Transmogrify

'Transmogrify'  is a combination of 'transmigrate,' (to pass from one body into another) and 'modify,(to change the properties, form, or function of )

To transform into some other person or thing, as by magic; convert or transform in general.
To completely alter the form of.

Starting painting "Panorama of Moore's Wharf and ships" oil on canvas 25 x 152cm

This canvas was started on 2 August 2011, but has been through quite a number of permutations and still isn't finished. I wanted a record of the hidden side, the working side of this lovely heritage sandstone building, and I kept changing my mind about what to include or leave out. So buildings, boats and trucks got painted in and out dozens of times.

It's been a wrestling match between me, the surroundings, the workers and the canvas!

This is the original idea for the composition.

The perspective was complex and challenging, even before people started to move things around.

Then 'Fast Eddy' parked his truck in front of the blue container...
The bottom right hand corner of the canvas looked a little empty anyway, so I started to paint the truck.

Then the truck left before I had a chance to finish painting it.
'Fast Eddy' didn't know exactly when he'd be back, or whether he'd be with or without his truck or where he'd park it. So I scraped the truck off with a razor blade, to remove the lumps and bumps and give a good surface for the next application of paint. A frustrating day spent scraping off paint and re-applying it without making the painting any better.
The lone fisherman on the end of Wharf 8/9, Walsh Bay Wharves opposite called out to me as he left "Skunked?"
"What?!" I called back. There were a few little fish in the water, but no skunks. I wondered if he was referring to me and what he meant by it. I was unsure if I should resent it or take it as a compliment.
Apparently to be "skunked" is to go home without catching at least one fish!
No, I didn't "catch any fish" that day. However by pulling this painting apart and putting it back together again I've learnt a lot about perspective problems, plein air painting, the wharf and how it works.

The truck has been excised and I can now turn my attention to painting the 'Shirley Smith'.

The brilliant red and yellow of the 'Shirley Smith' is a delight to paint against the cobalt blue sky.

However, the format of this canvas is an extreme horizontal panorama, and now the brilliance of 'Shirley' threatens to overpower everything else in the painting.

I increase the size of the Moore's Wharf building to balance the composition.

It still needs some tweaking. I've added a little orange pilot boat, the "Port Jackson" between the crane and Moore's Wharf.

This is a small oil study from another angle of the "Port Jackson" being lifted back into the water after the blokes had finished cleaning her. I was made to move my position, as I would have been in the way.

However, the bottom right hand corner still looks too empty to balance the composition...

Fortunately 'Fast Eddy' brought another truck back, and someone obligingly left the little yellow forklift in front of the north end of Moore's Wharf. Now there might be enough red and yellow on the right hand side of the painting to balance the 'Shirley Smith'.

This painting has turned into a monster, eating my paint and my precious time.

I've no idea whether I'll ever be able to finish it, but it's been an ever changing record of everything that has happened on the wharf over the last couple of months.

Related posts

Sitzkrieg

View from the ivory tower

"May close without warning" My Solo Exhibition at the Frances Keevil Gallery

Bacon and Eggs in Miller's Point

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

Bacon and eggs in Miller's Point Part 2

I finished my painting of the Harbour Control Tower by lunchtime. At last I was able to move my cramped, chilly limbs and choose a position for the afternoon painting where I could bask in the feeble winter sunlight.
The brickwork of the Argyle Cafe actually is quite dark, but it glows burnt orange as it was caught in the afternoon sun. The warmth contrasts beautifully with the deep green awnings and timberwork of the windows.

Painting the 'Argyle Cafe, late afternoon Millers Point'2011 oil on canvas 31 x 31cm

The "Lord Nelson Hotel" in Argyle Street, on the left hand side of this little canvas, is one of the oldest licensed premises still operating in Sydney, and home of Australia’s oldest boutique pub brewery. The Lord is recognised around the globe for its award winning beers, and is full of character (as well as "characters"). 

The Rocks and Miller's Point used to be almost literally awash with pubs. Of the thirty seven taverns listed in 1855 only two, the "Lord Nelson" and "The Hero of Waterloo" still operate as pubs. 

William Wells, a plasterer, had a licence for the "Shipwright Arms", later called the "Sailor's Return", on the north-eastern corner of Kent and Argyle Streets opposite his house. He had built a two storey colonial home in 1836 using sandstone blocks quarried from the area at the base of Observatory Hill. Wells continued to operate the pub opposite his home firstly as the "Sailors Return", and in 1840 as the "Quarryman's Arms". In 1841 he sold and on 1st May 1841 he obtained a liquor licence for his home which he then called "The Lord Nelson".

The hotel has now been restored to its former grandeur with the aid of an 1852 photograph.

