Figtrees at Daniel Solander

There's a plan to demolish these towers which have been home to a community since the 1950s. That's really brought out the locals pride in the neighbourhood.

 

Daniel Solander is one of the Waterloo houso towers in the "Suicide Towers" complex built in the post war decades between Philip and Raglan St. There are plans to rip the places down and replace them with more towers(huh?) in the last stage of the Green Square/Waterloo redevelopment blueprint(or whatever its called)

The places have an infamous reputation in Sydney folklore, but many people have made this their home, been born, lived and died here, it's a community. The towers themselves are solid, unlike a lot of the selfcertified private sector crap built recently over old industrial swamps.

One old Latvian lady, who wouldn't have been more than 150cm tall, pointed to one of the glorious Port Jackson figs and said they were smaller than her when she arrived and moved in as one of the first tenants, a refugee after WW2. She's seen them grow as she's lived here

This is finished now, or close enough to sign, which I did yesterday after painting up the trees some more. If I have time I might go back to the spot once more. Thanks to all the Waterloo locals who stopped on their walk by to have a look and a chat, an amazing response

 

I've been playing around with this painting of flats and fig trees in Waterloo for a few months now, and got back to it today. The people around there have been very supportive, it's a great place for audience participation, they take an interest.

Early versions of this are here

Light Industrial Sofa

A group portrait where everyone is camouflaged in fluoro. Made and Andy anyway

 

 This is starting to be kind of finished looking though I'll be putting some more paint on Andy - not enough to obscure everything behind him though

after some fleshing out of the fabric and blankets on the sofa, as well as paintbrushes

This one UV, the next above in daylight

 

You might be able to see Made smoking a bong, the latest addition. I'll take some more blacklight shots soon

 

 

I started sketching Andy in a couple of nights ago, just a head in muted tones so far. Then he caught a nasty cold so I've not done more to it yet. This shot under daylight, and the one immediately below with UV and a bit of daylight leaking in

 

Most of the ground is done now so I can start painting a few figures into the clutter, (and start fixing up the room). I'll use a UV pigment(something clashing!) for sketching Andy and any other people in, and add some photos shot under blacklight. The little 374nm LED strip I'm using is fine for painting, but not much chop for photography

 

Photographed in daylight. There's only a few cushions and bit of blanket representing the sofa so far. My Light Industrial Sofa has to be comfortable! Sometimes I work with a model.

I want to leave space for portraiture. Lots of people come and sit down on the couch. So I'll paint someone in here. I'll leave it at that for now, and until they appear.  A little bit of suspense, and I don't pin myself down

 

under UV

 

Outdoor Light 

I had to disappear all my clothes to prove my studio at the Junkyard was light industrial usage, or something, so all I have hanging for a moment are a few flouro workshirts, which happen to match a couple of the UV pigments I've been mucking round with. I'm not sure who'll be on the sofa yet

Golden Flea

 

The finished Golden Flea shot under a UV light

 

The whole painting in daylight

under UV

 

A closeup shot in daylight. I've been attempting to fix some errors in the carapace and working up the flouro midtones and highlights, I'll get some more UV shots soon once I can set up a blackout in my studio

 

Another flea from electron microscope imagery for the Museum of Fleas. In the photo above it'ss mostly illuminated by a 375nm LED strip, and in the second entirely by daylight

Lairy Flea with Claw

 

A leggy circus flea auditioning for the Museum of Fleas with a closeup of a flea's 2-clawed foot below(no wonder they're so hard to get out of your hair)

Immediately below is the same version under UV

 

Under a 395nm LED blacklight

 

The same version under daylight alone

 

Another fluoro flea for the Museum of Fleas at the Imperial in september.

I just got a bunch more pigments - fluoro yellow, pink, blue and violet to go with the green and orange I had already and I'm getting used to using them in paintings like this. The colours are much better than the cheapos I used as glazes in theatre backdrops years ago, so the blue actually flouresces blue and not the almost white it acted as in Flower to Furnace.

One problem - the fluoro violet I have doesn't appear to do anything under the 374nanometre LED strip I'm using for blacklight. I'm guessing the wavelength is too close to the violet the pigment emits for it to be able to excite its electrons to fluoresce. The Stokes Gap, apparently is the minimum difference between the emitted photon energy and that of the exciting photon for some fluorescing substance.

If anyone can point me to a primer and technical info about fluoro pigments and UV sources, thanks in advance

Centrepoint from Woolloomooloo

Forbes St Woolloomooloo from Stephen St with the Sydney CBD behind - centrepoint and JP Morgan etc

I've been painting this when I visit local artist Martin Walsh. The canvas is pretty large so it would be a pain to drag it over from Glebe every time, so its really handy to be able to leave it at his. Which is in the picture, he's pretty chuffed about that. Thanks Martin 

This is getting close to finished. Among the people who came along was Callum, maybe Prince Callum who insisted I include him saluting with his longneck by the corner of Forbes St

 

Changes are getting harder to see in the photos as I fill in dead spots and add to the greens but I'll continue to work on it a bit longer - it's fairly large for a street painting at about 120x100cm - and the ibis seems a bit lonely, maybe needs some company

t's a late afternoon view and I always get there a bit later than I mean, so its dark once I've packed up - this shot taken under old skule long flourescent tubes. Eventually I'll get a shot in daylight of the finishedd piece at least

 

Martin Walsh. whose house is in the painting, which is where I'm leaving the xanvas as I paint it

 

The locals are keen on this, it's a major local thoroughfare for foot traffic to the Cross

 

It's a late afternoon view, but I mean to get there a bit earlier next time and get a bit more done

 

The is just the very beginning of of a big view of the city - centrepoint with JP Morgan( well of course) from Stephen St Woolloomooloo with crumbling 80s Houso terraces of Forbes St in between, decrepit in 30 years. The 150 year old buildings around them are in better nick despite a policy of neglect. If you live nearby check for termites, we just found an active nest at Martin's place, his staircase disability safety railings are attached to a hardwood slat wall mined away to tissue paper and acrylic paint.