Cut off

1. To remove via cutting.
2. To isolate or remove from contact
3. To end abruptly.
4. A designated limit beyond which something cannot function or must be terminated
5.  Break a small piece off from

At 4pm last Friday afternoon, I arrived back at Moore's Wharf after a day spent putting the finishing touches on my enormous painting of White Bay Power Station.
I saw a crane through the trees of Clyne Reserve, the pocket hankerchief size park next to the Sydney Harbour Control Tower.
The men in the workbox were from Telstra. They were removing Telstra's communications equipment from the strange little "belt" around the waistline of the Tower.
There is something symbolic about the phones being cut off in a building devoted to communications. 

"Sydney Harbour Control Tower and Clyne reserve" 2007 oil painting on canvas 46 x 36 cm SOLD

This is the Tower in earlier days when East Darling Harbour Wharves were still operational.
I have been told that everything has to be stripped out of there by the end of September.

The Barangaroo Development Corporation want to buy it, if they haven't already done so.
The prospect of its demolition inches ever closer.
Won't be long now.
I wonder if it will last until the opening of my exhibition?
I'll be showing other Barangaroo paintings from the 11th -30th October 2011 in my solo exhibition "May close without warning" at the Frances Keevil Gallery,Bay Village, 28-34 Cross St, Double Bay 2028.

Enquiries : info@franceskeevilart.com.au
"Sydney Harbour Control Tower is looking at a fall"
Henry Budd: The Daily Telegraph August 05, 2011

Related articles

• Power Base - Artist in Residence at the White Bay Power Station (janebennettartist.blogspot.com)
• Artist in Residence at the White Bay Power Station - Part 2 (janebennettartist.blogspot.com)
• White Bay Power Station : Inside Out (janebennettartist.blogspot.com)
• Power House (janebennettartist.blogspot.com)
• View from the ivory tower (barangarooartist.blogspot.com)
• Bacon and Eggs in Miller's Point (barangarooartist.blogspot.com)

View from the ivory tower

Millers Point from top of Harbour Tower

ink acrylic gouache on paper 120 x 131cm

HIGHLY COMMENDED : 2011 Royal Easter Show
Exhibited and sold "May close without warning..." Frances Keevil Gallery
Enquiries about this and similar paintings

A moody charcoal and ink drawing of a bird's eye view of Miller's Point in the early morning from the Harbour Control Tower.

This panorama is a study for an even larger oil painting on canvas, which could be my farewell to the Tower.

Every time I go up there may be my last, so I treasure every moment.

If I arrive early enough at Moore's Wharf, I've been allowed to tag along when people from Sydney Ports Corporation have to pack up and remove various bits of flotsam and jetsam from the Tower.

On my last visit, the first aid and cardiac equipment was removed, so that gives everyone extra incentive to watch their cholesterol and not to hoe into the chocolate cornettos kept temptingly in the fridge at Moore's Wharf.

Now the entrance is from the bottom level via the Barangaroo gatehouse on Hickson Road, as the entrance from the Merriman Street level has been shut and locked. Merriman Street has a charming cluster of heritage terraces perched on top of the sandstone escarpment, and is bordered by the now empty Palisade Hotel at one end and Clyne Reserve at the other.

At least 2 people have to be present on a Harbour Tower visit, just in case the lift packs up, although exactly what the second person could do if anything happened except sympathize is anyone's guess. It's a frightening thought, as mobile phone reception is not too good in there at the best of times.

The lifts always seemed to be out of order whenever I had an especially large canvas. 4 separate trips up the interminable flights of stairs to the amenities floor (canvases, table and chair, easel, trolley luggage with my painting medium and brushes and lunch) then 2 extra flights to the top floor to sign the register book, then back down to the amenities block to get some painting done. And then at the end of the day, the journey in reverse - but with an extra trip, as a large wet painting has to be kept away from anything else.

