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".