Storm warning, Goat Island

I haven't been back to my studio at Moore's Wharf for over a year now.

Last year was a bit of a nightmare, as my mum became very ill and
was in and out of hospital throughout most of 2012.
I was only able to go out painting occasionally, and when I was able to, I painted at Rozelle, Eveleigh or Pyrmont, rather than at Barangaroo.
I posted some of these on my Industrial Revelation blog.
It's difficult enough to keep posting on one blog, almost impossible to cope with two.
I finally returned last Friday, and started a large panorama of Goat Island from the knuckle of the wharf.

Work in progress -

This was how the painting looked at 10.30am

'Goat Island from Moore's Wharf' 2013 

oil on canvas 45 x 92cm

Enquiries about this painting :

info@franceskeevilgallery.com.au

I probably hadn't picked the best day to do so.
The sky looked like a purple bruise.
But I tried to do as much painting as I could before the inevitable storm.

Work in progress -

This was how the painting looked at 11.58am

'Goat Island from Moore's Wharf' 2013 

oil on canvas 45 x 92cm

Enquiries about this painting :

info@franceskeevilgallery.com.au

The yellow buoys and boom contrasted well with the sullen sky and choppy slate grey sea.
The boom is there to prevent pollution by debris from the excavation of sandstone blocks for the Barangaroo Headland Park next door to Moore's Wharf.

Work in progress -

This was how the painting looked at 11.58am

'Goat Island from Moore's Wharf' 2013 

oil on canvas 45 x 92cm

Enquiries about this painting :

info@franceskeevilgallery.com.au

Fortunately the blokes soon moved their car so I could see the little hut at the far left hand edge of Goat Island. I didn't want to move from my sheltered nook behind the pallets as there was obviously very little time left before the storm.
Just after 3pm a bolt of lightning struck in the distance.
The thunder was so loud that it sounded like a cannon had been fired.
By the time I had packed up all my paints and brushes I was soaked.

'Goat Island from Moore's Wharf' 2013 

oil on canvas 45 x 92cm

Enquiries about this painting :

info@franceskeevilgallery.com.au

My next solo exhibition "From the Hungry Mile to Barangaroo" will be held from 1st - 24th March 2013 at the Frances Keevil Gallery, Bay Village, 28-34 Cross Street Double Bay, NSW 2028, as their signature event for Art Month.

Painting Miller's Point from the top of Harbour Control Tower New Year's Eve 2010- Part 4:Through a glass darkly

Painting on New Year's Eve 2010 from Amenities Level at the top of the Sydney Port's Harbour Control Tower.

Painting on New Year's Eve 2010 from Amenities Level

at the top of the Sydney Port's Harbour Control Tower

Painting of Barangaroo at sunset, waiting for the fireworks.

People have gathered on the 'knuckle' of North Barangaroo to see the fireworks. When this area was still an operational port, the wharfies and their families used to sit here and have a picnic outside the now demolished Shed 3.

The parade of tall ships and other Heritage Fleet vessels decked out in fairy lights, sailing the length of Sydney Harbour, is my favourite part of the whole celebration.

Self Portrait with painting of Sydney Heritage Fleet with fairy lights.
One of my traditions is to paint the fireworks on New Year's Eve and other major celebrations from the vantage point of the top of the Sydney Ports Corporation's Harbour Control Tower.
This may be for the last time.
There are no guarantees that this Tower will have any place in the redevelopment of Barangaroo. If it is to be retained, what function will it serve?
The interior spaces of both the amenities floor, where I paint, and the top floor, where the port operations are carried out, are very snug, to say the least. There isn't much room. The Tower is a magnificent observation post with breath-taking 360 degree panoramic Sydney Harbour views, but the number of people that could visit at any one time would be severely limited. I am worried that the Tower would be seen as being not economically viable to maintain in the new Barangaroo.
It could be demolished at any time after April 2011, which is when all the port operations will be finally transferred to Port Botany. Even if it is not immediately demolished, it will be inaccessible for a couple of years while major earthworks will be disrupting the Northern end of the Barangaroo Headland. The sandstone escarpment will be buried in earth to provide a slope down from Merriman St to the new shore of the Barangaroo Headland Park. I wonder how the inhabitants of the quaint little terraces in Merriman St will cope? They are a stoic, laid back bunch, but these changes will be traumatic.

Happy New Year!