The tower sways in the wind, sometimes almost imperceptibly, and sometimes with a rolling motion that can induce seasickness. It can be distracting when trying to paint fine details.
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 Millers Point lies at my feet.
There was such an overwhelming mass of tiny details that I needed to tackle this subject in tone and line before risking getting bogged down in an oil painting. I wanted to understand the rhythm of the landscape. Previously I had painted many sections of this scene, but this was an ambitious attempt to unify the views from 4 windows in 3 separate rooms into a single cohesive work.
Unfortunately this drawing's frame was badly scratched at the Royal Easter Show, so I'm getting my gallery to re-frame it. It's expensive to frame large works on paper and I try to avoid it when possible, but I think that this will be one of the key works in my solo exhibition. The title of the exhibition is "May close without Warning" and will be held from the 13th - 30th October 2011 at the Frances Keevil Gallery, Bay Village, 28- 34 Cross Street, Double Bay 2028.

Related posts

Bacon and Eggs in Miller's Point

Bacon and eggs in Miller's Point Part 2

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.

Painting Miller's Point from the top of Harbour Control Tower New Year's Eve 2010- Part 2: Moore's Wharf from the eye in the sky

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

Painting Moore's Wharf and the Sydney Ports Corporation

Emergency Response Tugs while waiting for the 9pm fireworks

My easel is set up in the lunchroom of the amenities floor.

I am short, and the window is small and tantalizingly high.

I spent the next 8 hours literally standing on tip-toe, painting the view.

When I was younger, I spent several years at ballet class, not realizing that training my calf muscles not to protest would ever come in handy later on as an artist.

A bird's eye view of tugs and workboats

Moore's wharf has a fascinating roof structure - very tricky perspective from above.

From ground level, the building's curve is not immediately apparent.

As expected, the parade of tugs arriving and departing drove me bonkers.

When one would finally return from an outing, they would dock it in the opposite direction to how it had been when it had set out.

Just to annoy.

Art and life
I tried hard to take a photo of both the canvas on my easel with the view. The combination of the high set of the window, the narrow working space (the door is directly behind me) and the dark interior compared with the glaring light outside made this my puny camera's best effort.

It's interesting how even in this age of digital photography, something as slow and old-fashioned as painting can still be more effective.

The human eye has no trouble combining a dark interior scene with an extremely light exterior into a cohesive image - but the camera does.

People endlessly nag "Why paint on site? Why not just take photos?" Well, this is one example of the limitations of photography. Add to the dark/light problem, the glare of glass, and the smeared and grimy windows, and any photos taken through these windows are barely adequate as memories.

It helps when painting this series of works from this vantage point that I have already painted everything in this area before. Singly, in pairs and in groups of three! The buildings, the boats, the wharf, the water - from almost every possible viewpoint and in every season and weather.

White Ship with Black Hawks-The 'Pacific Jewel' at Barangaroo

'Pacific Jewel at Wharf 5, Barangaroo, with Black Hawk helicopters' 
2010 oil painting on canvas 31 x 103cm

$3,500

Catalogue number 34
Exhibited "May close without warning..." Frances Keevil Gallery

Enquiries about this and similar paintings

Buzzing Around

A training exercise (hopefully). This happened several times during September - November 2010. Must have scared the passengers out of their wits! The huge Black Hawk helicopters reminded me of giant blowflies buzzing around a flaked out sunbather.

Strangely enough, not long afterwards they had a real problem. Something mechanical went wrong with the Pacific Jewel. I don't know whether it was an engine problem or a propeller problem, but the ship had to cool its heels for quite a while, first at Barangaroo, then for over a week at Glebe Island and finally at Captain Cook dry dock over at Garden Island. I have painted an example of each site, and will post them at my other blog Industrial Revelation  soon.

This is painted from just inside the LendLease enclosure at the north-western end. I was chased away from the demolition activity down at the southern end and was grateful for all the aviation activity to add a different focus to the painting.

The diagonals of the white tents contrast with the darker, more classically inspired dockyard bond stores and historic hotels of Millers Point and Hickson Road to the right of the canvas. 

A light pole neatly bisects the canvas into new wharf to the left and old (or comparatively old) buildings to the right. LendLease had just finished removing all the powerpoles from their section of the wharf, leaving just a few of the yellow bollards sticking out, uselessly. In the centre distance of this painting, you can see some of these relics standing like a few jagged broken teeth in the toothless jaw of an old wharfie.

I must say that I don't care much for the Palisade Hotel's newly renovated roof garden. The shade sails might be practical but they spoil the charm of the stepped roof line, giving it a blocky, squared off look. However this will probably be the least of Millers point's architectural problems given all the changes in store for this previously sleepy and overlooked area.

