Flatlands 1

Thursday 8 October, 2015, 5pm

Flatlands

A two-week residency at the RiverSmart Wetlands Centre in Warren, NSW.

I arrived in Warren a couple of weeks ago after the long dreary drive down the New England from home with a wad of panels and a mess of different charcoals to try out.

I went out to the legendary and historic merino sheep stud Haddon Rig the next day and got straight to work. I was feeling a bit listless at first and knew the best thing to do was just to work through it.

The first obvious thing that hit my eye was the old shearing shed. It was cool inside and had the usual atmosphere and aromas that I’ve grown to savour in woolsheds over the years.

“Haddon Rig Merino Stud, EST. 1882”

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The title was taken from the sign on the shed wall. Just over the road was a Zen-like arrangement of sheep feed bins.

“Three Bins”

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After a pleasant night relaxing in the Jackaroo Lodge and having a beer or two in the old summer house on the Marthaguy Creek, I bounced out of bed at 5am and went straight to the creek where I drew the sun-blasted reflections in the water and one of the patrolling pelicans, who seemed to be scraping something off the submerged trunks of the drowned redgums for breakfast.

“Marthaguy”

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There’d been a long release from Burrendong Dam and the creek was looking quite healthy, but a bit brown. I got into the habit of spending the late afternoon in the old summer house and watching the birds on the creek. A mob of spoonbills and pelicans were permanently installed nearby.

As an aside, a working dog was ensconced in the dog boxes next to the lodge. I had a chat with him and drew his portrait to keep him company. He was chewing the rim of his bucket out of boredom.

“Bad Dog, No Biscuit”

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I drew the inevitable again, this time from the outside.

“Haddon - Not Rigged”

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This was four and a half hour’s work in the hot sun and thought I might leave it at that, but they were bringing the rams in to shear and one last drawing in the shade inside would finish the day off nicely -

“Crunch Time for the Rams”

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They wouldn’t stand still for long, being a bit restive with a human in the shed, so this portrait was a composite of a few different rams.

The next day the shearing was on, a big mob of rams (already sold) and just one shearer. Josh Pilley was a third generation shearer and wasn’t like those I’d met previously. He didn’t eat crap, in fact he didn’t even stop and have smoko. It was heartening to see once again that the fine art of shearing was continuing to be taken up by the younger generation -

“Josh Shearing the Rams”

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This was a tricky portrait, as Josh only adopted the pose I’d chosen for a few seconds of every ram, so it ended up taking a few hours.

Afterwards I thought I’d do something with the now abandoned shearers’ quarters, but only drove a hundred yards and spotted this bucolic scene –

“Shady Characters”

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They didn’t stay still for long, as their curiosity got the better of them. Everyone's a critic.

After a relaxing beer that evening with my gracious hosts, Sally and George Faulkiner, I set out for a quick nocturne on the creek at 9pm.

“Marthaguy at Night”

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A couple of images from Haddon Rig before I leave it, from the disused shearer’s quarters and a couple of racy pics from the men’s and lady’s loo –