Jones Bay Road has since been renamed Pirrama Road except for a strange little stub of a street opposite Star Casino. Jones Bay Road used to loop around the whole peninsula, but now the entire street is only about 100 metres long, stretching from the Australian Thermite building ("Darling Island Bond and Free") on the corner at 12 Pyrmont Street, to an apartment block and the 2SM building on the corner of the escarpment.

P214 "Sydney Harbour from the top of the Pyrmont Power Station(building Star Casino)"

1997 oil/board 40 x 89 cm 

Enquiries about these paintings

In the early 1980s,when I first started to paint in Pyrmont, the brick building on the right hand side of this painting was the site of Pier 13, where so many immigrants first set foot on Australian soil. Pier 13 was still connected to Jones Bay Road by a land bridge. By the date of this painting, Pier 13 had been painted a gob-smackingly hideous shade of yellow and became first a dodgy carpet shop and later the equally dodgy temporary casino. As you can see, the land bridge has by now been demolished.
Pier 13 has since been replaced by 'Workplace 6', home of 'Google' and Paul Signorelli's restaurants 'Gastronomia' and 'Biaggio'.
The empty space in the centre of Darling Island has since been filled with offices and apartments, which ironically have been given wharf-like styling. Most of the real wharves had been demolished in the 1980s-1990s.

Related posts

Culture of the Suburbs - Pyrmont Paintings

Not the Writers Festival

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

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

Yesterday, today and tomorrow in Pyrmont.
I've been invited to exhibit a selection of 15 of my Pyrmont paintings in the members' lounge of the Australian National Maritime Museum.
This exhibition will still be on display throughout the annual Pyrmont festival in May, which culminates in a 2 day celebration of Art, Wine and Food in Pirrama Park, on the weekend of Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th May 2014.

My exhibition of Pyrmont paintings
in the members lounge of the

Australian National Maritime Museum

Enquiries about these paintings

My exhibition of Pyrmont paintings
in the members lounge of the
Australian National Maritime Museum
Enquiries about these paintings

As usual, I will be exhibiting my smaller canvases and paintings on wood panels at the Park itself, however this display in the members lounge has given me a wonderful opportunity to show work that is impossible to display outdoors in the festival, such as works on paper framed under glass.

My exhibition of Pyrmont paintings
in the members lounge of the
Australian National Maritime Museum
Enquiries about these paintings

My exhibition of Pyrmont paintings in the

members lounge of the

Australian National Maritime Museum

Enquiries about these paintings

This is a view of the exhibition from the most comfy sofa in the middle of the members lounge.

My exhibition of Pyrmont paintings
in the members lounge of the
Australian National Maritime Museum

My exhibition of Pyrmont paintings
in the members lounge of the
Australian National Maritime Museum

This quick sketch of the rooftops of the CSR Refinery and the Glebe Island swing bridge is hung behind the reception desk.

I drew this from the top of the CSR Boilerhouse several years before the Anzac Bridge was built.

P97B "Tumbledown cottage, 95 Pyrmont st (now demolished)"
1994 ink/paper 22 x 30 cm
P31 "Jones Bay Wharf, 1" 1997 ink/paper 30.5 x 40.5 cm
O21 "Pyrmont, looking west from Observatory Hill"
1989 gouache/paper 34 x 75 cm
Enquiries about these paintings

HCT13 "The 'Southern Cross' from the Harbour Control Tower 2007
gouache/paper 30 x 50 cm
Enquiries about these paintings
This is the most recent image of Pyrmont in this exhibition, although by now the wharf in the foreground has been completely demolished to make way for the controversial Barangaroo development.
My studio in the control room of the Harbour Tower gave me a 360 degree birds eye view of Sydney Harbour, so this is a very unfamiliar aspect of the Pyrmont peninsula.

P120 "Jones Bay Wharf" 2000 pastel/paper 76 x 56 cm
P90 "CSR Sunset" 1998 oil/canvas 61 x 91 cm
P91 "CSR Refinery" 1994 acrylic/paper 76 x 56 cm
Enquiries about these paintings

P90 "CSR Sunset" 1998 oil/canvas 61 x 91 cm
P91 "CSR Refinery" 1994 acrylic/paper 76 x 56 cm
Enquiries about these paintings
Two views of the CSR Refinery, which is now the Jackson's Landing development.

P80 "Pyrmont Power Station from Mill St 1"
1991 mixed media/paper 76 x 56 cm
P35 "Pyrmont Bond Stores
(‘Darling Island Bond and Free’ 12 Pyrmont st)"
1996 ink/paper 30.5 x 40.5 cm
Enquiries about these paintings
Two evocative ink and wash drawings are hung at the end corner of the room.
The glitzy Star Casino has now replaced the brooding ruins of the Pyrmont Power Station.
However, in contrast the bond store at no. 12 Pyrmont street, known as "Darling Island Bond and Free" has changed so little that I can't believe that nearly 2 decades has passed since I drew this moody ink and wash sketch.

