Harbour

My cousins left South Africa for Australia by boat from Cape Town Harbour in the seventies. I'll never forget the day we saw them off from the docklands that had seen centuries of human trafficking. They willingly sailed towards Sydney Harbour, wishing for the freedom they had never experienced in our country. However, Sydney Harbour was not always a haven or welcome place. It is this duality that I am interested in presenting in my work.

I first drew Harbour at Dawn in my sketchbook sitting on the pier at the Maritime Museum. It depicts a time when the city is quiet but stirring with a natural energy. There is the sound of sea birds flying between masts and ropes and the fog lifting gently, revealing the city's urban development and the looming Crown Casino. I used ground willow charcoal with its warm sepia tones,  compressed charcoal sticks giving textured darkness and the technique of rubbing back revealing shadows, movement, and depth. These techniques allowed for the expression of an enigmatic harbour scene. I referenced Turner for his depictions of a working harbour amidst the elements of nature.

Underbelly - Jones Bay Wharf was my introduction to large-scale drawing. It began in an advanced Drawing course offered at Scratch Gallery with open-air studies at the wharf and then completed in the studio under the mentorship of Carmel Byrne, the gallery’s director. In the studio, it transformed from a small plein air drawing into studies and then many hours of reworking and reimagining to reach the final large-scale work on paper.  

I used charcoal's expressive qualities to capture the wharf's dark underbelly and the light creeping into the darkness. The dance of the light on the lapping water circling the pilings contrasts strength and persistence. The urban landscape is formidable, but nature constantly opposes its development.