My Paintings in the Xmas exhibition at the Frances Keevil Gallery

My Barangaroo paintings for sale -
Open until Friday 24th December 2010

Stormclouds over the wharf 2007 oil painting on canvas 61 x 91cm.

Enquiries about this painting 

The last of the cranes of East Darling Harbour. All three were formerly painted red. During the last operational month of Darling Harbour in September 2007, they were painted yellow and placed on the barge, the 'Seatow', escorted by the tug 'Koronui', and floated down to Port Kembla.

'The empty wharf' 2007 oil painting on canvas 61x 91cm

Enquiries about this painting 

This painting of the wharf after the stevedores left in October 2007 has an eerie classical calm - a cross between the haunted plazas of de Chirico and Jeffrey Smart's  primary coloured geometric constructions. The Harbour Control Tower joins the procession of power poles as though they were a row of Doric columns in an ancient Greek or Roman temple.

Frances Keevil Gallery:

  http://www.franceskeevilart.com.au/Jane_Bennett.htm 

Email : info@franceskeevilart.com.au

Recently Sold Paintings from the Sydney Open : The Hungry Mile and Barangaroo

Not all of these paintings were displayed at the '30, The Bond' during the Sydney Open, but were sold to people who saw my exhibitions and later made enquiries to my gallery. I was kept quite busy the next week - paintings were flying around like frisbees!
A large canvas exhibited at 'Workplace6' during the Sydney Open also has just been sold. Not bad for a one - day show with no publicity or invitations!
See my other blog: 'Industrial Revelation'
Recently Sold Paintings : Pyrmont paintings at Workplace6 

'L3 Crane and shed 4' oil on canvas 31 x 23cm SOLD

As well as the usual plein air painting problems of avoiding the wind and sun, I had to try not to be mown down by forklifts. After a while I had worked out safe observation points all over the wharf, depending on the type of ship/cargo, time of day and weather conditions. This was painted between Shed 4 and 5, looking north towards the west end of Goat Island. There was no ship in and no cargo inside Shed 4, or I would never have been allowed to paint there. Usually this area was full of cars, boats and containers; and I would have had to paint against the wall of the shed or inside the yellow workcage. One of the workcages is against the left hand side of the shed.

'The 'Coral Chief' from shed3' 2006 oil on canvas 31 x 25cm SOLD

I painted this from beside the west roll-a door of shed 3, , looking directly south towards the P&O offices that were in shed 4, in the centre of this painting. The 2 cranes are (from left to right) “L1” and “L3”. The Chief ships usually only came in on the weekend, and normally docked at shed 3. This particular vantage point was excellent on a hot summer morning with a brisk nor-easter, provided that there was no ship berthed at No. 3 and that there were no steel coils or timber stored inside the shed at the time. The shed would shelter me from the worst of the wind and the sun wouldn’t be in my eyes.

The Tug 'Karoo' from Darling Harbour 2006 oil painting on canvas 28 x 36 cm
SOLD

The ‘Karoo’is one of the smaller tugs on Sydney Harbour, (but only in comparison with tugs like the majestic ‘Woona'). Up close, of course, the ‘Karoo’ isn’t really small! It is one of the ‘Wallace’ stable (a division of ‘Adsteam Marine’ based in Port Kembla) All of the names of the Wallace tugs start with the letter ‘K’, and are derived  from Aboriginal names for localities in the Illawarra area. I believe that 'Karoo' refers to a lake around the Illawarra region.

The ‘Karoo’ was only to be seen comparatively rarely and for brief moments from East Darling Harbour, usually while shepherding one of the blue ‘NYK’ line Ro-ros to and from the wharves at Glebe Island, as I have depicted it here in this canvas.

 The 'Koranui  ' 2007 oil on canvas 25x31cm SOLD

This is the tug which towed the barges with the last of the cranes. down to Port Kembla.

The ‘Karoo’ and the ‘Woona’ were the two tugs used in the last major port operation of Patrick (OK- technically speaking it had by now become ‘Asciano’ of Toll Holdings) ,which was towing the ‘Seatow’ barge with the last of the wharf cranes on it, escorted by the tug ‘Koranui’ to Port Kembla, when East Darling Harbour Wharves closed.