P90 "CSR Sunset" 1998 oil/canvas 61 x 91 cm
P91 "CSR Refinery" 1994 acrylic/paper 76 x 56 cm
Enquiries about these paintings

HCT13 "The 'Southern Cross' from the Harbour Control Tower "
2007 gouache/paper 30 x 50 cm
P120 "Jones Bay Wharf" 2000 pastel/paper 76 x 56 cm
Enquiries about these paintings

P36 "Ways Terrace from Lower Jones Bay Road"
1993 ink/paper 31 x 41 cm
Enquiries about these paintings

P103 "From the roof of Pyrmont Power Station
1994 oil/canvas 92 x 122 cm

P214 "Sydney Harbour from the top of the

Pyrmont Power Station(building Star Casino)"

1997 oil/board 40 x 89 cm
Enquiries about these paintings
The red ship in the background is the notorious ‘Tampa’, painted several years before the refugee incident.

P97B "Tumbledown cottage, 95 Pyrmont st (now demolished)"
1994 ink/paper 22 x 30 cm
P31 "Jones Bay Wharf, 1" 1997 ink/paper 30.5 x 40.5 cm
Enquiries about these paintings

P92 "Industrial Cathedral 2" (‘Cooperage’, CSR Refinery)

1998 oil/canvas 92 x 61 cm

P97B "Tumbledown cottage, 95 Pyrmont st

(now demolished)" 1994 ink/paper 22 x 30 cm

P31 "Jones Bay Wharf, 1" 1997 ink/paper 30.5 x 40.5 cm
Enquiries about these paintings
An added bonus is that the Australian National Maritime Museum is very close to the sites where most of my paintings were created, so the viewers only have to step outside for a moment to grasp how much the landscape of the inner city suburb of Pyrmont has changed over the last 30 years.
Glimpses of Pyrmont's half forgotten industrial past can still be discerned through the manicured lawns and towers of high rise, but only if you know exactly what to look for.

Related posts

See interview at "Visit Pyrmont/Ultimo" website

2012 Classic and Wooden Boat Show- Australian National Maritime Museum

Wrong side of the tracks

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

Stacking the Stackpot- Painting the Port Kembla Copper Stack Part 2

"Stack"

A smokestack or chimney.  

A fall or crash, a prang. noun or transitive verb e.g. he stacked his car on the weekend. (Australia, slang)

The slender 198 metre-high tower, built from 7,000 tonnes of concrete, bricks and steel dominated the skyline since its construction in 1965.

Port Kembla Copper first shut down in 2003, reopened under new owners and then finally closed in July 2008 after fierce campaigning by residents opposed to its sulphur dioxide emissions. Since the cessation of operations, the stack has been a decaying industrial anachronism standing defiant and abandoned.
Despite its chequered past, the stack became a treasured icon of Port Kembla's industrial past, a marine navigation tool and even a tourist attraction.
 Unfortunately a viable alternative use for the stack wasn't found, so the stack was stacked.
Nearly 1,000 explosive charges were placed around it. 

A 300-metre exclusion zone had been put in place for safety reasons before the sequenced detonation and over 250 residents were evacuated.
Most of the local residents, (as well as many ring-ins like me) lined up to watch the event just outside the exclusion zone.

Starting an oil painting of the Port Kembla Copper stack
from Military Road at 6am
Thursday morning 20th February 2014

I had spent Tuesday and Wednesday searching for the best viewpoint to watch the demolition before finally deciding to set up my easel on the top of Military Road.
It had many advantages. It was at the top of a hill even higher than the site of the stack, so that I would be roughly at the same height as the base of the tower. As I would be able to find parking at the side of the road close to the top of the hill, the view down the road would be clear of cars and trees, and there was enough room for many people to get a good view without too much jostling. There were even toilets nearby on Hill 60, in case it would be a long wait.
I thought that there could be quite a long wait before demolition as the police had to make sure that a very large area, part bushland, part residential and part industrial was completely clear.
This canvas shows the first rays of morning light on the last day of the stack.

Plein air oil painting of the Port Kembla Copper stack
from Military Road at 8am
Thursday morning 20th February 2014

I had arrived at 5.30am, as I had heard that roadblocks would be set up by 6am, and I wanted to get some painting done before the spectators got too distracting.

Plein air oil painting of the Port Kembla Copper stack
from Military Road at 9.30am Thursday morning
20th February 2014

By about 9.30 it had become too crowded to paint effectively, but I really enjoyed the festival atmosphere.