On the walls are many interesting artefacts including an original "Times" newspaper of 7th November 1805 with details of the Battle of Trafalgar and Lord Nelson's death. A copy of the hotel's first licence, and other interesting pieces helps give the hotel its authentic 1800s atmosphere.

Unlike the eerily silent Palisade Hotel opposite, the "Lord Nelson" is going gangbusters, especially on Friday and Saturdays. 

The Palisade Hotel closed about a year ago for renovations. There is now an ugly shade structure defacing the roofline, but the pub is still boarded up.

The Palisade Hotel, perched on the top of the sandstone escarpment above Hickson Road, was designed by Henry D. Walsh in the Federation Free Style and built in 1912, replacing an earlier hotel of the same name. The name came from a palisade fence built between Munn Street and Bettington Street, which has now been replaced by more elegant wrought ironwork railings. It overlooks the wharves of the former 'Hungry Mile' and was popular with wharfies and the labourers who were working on the Sydney Harbour Bridge from 1923 to 1932.

The Palisade was also the last bar Sydney’s diggers drank in before they were shipped off to Gallipoli.

Starting my Painting  of the 'Argyle Cafe, late afternoon Millers Point'
2011 oil on canvas 31 x 31cm

 

'Argyle Cafe, late afternoon Millers Point' 2011 oil on canvas 31 x 31cm 
$990
SOLD
Enquiries about similar paintings 

I had neglected the streetscapes of the Rocks and Miller's Point because of the pressure to paint the last ships of Sydney's Working Harbour. However the charming jumble of little laneways, damp alleys and rugged stone stairs which were the trademark of this historic area, will change when Barangaroo is developed. It has been amazing how this sleepy corner of old Sydney survived so long.

 

Related articles

• Bacon and Eggs in Miller's Point (barangarooartist.blogspot.com)
• Great Pubs for Sydney Visitors - The Rocks (sydneyexpert.com)
• Artist in Residence at the Aroma Coffee Festival - the Post Mortem (janebennettartist.blogspot.com)

The Empty Wharf

Ghost Tower

The empty wharf' oil on canvas 25 x 51 cm 2009

It's finally happened.

Sydney Ports Corporation has moved out of the Sydney Harbour Control Tower at Barangaroo and into their spiffy new purple and silver premises at Port Botany.

The mushroom head of the tower now stands, isolated on the empty wharf, looming above the holes and piles of demolition rubble starting to accumulate around its base.

The construction workers and excavators appear like rats nibbling away here and there until the entire complex collapses.

There was no fanfare or publicity to mark the end of an era.

Only an eerie silence.

Something old-Something New- Some paintings at Barangaroo

An Architectural Adventure
The 'Sydney Open' -presented by the Historic Houses Trust

My paintings will be on exhibition at several venues during the Sydney Open, a biennial event presented by Historic Houses Trust that showcases Sydney’s architectural icons.
On display for one day only on Sunday 7th November 2010

The Name is 'Bond' - 'Jane at the Bond' 

I will be exhibiting my paintings of both the 'Hungry Mile' and my recent paintings of demolition works at Barangaroo in spacious foyer of the LendLease headquarters at the '30 The Bond' 30 Hickson Road.

 I was "Artist in Residence" at the "Hungry Mile", East Darling Harbour Wharves during its last years as a working port, and have continued painting on this site during its exciting transformation into the new precinct of Barangaroo.

 I am delighted to have the opportunity to display some of these paintings 'in situ'.They are especially relevant now, with the entire area on the cusp of one of the most important architectural transformations in the entire history of Sydney.

 I have been the only person to actually witness the transition process on the spot. The people on the wharf have moved to the periphery of Sydney : Port Botany and Port Kembla; and the current construction workers have not experienced Barangaroo as a working port. This area had been a wharf virtually since settlement and the general public was never permitted access. I was given unprecedented access to all aspects of the port operations and painted on the wharves, from the top of Harbour Control Tower and even from the bridge of the ships. Later I painted the demolition of the wharves and the preparations for World Youth Day 2008 and now I am starting a new series of paintings about the construction of Barangaroo.

 Barangaroo from the Harbour Control Tower- 'The Hungry Mile' from the Harbour Control Tower 1 2007 gouache painting on paper 44 x 34cm

In this gouache painting you can see a rare aerial view of the '30 The Bond' building, as I painted this from the vantage point of the Control Room of the Sydney Harbour Control Tower. It is the sleekly elegant silver building south of the roller-coaster escarpment of High Street, in the historic Miller's Point precinct. On its roof is a curly thatch of greenery which is its roof garden. My paintings will be displayed on easels in the foyer, just in front of an escarpment wall of original sandstone.
I will also be exhibiting my early paintings of Pyrmont at Workplace6 on Darling Island as part of the Sydney Open, on the same day Sunday 7th November. For more information see my post My Exhibition at Sydney Open at my other blog 'Industrial Revelation'