I haven't posted for a while, but I have been busy. I actually now have enough paintings for my forthcoming exhibition "The Last Fleet" which will open at The Arts Centre, Gold Coast City Gallery on 6th February and continue until the end of March. I will, however, do two more, as I would rather have too many than not enough - so that the curator can choose the best ones to hang.
The painting above is called SS Dicky - Beached Remains. It is Oil on Canvas and the size is 66cm x 101cm.
As well, I have painted two Encaustic paintings of SS Dicky on Dicky Beach - both looking through the porthole along the beach. The first one is looking south, and the second one is looking north. Both are 82cm x 62cm. The three paintings will hang together in the exhibition with Beached Remains in the centre and north and south views through the porthole will be on either side.
Sadly SS Dicky is no longer residing on the beach where she has been since 1893 when she was driven ashore. She was deemed to be a risk to the general public and at danger of being lost forever, so was removed in July 2015. The remaining parts of SS Dicky will be developed as part of a park landscape at Dicky Beach. She will join the SS Dicky propeller at Dicky Beach Park. I must go and see her in her new home. Many people were sad that she was taken off the beach, and I was one of the last of the many people to photograph her, and I used my photos to create these three paintings.
S.S Dicky was a coastal trader that operated in and around Australia from at least 1887 until its loss in 1893. S. S. Dicky was driven ashore at Caloundra Head in Moreton Bay, in the southern end of the Sunshine Coast Qld in early February 1893 . She quickly became a local attraction and rested partially on the beach since the wrecking of the vessel. The beach where she lay has been named "Dicky Beach" By the 1960's, the upper deck levels had collapsed and the rusting hull (including ribs and plating) were the predominate feature.