I'm being interviewed in front of the canvas

I had started early Thursday morning

By the time that the chimney was felled, the local journalists must have interviewed everyone in Port Kembla.
I met some fascinating people who had worked at Port Kembla Copper or Steelworks, or had been born, attended school or lived nearby, and felt that I had been adopted as an honorary local. Their hospitality was amazing.

Plein air oil painting of the Port Kembla Copper stack

from Military Road at 10am Thursday morning

20th February 2014, as the crowds gather

The day before, I had been painting on this spot, just outside the house of a very kind man called Steve, who brought me cups of coffee every hour or so, which was greatly appreciated. He invited me to his stack party on Thursday, so I brought along the yummiest cake I could find in the local shops and tried not to get paint on it.
After a few too many demolition drinks Steve's son decided to enliven the monotony of waiting by streaking while one of the journalists was giving an interview. There were lots of bad puns about "wrecking balls", and a few sore heads the next day.

He wasn't the only one to be a little the worse for wear. Apparently a homeless man had climbed a security fence and settled down in bushland near the stack. I don't know if he was protesting, or just oblivious. Quite a few people had spent the day drowning their sorrows.

I believe that there were record crowds at the Steelworks Hotel, just outside the exclusion zone.

A last view of the standing chimney from Military Road at about 11am Thursday morning 20th February 2014.
My canvas is on my easel in front of my car.

As more people gathered, I accepted the kind offer made by the owner of the ute parked behind my car to climb onto the tray for a better view. My half finished painting - the last painting of the standing stack- can still be seen in front of my car.
After a nerve-wracking wait after the first warning siren the chimney was finally brought down in a controlled explosion, about 11.15am.
The explosion wasn't as loud as I had expected; or maybe I'm just going deaf after years of painting on construction sites.
The little "cap" of the chimney flew off the top just before the pieces hit the ground.

Clouds of dust hover over the site

After the explosion, a gigantic cloud of smoke and dust covered much more than the official exclusion zone for several minutes, before being blown out to sea.
This was another reason I had chosen this hill as a viewpoint, as it was close enough for a wonderful view, but out of the range of the dust cloud. I had studied the wind report for the day carefully before making my final choice of location.

I'm holding 2 small oil studies of before and after the explosion
Both paintings are painted on Thursday 20th February 2014
The one on the left was painted after the demolition.
The one on the right was painted before the demolition.
"View from Military Road, after demolition"
oil on canvas 15 x 31cm
"Port Kembla Copper stack from Military Road,
before demolition" oil on canvas 15 x 31cm
Enquiries 
After the demolition, I knew that it would take several hours for the roads to be re-opened, so I kept painting. The people who jumped into their cars hoping for a quick getaway were sadly disappointed, as all they did was waste petrol while sitting fuming and stationary for over 3 hours. I've been told that it was the largest and longest traffic jam ever in the Illawarra.
I resumed painting, and in the photo above, I'm holding 2 small (15 x 31cm) horizontal canvases. They were painted close to the same spot; one painted before and the other after the stacking of the stackpot.

Both paintings are 61 x 31cm oil on canvas and painted February 2014
The one on the left was painted the day of the demolition.
The one on the right was painted the day before the demolition.
"Port Kembla Copper stack from Military Road,
on demolition day" oil on canvas 61 x 31cm
"Port Kembla Copper stack from Military Road,
the day before demolition" oil on canvas 61 x 31cm
Enquiries 

After all the excitement, one of the local residents kindly took a photo of me holding my 2 vertical canvases of the Copperstack painted from the top of Military Road.

The canvas on the right was completed on Wednesday, while the one on the left was at the time still unfinished.

I had made sure to complete the painting of the chimney first, as I would be able to finish the houses, trees and the Steelworks in the background later. 

Postscript : Afternoon in the ruins

After the demolition, I finished my paintings, then decided to wander around Port Kembla.

In the late afternoon, when the authorities had finally taken down the roadblocks, I set up my easel by the side of the road opposite where the stack had been. There were some young scruffy looking blokes hanging around, whispering to each other, so I was a little nervous. As darkness fell, a couple of them came up to me, so I braced myself to possibly have to make a quick getaway, although that's fairly impossible with a french box easel and a couple of wet canvases.

They asked me why I was hanging around and what I was doing there, so I showed them the paintings. They finally admitted that they'd been worried that I was some sort of security guard (?!) and they'd been hanging around until I left as they wanted to jump the fence and get a few bricks from the remnants of the stack as  souvenirs. I pointed out that a security guard would probably be sacked if they did an oil painting of something they were supposed to be guarding. I looked just as odd and alarming to them as they did to me. We stopped being afraid of each other and I lent them my pliers and bolt cutters. One of them very kindly gave me a couple of bricks from the very top as a memento of my visit to Port Kembla.