Painting Miller's Point from the top of Harbour Control Tower New Year's Eve 2010- Part 3 : Panorama

Painting Miller's Point from top of Harbour Tower.
A small study of the rooftops of the heritage Miller's Point terraces. This painting is still unfinished but is well underway, and has already helped me to sort out some potential problems with the large panorama.

'Miller's Point from the top of the Harbour Tower' 2010-11

oil painting on canvas 61 x 183cm

Painting Miller's Point from top of Harbour Tower. This is my painting for the late afternoon, with the shadows lengthening along the roads and carving strange shapes into the tin rooftops. I want the gold of the last rays of the setting sun to glint on the rooftops and warm the cold brick and tin. For this painting marks the end of an era for Miller's Point ; possibly for Sydney itself. Love it or hate it, things will never be the same.
I can see already that this painting is going to be a lot of hard work.
The previous small studies were to give me the courage to start this.
I have chosen a panorama format canvas for this composition, 3 times as long as it is high. The vista spans the Sydney Harbour Bridge, parts of the North Shore, Miller's Point, Walsh Bay Wharves, the Rocks, Observatory Hill,some of Sydney's CBD and Barangaroo.

It will be the quintessential Sydney Harbour painting; from the old Sydney to the new; from skyscrapers to dinky terraces; from pub to park to carpark;from road to wharf to sea.

From the sublime to the gorblimey: Sydney from top to bottom of the harbour.

Detail of 'Miller's Point from the top of the Harbour Tower'

2010-11 oil painting on canvas 61 x 183cm

Detail of 'Miller's Point from the top of the Harbour Tower'

2010-11 oil painting on canvas 61 x 183cm

A ramshackle row of terraces contrasts with the lumpen apartment blocks behind them.

The End of the Wharf as we know it

The Empty Wharf

Starting a new large canvas- 8am on a cloudy windy day on the site of recently demolished Wharf 8 at South Barangaroo 

I have prepared a canvas suitable for the threatening clouds by priming it  with several coats of black acrylic paint. Canvases intended for either landscapes or seascapes I prime with either black or cerulean blue. This preparatory coat of coloured paint is known as the 'imprimatura', and I like to use it especially when painting outdoors rather than face the glare of a white canvas reflecting the sunlight back into my face. 
A black primed canvas is useful for storm clouds or interiors, while the blue canvases have the basic sky colour already laid in, so it is easier to add clouds, haze or mist at the horizon.

 8.30am

9.30am

9.30am

Note the scar of dark, new laid asphalt delineating the space where Wharf 8 used to be.

Gone with the Wind

10am

This canvas is fairly large for a plein air painting- 91 x 122cm. I intended it to be a continuation of the series of canvases from similar vantage points on this wharf of the same size which you can see on the right hand side of this blog, one painted when the 'Hungry Mile' was still a working port and the other a year later when the ships, trucks, containers, forklifts and wharfies had left. There are also other paintings of this size and format showing the demolition of the previous wharf buildings. I must say that the earlier paintings might have been more complex to paint, but this one is more physically difficult to manage, because now that most of the buildings have been demolished, there is no shelter from the wind on this wharf. 
That sounds like a minor gripe, but I have almost as much canvas up to catch the breeze as though I were windsurfing. The Philip's head screws on the struts of my french box easel, never a strong point of its design, are fighting a losing battle. I tighten them, but their little notches are almost worn smooth. The top of the easel with its canvas snaps back and forward unless I hold it steady with my left hand. It's tiring to paint like this and I dare not leave it long enough to eat my lunch, never mind about leaving it for a much needed toilet break. I'd be chasing my stuff all over the wharf. I try a useful trick with big canvases in a brisk wind - I change the angle so the canvas is side on to the wind, not catching it head on, and lower the angle so that the canvas is almost horizontal like a table top. A little like sailing, I should imagine, although I am by no means a sailor.
Last year I lost a much loved Akubra hat which blew off my head as I was packing up my things on my very last visit to paint the ferries the Balmain shipyard. I was so upset that I seriously thought about jumping into the Harbour and swimming after it, but I didn't want to be scuttled by the 'Lady Hopetoun'. I suppose some lucky New Zealander is wearing my lost Akubra  now. A good Akubra with a wide brim, not one of those silly pork pie jobs that don't keep the sun or rain off, is hard to find now. It will set you back about $150, and that doesn't include the toggles, which are almost impossible to buy. The shops only sell  Akubras for tourists these days and were amazed to hear of someone who actually needed to wear one for work. 'Did I also ride a horse at work' the assistants asked, wide-eyed with wonder. I had to disappoint them there. 