'The 'Woona'  2007 oil painting on canvas 20 x 25cm

SOLD

The 'Woona' with the Talabot 2009 oil on canvas 20x25cm

SOLD 

My tug paintings were immensely popular with galleries and collectors, and I'm often asked for a ‘set’ of the ‘Wilga’, ‘Wonga’, ‘Woona’, or for 3 or 4 different angles of the same tug.

'The tug 'Wonga' with 'Victorian Reliance'' 20x25cm SOLD

  

The most familiar tug, during my period as ‘Artist in Residence’ on the wharves of East Darling Harbour, was the ‘Woona’, which seemed to be used for almost every one of the gigantic bright red Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ro-ros. The other tugs were harder to spot and harder to paint as I saw them less often and for shorter periods of time. The next most commonly spotted tugs were the ‘Wilga’ and ‘Wonga’, followed by the ‘Wolli’ and the ‘Watagan’. 

Enquiries about these and other paintings:

Frances Keevil Gallery

My exhibition: "From the Hungry Mile to Barangaroo"

My exhibition: "From the Hungry Mile to Barangaroo"
Foyer of LendLease 30,'The Bond',
30 Hickson Road, Millers Point

Paintings of Barangaroo at Sydney Open - 30, The Bond

From left to right:

easel on left: 

top : 'Relics from the Dead House 2' 2007 oil on canvas 91 x 61 cm

bottom left: "Hungry Dinosaurs" 2010 oil on canvas 36 x 46 cm 

bottom right: "Grabber, Muncher,Ripper" 2010 oil on canvas 31 x 31cm

easel in centre: 
top: "I saw the number '8' in red"   2010 oil on canvas 61 x 183cm
centre: :"Red Square (Arrivals Hall) 2010 oil on canvas 61 x 183cm
bottom left: "The drill rig" 2010 oil on canvas 36 x 36cm
bottom right: "Red Square" 2010 oil on canvas 36 x 36cm

easel on right:

top left:"8 (ate)"  2010 oil on canvas 41 x 31cm
top right: "Dig it! (The archaeologists)"   2010 oil on canvas 31 x 15cm
centre: "A work in progress" 2010 oil on canvas 91 x 122cm (Unfinished)
bottom left: "The last gantry"  2010 oil on canvas 41 x 31cm
bottom right: "Pump it! (The 'Watertank')" 2010 oil on canvas 31 x 41cm

easel on left:
above: "The 'Southern Cross' (with Robbie and forklift)" 2010 oil on canvas 31 x 103 cm

centre : 'The working port' 2007 oil on canvas 100 x 122 cm

easel in centre: 
top left: "The tug "Karoo""   2008 oil on canvas 20 x 25cm
top right: :"The tug "Woona" 2008 oil on canvas 20 x 25cm
below: "The 'Tamerlane' after rain" 2005 oil on canvas 75 x 100cm

easel on right:
top :"2 cranes"  2006 oil on canvas 41 x 51cm
below: "Boat Lift"   2007 oil on canvas 100 x 122cm


 A small selection of my paintings of the East Darling Harbour Wharves and their transformation into the Barangaroo precinct were exhibited for one day only in the foyer of the LendLease Headquarters 30, The Bond directly opposite the Barangaroo site itself. Here they are displayed in front of the spectacular escarpment wall of yellowblock sandstone, catching the dying embers of the afternoon sun. 
On the same day a selection of my Pyrmont paintings were also exhibited in the foyer of 'Workplace6', headquarters of Google, and 2 of Paul Signorelli's new restaurants, 'Biaggio' and 'Gastronomia'.
I borrowed the "A" frame easels from John Sweaney of ASMA (The Australian Society of Marine Artists) and put my entire black ankle sock collection on their feet to prevent the floor being scratched!