Brick from the top of the Port Kembla Copper Stack

Related posts

Don't blow your stack!

Wrecking balls: Demolition streaker steals show (dailytelegraph.com.au)

Stack streaker steals show (heraldsun.com.au)

Iconic stack goes down with a bang (dailytelegraph.com.au)

Thousands watch Port Kembla Copper stack demolition (abc.net.au)

Bacon and Eggs in Miller's Point (barangarooartist.blogspot.com)

Dig it, Pump it, Grab it, Munch it ! (barangarooartist.blogspot.com)

Don't blow your stack- Painting the Port Kembla Copper Stack Part 1

I've been meaning to paint the Port Kembla copper stack ever since I heard about it being listed for demolition.
The 198m stack was built in 1965 on the Port Kembla Copper smelter site, off Electrolytic Road between Military Road and Darcy Road.

The Port Kembla Copper smelter finally closed down in 2003. Despite PKC’s efforts to keep the site open as a tourist attraction, an application was made to have it demolished in 2010.
This application then suffered a lengthy delay when asbestos was discovered at the site. There were a few false alarms - there was a rumour that it would be demolished in April 2013, then again in September. I realised that this time it would actually happen and I hurried down there 2 days before to try to paint the stack from as many vantage points as possible.
Better late than never!
I made sure that I packed a lot of long skinny canvases.

Starting an oil painting of the 2 chimneys

of Port Kembla Copper on

Tuesday evening 18th February 2014

Available

When I arrived on Tuesday afternoon, I started painting the stack from just outside the fence around the ruins of Port Kembla Copper on Darcy Road at the former Gate 18.
There was an earlier brick chimney, built probably in the early 1900s, which I believe might be retained. I wanted to capture the two together in my painting, although I wasn't able to include it in this photo.
I managed to complete a small canvas (31 x 15cm) of the copper stack from Darcy Road. I was rushing to paint as much as I could before the light faded, so I didn't stop to take a photo of this in situ, but you can see it in the photo below, in front of the blank canvas.
It is a poignant image of the stack behind the ruined tanks, furnaces and the old gatehouse of Port Kembla Copper against the luminous evening clouds.

Starting an oil painting of the
Port Kembla Copper stack from Military Road
on Wednesday morning 19th February 2014
Available

Early on Wednesday morning I set up my easel at the top of Military Road, next to Hill 60.

I put the small canvas of the stack from Darcy Road against my easel as inspiration.
As a 300m exclusion zone around the area was to be set up on Thursday, I had spent most of the previous day wandering around Port Kembla looking for good vantage points to paint and to view the demolition. The dramatic perspective of the hill and road leading up to the stack made this spot the winner.

Starting a painting of the Port Kembla Copper stack
from Military Road on Wednesday morning 19th February 2014
"Port Kembla Copper stack from Military Road,
the last day before demolition"
oil on canvas 61 x 31cm
Available
The sullen clouds overhead were joined by the smoke from the still operational Port Kembla Steelworks in the middle distance. Their chimneys were humbled by the overpowering height and bulk of the iconic Copper Stack.
Rumours about the impending closure of the steelworks made this scene even more poignant.
I wasn't the only one to find this great view. 

As you can see by the camera on the tripod in the photo above, I had barely started to paint when tag teams of roaming journalists descended to interview the local residents.

Starting a painting of the Port Kembla Copper stack
from Military Road on Wednesday morning 19th February 2014
"Port Kembla Copper stack from Military Road,
the last day before demolition"
oil on canvas 61 x 31cm
Available

I received a fair share of the media attention as well.
"Painting an iconic landscape before a looming monolith is felled" by Justin Huntsdale 19 February, 2014 3:00PM ABC Illawarra

Painting of the Port Kembla Copper stack
from Military Road on Wednesday morning 19th February 2014
"Port Kembla Copper stack from Military Road,
the last day before demolition"
oil on canvas 61 x 31cm
Available

However, by noon it had started to cloud over and I was worried that the distractions would mean that I wouldn't be able to complete my canvas before the rain became too heavy to continue.

Painting of the Port Kembla Copper stack
from Military Road on Wednesday morning 19th February 2014
"Port Kembla Copper stack from Military Road,
the last day before demolition"
oil on canvas 61 x 31cm
Available

By 2pm I had to leave as I was drenched, however, I had managed to capture the last day of the Port Kembla Copper Stack.

Related posts

Stacking the stackpot

Another one bites the dust

Eaten by Robots

"Painting an iconic landscape before a looming monolith is felled"

by Justin Huntsdale
19 February, 2014 3:00PM ABC Illawarra