The wind is getting much worse. A good rule of thumb is that over 25 knots and the canvas starts to beat like a drum; the brushstrokes are timed to coincide. Annoying, but not insurmountable. Over 35 knots and a fully loaded french box easel starts to skitter around. Over 40 knots, and it will lift up and whack you on the nose if you don't tie it down. I have to move my car and cower behind it, using it as a wind break.

Painting clouds- 11am

Beware- Artist at work- 11.30am

If it weren't for the hard hat perched on top of it, the little black hat would look quite glam. It's no Akubra, though.
The smear of black paint on the cheek  really completes the look. 

Behind the canvas

I had to scavenge for this big concrete block to weight down my easel so I wouldn't have to chase it all over the wharf. The bricks are preventing the easel struts from being blown out of position and giving me a faceful of wet canvas. It only partly worked. I found out later the wind that day was over 45 knots. But despite the threatening clouds it didn't actually rain and I got a lot of painting done.

Dig it, Pump it, Grab it, Munch it !

Dig it !

'Excavator with Macquarie Bank' 2010  2010 oil on canvas 31 x 41 cm

The excavator is the Sumitomo 800, the biggest on site. This heavy duty warhorse was bought specially for the first round of demolition, back in early 2008, when the wharves at the northern end were demolished prior to the World Youth Day celebrations.

This excavator has been sitting idle for a week or so, waiting for the next round of demolition, which will be the Sydney Ports Maintenance Depot and the Amenities blocks lining Hickson Road. It is wearing the attachment called the 'Ripper". Next to it is a reverse view of one of the "Munchers".

Pump it! (The Watertank)

'Pump it '( the Watertank) 2010 oil on canvas 15 x 30cm 

The Veronese green of the Cardinal watertank is a welcome sight on a windy day. It hoses down the demolition dust. Here it is draining the little lake in the middle of the site so that it can later twirl around the compound in ever decreasing circles spraying the water onto the site of the recently demolished wharf. However much water it sprays is never enough. When the wind is from the south/ south -west I make sure that I wear a dust mask & keep as far to the west as I can so that I don't end up with a mouthful of dirt.

Grab it!

'Grabber' 2010 oil on canvas 20 x 20 cm

Munch it!

'Muncher' 2010 oil on canvas 20 x 20 cm 

This attachment, called poetically a "Muncher" used to have a fluoro pink painted patch that looked like a mad pink eye that made it look both startled and hungry.

Art exhibition : Recent Paintings by Jane Bennett

From Barangaroo to Double Bay :

My paintings for sale -

on Display at the Frances Keevil Gallery until 8th October 2010

"I saw the number '8' in red... "2010  
oil painting on canvas  51 x 76cm
$4,200  

See my post : I saw the number '8' in red...

"Out of time " oil painting on canvas 31 x 31 cm
$990

See my post : Barangaroo terminal -'Out of time' 

 

"Keep Area clear" 

(Inside the loading dock of the former Cruise ship Terminal at Darling Harbour 8)  

2010  oil painting on canvas 51 x 76cm

$4,200

Painted from a similar viewpoint as "May close without warning..."

"MAY CLOSE WITHOUT WARNING (Inside the loading dock of the former Cruise ship Terminal at Darling Harbour 8)"
oil painting on canvas 51 x 76cm
$4,200 

See my post : May close without warning

"Night, 'Pacific Jewel'  from the bridge of the Maersk Gateshead" 2010 
oil painting on canvas 61 x 91 cm
$6,000

See my post : 'Maersk Gateshead' last container ship

"The Pacific Jewel arrives for the first time 
at the new temporary facilities at Barangaroo" 2010 
oil painting on canvas 
36 x 46 cm
$1,800

"The Pacific Jewel arrives for the first time 
at the new temporary facilities at Barangaroo"

Diptych Left hand canvas 2010 
oil painting on canvas 25 x 51 cm each 
Total image size 25 x 102cm

Each canvas : $1,400  Diptych : $2,800 

"The Pacific Jewel arrives for the first time 
at the new temporary facilities at Barangaroo"

Diptych: Right hand canvas 2010 oil painting on canvas 25 x 51 cm each 
Total image size 25 x 102cm

Each canvas : $1,400  Diptych : $2,800

"The 'Pacific Jewel ' at the new temporary facility at Darling Harbour"

Diptych- 2010 oil painting on canvas 

25 x 51 cm each 

Total image size 25 x 102cm

Each canvas : $1,400  Diptych : $2,800

See my post :  Barangaroo paintings of 'Pacific Jewel'


 All enquiries about paintings : Frances Keevil Gallery
 Email : info@franceskeevilart.com.au

  

The Art of Painting in PPE (Personal Protective Equipment)

Gone in 60 seconds
Yesterday they started to pulverize the power poles. I can't sit where I have been for the last week and finish my diptych, which was going to be a panorama of the whole site. When they have finished I can return to the spot, however the blocks which were to have been the whole key of the composition will be gone.