easel on left:

top : 'Relics from the Dead House 2' 2007 oil on canvas 91 x 61 cm

bottom left: "Hungry Dinosaurs" 2010 oil on canvas 36 x 46 cm 

bottom right: "Grabber, Muncher,Ripper" 2010 oil on canvas 31 x 31cm

 easel in centre:
top: "I saw the number '8' in red"   2010 oil on canvas 61 x 183cm
centre: :"Red Square (Arrivals Hall) 2010 oil on canvas 61 x 183cm
bottom left: "The drill rig" 2010 oil on canvas 36 x 36cm
bottom right: "Red Square" 2010 oil on canvas 36 x 36cm


easel on right:
top left:"8 (ate)"  2010 oil on canvas 41 x 31cm
top right: "Dig it! (The archaeologists)"   2010 oil on canvas 31 x 15cm
centre: "A work in progress" 2010 oil on canvas 91 x 122cm (Unfinished)
bottom left: "The last gantry"  2010 oil on canvas 41 x 31cm
bottom right: "Pump it! (The 'Watertank')" 2010 oil on canvas 31 x 41cm


People could take a short break from all the strenuous exploration of the city's architectural highlights and even have a coffee and a bite to eat in the welcoming leather sofas of the Bond's foyer. Some of them were even interested in the paintings!

Before and After


easel on left:
top left:"8 (ate)"  2010 oil on canvas 41 x 31cm
top right: "Dig it! (The archaeologists)"   2010 oil on canvas 31 x 15cm
centre: "A work in progress" 2010 oil on canvas 91 x 122cm (Unfinished)
bottom left: "The last gantry"  2010 oil on canvas 41 x 31cm
bottom right: "Pump it! (The 'Watertank')" 2010 oil on canvas 31 x 41cm

easel on right:
top:"The empty wharf"  2007 oil on canvas 31 x 61cm

centre: "The empty wharf"  2007 oil on canvas 100 x 122cm (Unfinished)
bottom: "Power Base"  2010 oil on canvas 36 x 46cm

I've contrasted paintings of the still intact wharf buildings, painted just after the stevedores left with images of their demolition




easel on left:

above: "The 'Southern Cross' (with Robbie and forklift)" 2010 oil on canvas 31 x 103 cm

centre : 'The working port' 2007 oil on canvas 100 x 122 cm

easel on right:
top left: "The tug "Karoo""   2008 oil on canvas 20 x 25cm
top right: :"The tug "Woona" 2008 oil on canvas 20 x 25cm
below: "The 'Tamerlane' after rain" 2005 oil on canvas 75 x 100cm


I enjoyed seeing how the glowing brilliance of the red Wallenius Wilhelmsen ships stood out against the shadows cast on the sandstone. 

            
above: "The 'Southern Cross' (with Robbie and forklift)" 2010 oil on canvas 31 x 103 cm

centre : 'The working port' 2007 oil on canvas 100 x 122 cm

 

Related posts

• Barangaroo : 'Grabber, Ripper, Muncher' (barangarooartist.blogspot.com)
• Barangaroo : Terminal -The Artist's Studio (barangarooartist.blogspot.com)
• Dig it, Pump it, Grab it, Munch it ! (barangarooartist.blogspot.com)
• Eight (ate) (barangarooartist.blogspot.com)
• Barangaroo : Red Square, the Drill Rig and a little archaeology (janebennettartist.blogspot.com)
• Brilliantly renovated and cut in half (barangarooartist.blogspot.com)
• Barangaroo: I saw the number '8' in red... (barangarooartist.blogspot.com)
• The Archaeologists at Barangaroo (barangarooartist.blogspot.com)
• My exhibition at Sydney Open (janebennettartist.blogspot.com)
• My paintings at Sydney Open Part 1 (janebennettartist.blogspot.com)

Brilliantly renovated and cut in half

'Red Square'  and 'The Drill Rig' - An update

 This painting and the next were originally parts of the same canvas. A sudden gust of wind and the canvas was picked up and impaled on the edge of the easel. One of the many hazards of life as a plein air painter!
I had the damaged canvas standing face to the wall at home for several weeks, too depressed to look at it more closely.
Instead of a repair I finally decided to complete the surgery and separate it into 2 square canvases.
I had to decide what to lose and what to keep. The original canvas contrasted the meditative reflections of the interior with the activity of the exterior. Now they have been accidentally and forcibly separated. I was very upset at first, but, on the principle of 'whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger', I'm starting to appreciate their qualities as separate canvases.

'Red Square'

'Red Square' oil on canvas 36 x 36cm

Now 'Red Square' is truly just that : a red square on a square canvas. Unless you know what you are looking at and where it comes from, it could be an excercise in abstraction.

