October 2016
Some of my latest works are currently on display in Sydney as part of the Australian Society of Marine Artists 20th Anniversary Exhibition. The exhibition is being hosted by The Royal Art Society of NSW, Lavender Bay Gallery, 25-27 Walker Street, North Sydney. – the exhibition runs until the 30th October 2016. The standard of work at the exhibition is extremely high and I recommend a visit if you’re in Sydney. It’s a gorgeous area and gallery. If you can, travel by ferry to Milsons Point (Luna Park) and walk along the foreshore and then up the hill through Wendy Whitley’s Secret Garden, you get a great view of the harbour and the gallery is just a bit further up the street.
The two artworks I have on display there are both Watercolours featuring marine subjects.
The first, ‘Unloading of the Norfolk Guardian’ is a painting of one of the last times the ship was unloaded at the old Cascade Pier on Norfolk Island. The pier is currently closed for refurbishing and the old derrick that you see in the painting has now been permanently removed. This painting, it turns out, is now an important historical record of our island’s maritime facilities.
The painting depicts the ‘Norfolk Guardian’ sea freighter in the distance with the motorised launch and timber clinker ‘lighter’ boat alongside the pier. The launches tow the lighters to and fro the pier and ship and cargo is lifted in and out of the lighter via cranes. The lighters are large enough for cars to be carried in, for larger vehicles such as busses, two lighters are lashed together to support the cargo. This method of unloading has been used for decades on the island and provides employment for the local men while maintaining traditional seafaring skills. The timber lighters are constructed on the island from Norfolk Island Pine and using traditional skills handed down the generations.
‘Tender of Friendly Light’ is the second painting and depicts a gorgeous little wooden clinker that I first spotted at the 2011 Australian Wooden Boat Festival in Hobart Tasmania. I did a colour pencil sketch of this dinghy as part of my poster design for the 2015 Festival. My design was the chosen winner and I travelled with an exhibition of wooden boat paintings to Tasmania for the 2015 Festival. To my delight the same dinghy was on display again in 2015 and it was then that I captured this beautiful quiet and reflective moment amongst the hustle and bustle of the busy festival.
If you are a lover of wooden boats I highly reccommend the Australian Wooden Boat Festival. It’s a biannual event always in February (a beautiful time of year in Tassie) and is on again in 2017. The festival is free, there a 100’s of boats on display as well as wonderful stalls showcasing Tasmanian produce, live entertainment and everything maritime related. Check out their website for more info www.australianwoodenboatfestival.com.au