On the other hand, Andrew, the site foreman, has assured me that the big red statue of the number "8", to which I have taken quite a fancy, won't be demolished for at least a week.
 Hear no evil (or anything else)

I had to use hearing protection to cope with the noise. The hearing protection on this site is a rather snazzy set of fluoro orange earbuds attached to a headset rather than the usual rolled up bits of pink and  orange foam. However the headset is way too big for the back of my head and I got it in a dreadful tangle with my hard hat balanced precariously on top of my cap with its sun-veil at the back, my scarf and safety glasses and my Bovis LendLease lanyard with my site passport. As usual the photo on my ID gives me the expression of an escaped lunatic who has just been shot in the back with a poisoned arrow. So does everyone else's; I'm glad mine doesn't stand out. Would the headset be less uncomfortable up over my hard hat or flapping down around my shoulders? Neither of these positions worked so I finally clamped it over my sunveil; not the most hygienic solution but at least it stopped drilling painfully into my ears. Today I gave up on these ear-drillers and brought my enormous old ear muffs out of retirement. They certainly dull the noise but wearing them is like having a pair of buckets stuck either side of my head. When someone speaks to me I have to clamp them to the top of my hard hat, in a way that reminds me slightly of Mickey Mouse ears. With all this heavy duty ear protection, I don't know why my ears still stick out at right angles like Tony Abbot's, they should be squashed so flat by now that I'm wearing them internally.

My cap does prevent most of my face and ears from getting sunburnt, and has a useful little gap at the back for my ponytail  but unfortunately it has the words "Frontline" written in bold yellow capitals at the front. This is not as you might think in honour of the famous dog and cat flea killing powder- this word is also the motto of Australian Customs and Quarantine; this cap was a souvenir of painting a commission for someone who worked for them when Barangaroo was still a working port.

I am still clumsy when attaching or removing my flashing orange beacon to or from the car. I keep forgetting it's there and open the car door suddenly, or drive off site with it still flashing merrily away.
In the afternoon it gets very dusty as the wind direction changes from westerly to a nor-easter. They hose down the dust as much as possible, but I am now wearing a face mask as an extra precaution. It's not specifically required, but I think that it would be sensible. However I feel so trussed up that I can barely move and resemble a badly decorated Xmas tree.

Fast work

I have completed 2 small canvases yesterday and another 2 today. Not bad going! Yesterday, the first was of the pulverizing of the power poles. I was told not to bother as there would only be 2 hours or so before I would have to move, as the excavator would soon start on the second block. I had just enough time to paint a 15 x 30 cm canvas. The second was a small square painting of a "Grabber", one of the attachments for the excavators. Today I painted a "Muncher" to match the "Grabber" on the same format canvas, and the green waterpump draining the giant pool of water caused by the hosing down of the dust.

Eight (ate)

Barangaroo : Demolition of Wharf 8

"Eight (ate)" 2010 unfinsihed oil painting on canvas 31 x 25 cm

The Wharf building is now demolished. All that remains is a pile of twisted metal, and the giant red numeral.
The forked sign painted at the foot of the 8 is actually really there, but to me it symbolizes the whole dilemma of Barangaroo, of Sydney and possibly of Australia itself. Caught between two possible directions (remember the election anybody?) equally poised between looking back and moving forward. Progress and change are needed, but in which direction?
Update on eight (ate)

'Eight (ate)' 2010  oil painting on canvas 31 x 25 cm

The finished painting.

Geophysics

The Drill Rig at South Barangaroo

"The Drill rig" 2010 oil painting on canvas 30 x 40cm

A core sample is being taken on South Barangaroo, to make sure that there are no nasty little surprises when construction starts.

Incidentally, all of Barangaroo is landfill.
When I painted on the K.E.N.S. Site (the "Kent, Erskine, Napoleon and Sussex street block " which is now the new Westpac headquarters) next to Moreton's pub (known as the 'Big House' by the wharfies) I saw steps that were unearthed that once belonged to an early 19th century Fingerwharf, and must have roughly coincided with the original shoreline. They were halfway between Kent and Sussex Street - so anything west of Sussex Street is fill.