Degas and the Drill Rig

'The Drill rig teams.' oil on canvas 36 x 36cm

I enjoy the idea of a 'picture within a picture', especially with the framing device such as the window or the curtain caught in the act of being moved to reveal the background image which is the real focus of the painting. That painterly trick is called "repoussir" ( 'to push back' in the original French) and I picked it up from studying the works of the master of perspective and design, the French Impressionist, Edgar Degas. While most people are looking at his ballet dancers, I try to prise apart the jigsaw of his compositions. His pastels of dancers would have been charming, yet forgettable, if they had merely presented a full length image of the subject. By cropping his subject unexpectedly and half hiding/half revealing his dancers behind staircases, furniture or doorframes, Degas added the element of surprise. There is a feeling of chance with the encounter; even an element of the voyeur.

This shows the bi-fold door half opened to reveal the drill rig teams, about to start drilling. It is unclear whether the door is opening or closing. The scene is deceptively still; the trucks have arrived; the men have set up their equipment and are poised to start work. This is the calm before the storm.

For the earlier incarnation of these 2 canvases as a single larger canvas see my post in this blog: "Red Square"

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.

Work Easy

Hand in Glove

'Work Easy'

I found this glove lying on the wharf. I noticed its reassuring gesture, but decided it was a subject worthy of being painted when I read its slogan "Work Easy". The combination of the battered trampled glove with the 'OK' gesture and the laid back 'Work Easy' slogan was too hard for me to resist.
Do the people who take the maxim "Work Easy" literally, make up for it by also "Playing Hard", I wonder? Or are they laid back in all aspects of their life?

One of my favourite quotes used to be "train hard, fight easy", which sounds as if it were a failed attempt at a Nike slogan or some of Muhammed Ali's pre-bout pugilistic poetry  , but I believe actually derives from von Clausewitz and probably sounds more formal in the original 19th century Prussian German dialect. This grim little aphorism is a reminder of the importance of early preparation for an important event, but "Work Easy" is its polar opposite. "Work Easy" sounds so humane, so relaxed, so cheerful and so reminiscent of how Australia used to be. An antidote to the barked commands of "Just do it" I can imagine the hapless owner of the lost glove failing to find it, saying "No worries"  and sloping off to the pub early.

'Work Easy'2010 oil on canvas 20 x 20 cm

Walking with Industrial Dinosaurs at Barangaroo

The "Pulverizer" in action.

'The Pulverizer and the Watertank' 2010 oil on canvas 15 x 30cm

This painting shows the aptly named "Pulverizer" doing just that. Its target is the base of one of the recently demolished power and light poles; another of these is in the foreground.

The Hungry Excavators

The excavators lumber around the site like a pack of marauding dinosaurs. The largest excavator of the site, the Sumitomo 800, resembles the top predator  T. rex, as usually it wears a heavy jawed attachment that seems too top heavy for its body. The  excavators seem to lie in wait, either hibernating for the winter or digesting their meal. Then they stir from their slumber, shake themselves and stretch and circle around, looking for a weak spot to target. They seem to wander around aimlessly, but you know they are just biding their time, choosing a suitable victim. When they strike it is sudden and merciless. There is a struggle as the heavy jaws clamp and pull. They tear and twist scraps from the target. Sometimes they take a breather to chew their cud. Other lesser beasts hang around the edges scavenging the leftovers, as they wait for the noble beast to finish its kill.

I think I've been watching too many Attenborough documentaries.

The Archaeologists at Barangaroo

A new trench

'Digger (The Trench)'  2010 oil on canvas 30 x 15 cm

The site archaeologists of South Barangaroo are Casey & Lowe. Here they have briefly stopped work to consult as the excavators have unearthed a pipe. Possibly Barangaroo isn't one of the most fascinating archaeological sites as it is mostly fill, and fill dating probably no earlier than the 1960's. But breaking the surface to dig a new hole is always exciting, even if there is no prospect of buried treasure or even broken bottles or blue and white pottery fragments at the end of it!

Dig it!

'Dig it' 2010 oil on canvas 20 x 20 cm

The archaeologists have discovered some timber, possibly from a 19th century Fingerwharf, and some paving stones. Some paving stones can be seen in the right foreground; fragments of timber are in the centre foreground, in the midground in front of the shovels, and to the far left.

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.