Don't forget your toothpaste! (A little amateur archaeology)

A couple of the men from Coffey and Macquarie Drilling have worked at the same sites that I have painted at! These include the former A.G.L. Site at Mortlake, developed by Rosecorp (which is now known as 'Breakfast Point') and the Carleton United Brewery site at Chippendale, which is still underway. One wet and miserable day at the Carleton United Brewery site, I was offered some of the old bottles and jars to paint by the archaeologists, instead of struggling through the mud laden with an easel to paint the chimney in the pouring rain. A few weeks later, the archaeologists generously made their spare finds available for the construction workers to souvenir. I suppose that an old brewery site wouldn't suffer from a lack of bottles! I took a small selection of 19th century ceramic and glass bottles, including perfume jars, ink bottles and a big brown 'Geneva' bottle (mother's ruin or gin), but one of the men on the drill rig team had a real prize - a small ceramic jar with lacy craquelure that once contained an early 19th century version of toothpaste! When we realized that we both were proud owners of these relics, I brought my paintings of the CUB finds and the bottles to Barangaroo and he brought in his toothpaste jar for me to paint.

My Carleton United Brewery still life can be seen on my 'Urban Landscape' page on my other blog, 'Industrial Revelation'.

This is their 2nd last hole before the drill rig team pack up and leave Barangaroo.

Barangaroo : Terminal- Demolition

The demolition of Wharf 8

'Collapse' oil painting on canvas 36 x 46 cm

There isn't much left of the main building now, and this morning the last gantry was demolished about 10am.
Ironically it was taken down by the very same man who built the other gantry, (the orange one that stood closest to King Street Wharf) only 8 years ago.
I've been torn between wanting to paint the spectacular collapse of the main Arrivals Hall to the south, from the vantage point of the giant statue of the number '8' and the pulling down of the gantries about 300 metres walk from this.
Previously, I could leave my easel in a corner of one of Cardinal's sheds, but today they have started to move all their tables,chairs and equipment out in preparation for the move to the sheds being completed at the north-western end of the compound. So it looks like several long walks back to my car dragging lots of heavy equipment.

The first cut is the deepest

Barangaroo :  Demolition starts of former Cruise ship Terminal at Darling Harbour Wharf 8

'The '800' demolishing the Gantries' 2010 oil painting on canvas 36 x 46 cm

The Gantries

'The Gantries' Unfinished oil painting on canvas 36 x 46cm

Breakfast in the ruins

Gantry

'Gantry (keep)' Almost finished oil painting on canvas 46 x 36 cm

I had wondered if the gantries were to be kept intact & possibly recycled for use at the new cruise ship terminal soon to be built at White Bay.
They are instead about to be demolished by the very same man who built the orange gantry only 8 years ago.
The MUA has just linked an article about my paintings of the Hungry Mile & Barangaroo on their website to my other blog, "Industrial Revelation".

Barangaroo : Terminal - Facade

A last look at Wharf 8, the former Cruise Ship Terminal

'Wharf 8- facade with red door' 2010 Unfinished oil on canvas 31 x 61 cm.

'The Red Door closes' unfinished oil painting on canvas 25 x 51 cm

Barangaroo : Terminal -The Artist's Studio

My Studio at Barangaroo : Works in progress


Painting inside the the former Cruise ship Terminal at Darling Harbour 8 painted in July-August 2010. 

"Red Square"

A race against time

I make the big move out of the terminal

"Grabber,Muncher, Ripper,"

"Grabber, ripper,muncher" 2010 oil painting on canvas 31 x 31cm

Yes, they actually are the proper names of the attachments to the excavators! I'm not making them up. Truly.

The "Grabber" is in the centre, the "Ripper" is the wicked looking blade on the right, while the "Muncher" is the monster with the fluoro pink "eye" & the toothy jaws in front of the red door to the left. The workmen promised me that there is also a "Pulverizer" that will arrive later. This I have to see!

A good day at the office

The very last day that I was able to leave my easels and canvases inside the terminal. I've now moved my stuff into a room in the loading dock of the old Sydney Ports Corporation Maintenance building that has been recently used to display the designs for Barangaroo. Not for long, apparently - Bovis LendLease has already moved the entrance twice and I've noticed construction of new site offices starting in the north-west corner. This building will obviously be the next to go after the DH8 terminal. Exactly when is anyone's guess.