Shipping News

Peter Kreet

"Into the swell"

                                         Acrylic on Board   $650.

During the six years I spent in the merchant navy I acquired a great affinity for the sea and ships. It is a subject matter that I have returned to on and off over the years. These are a few examples of various approaches

"Wreck of the Laura"

                                               Acrylic on board  $1500.  (sold)

"Laura II"

                                               Acrylic on Board.  $1500.

Over the years I have undertaken several painting based on ships, wrecks and the sensation of the sea.

"Wreck two"

                                                 Acrylic on Board.  $1800.


Much of this is based on my six years experience as a seaman and affinity with the sea.

Begetting of Sealegs

NFS

Peter Kreet

Not everyone goes to sea to see the sea, in my case it was more a case of extreme necessity, a dry and warm place to sleep and most importantly three meals a day. Mother had been discharged from Parramata Mental Hospital and was currently installed in a very damp, dingy bedsit in Roslyn Street, King Cross.The flat was a basement affair so you needed to leave the light on during the day, unless you  wished to carried a flash light in you back pocket. The apartment  had one room with an alcove off to cook and a bathroom off an open veranda. This unfortunately was open to a narrow alleyway where all the garbage was stored for the twenty odd flat resulting in a high rat population. When ever you wish to visit the bathroom particularly at night it was wise to carry a broom with you as you most likely needed to flatten a few rats on the way. Mother now was receiving a disabled pension bed ridden and only able to walk a few steps with the aid of a cane. Someone would visit each day to cook a meal give her a wash. Jack who had somehow against all the odds had obtain her release used to visit to keep her company. He suggested that as my grandfather had been a master mariner with Burns Philp that I should try to obtain a cadet ship with the company.

This seemed like a great solution to the problem as to where I could live . The only draw back being that I needed a uniform and as money was in short supply mother gave me her last valuable possession, a large aquamarine ring to sell. Even this proved to be a trial ,.as the pawn shop I found willing to buy the ring asked me to wait', after fifteen minutes or so two policemen arrived and took me into custody on the grounds that the ring must be stolen. After several hours and a police visit to mother's flat I was released and able to complete the sale.

A great sense of excitement griped me as it would any fifteen year old at the prospect of setting out on a new adventure. At the time the wage of six dollars a month did not bother me , only later did I realise that this was no where near enough to help mother pay her medical bills let alone live, still more of that later. My main job seemed to consist of cleaning the brass whistle on the funnel, then the ship's bell and all the other brass objects aboard from top plates on doorway to plates that seemed to be everywhere on the ship's rails. It seemed to take days .

 S.S.Burnside  belonged to a drying breed steam ships with all their accompanying soot and grit that I seemed to be forever getting in my eye. They were the day of trimmers who had to drag the coal forward towards the furnaces and boilers and stokers could shovel it in. It was very hot work particularly in the tropics and I was grateful that this was not my job. In those days crews where made up of different racial groups, in our case Malays on deck, Chinese cook and stewards and Indians in the engine room. This I was told was done to keep order as the various racial groups could be counted on to argue among themselves.

We sail on through Torres Strait to Surabaya in Java where I experienced my first fatality when a linesman on the wharf lost his leg when a wire broke and wiped back onto him. The harbour was  a mess, full of sunken war wrecks , broken cranes and railway tracks with no skilled workers able to repair the Dutch infrastructure. Sukarno had just obtain independence from the Netherland so the country was still in some termoil. Most of the roads were little more than dirt track and you had to pick you way through rubbish ,holes and large puddles of water.In those pre-container days ships would spend many days or weeks in port. There where many inter island ships with Dutch officers  left over from war, as well as tramp ship a breed of shipping that seems to have disappeared from world. Some of these vessels I learned from talking to crew members took two  to three or more years before returning home. They loaded a cargo for say South America ,unloaded , reloaded and then went  on to who knows where.

In port I had a new job drawing cargo plans. This required a detailed layout of where all incoming cargo was stored so that each batch was not stacked on top of goods due to be discharged at the next port .After a few days we sailed on to Jakarta and Singapore. In the 1950's Singapore looked nothing like the city we see today. The city was still to a great extent showing signs of the war, the Japanese occupition. Raffles Hotel was the largest building and many road where in a state of disrepair. Chang's Alley seemed to be the focal point of commercial activity, it was a whole new experience People cooking in doorways, eating in the street, while all around hawkers trying to sell everything that seemed available on the face of the earth. There was the strong aroma of spice mixing with the strains of "Rose of Malay" (a very popular song at the time) drifted across the heavy tropical night air. Another favorite haunt of mine used to be New World and Happy World. To-day I have no idea where they were as all has disappeared under the developers hammer. As I remember there were gift shops, fun parks, bars, dance halls ,cafes and everything in between.

After Singapore we sailed up the Malay Peninsular to Penang, loading rubber, coffee, tin,timber at various ports before returning to Singapore. After a stay of a few more days we set off for Sarawak and sailed up some river between tropical jungle on each bank. Eventually on rounding a bend in the river we were greeted by a fleet of log rafts, Each raft  was controlled by a single man armed only with a pole, they were very agile and would jump from log to log without losing their footing. The loading of this timber took several days and we had time to observe the activity on the river. Whole families liveing in small dug out type boats partly enclosed, cooking, sleeping their whole life took place within the confines of these vessels. The common name for these boats was " bum boats" I will leave it to your imagination as to the implication.

After loading the logs we returned to Sydney. I made several more voyages on this ship, sometimes to different ports and islands, but the routine was much  the same. In the end the pressure to earn a larger income to support mother forced me to abandon my cadet ship and I joined the Australian Seaman Union and spent the rest of my six seagoing years on Australia. This proved to a very different experience.

footnote ::Joined the Burnside in June 1953.

War Prize?

Peter Kreet  "Into the Swell"

At the end of wars comes the distribution of spoils. The Union Steamship Co. acquired a former German submarine supply ship that had spent her time rearming u -boats in the north Atlantic. Whether it was a satisfactory prize remained questionable as she would roll and pitch at the same time resulting in a high rate of sea sickness. This was caused by the down sizing of the propellers for economic reasons. In addition she was fitted with a strange steering system for her twin rudders. This consisted of two buttons instead of a normal ship's wheel, the helmsman would push down the right button (starboard) to go right and the left (port) to go left. This was all very well in calm weather but proved to be a nightmare in heavy seas.

The ship was fairly small, only 705 tons and when I joined her as an ordinary seaman in midwinter for a run down to Hobart it was only out of necessity, I need a job. The weather was foul and the down sizing of the propeller made her hard to hold a course even in good weather let alone in a storm. I was on the midnight watch and had to crawl up to the bridge hanging onto a rope as the vessel was so unstable. The storm was building up and already the seas where several metres high. As we slid down one side of of the swell the wall of water on the other side of the trough kept rising higher and higher until the swells' top was way above the ship's mast. We were ziz zazing down and holding our breath coming up, just praying we wouldn.t broadside to the on coming sea. The steering had to be corrected by pushing the opposite button to bring the rudders back to midships, unlike a normal ship's wheel that is self correcting. Trying to hold a course proved near impossible. The second mate had ordered the watch to put out a sea anchor ( a canvas parachute item that held the bow into the wind), but to no avail.

All ready the well deck was under a metre of water and the lashings on a number of drums  on deck were coming undone. Men had to lash them selves to the safety rail before venturing out to try to secure them. Even so two seamen finished up with broken. Bass Straight can be one of the roughest stretches of water in the world due to its shallow nature. All .we could hear was the piecing wail of the wind and crashing thunder of the sea hitting the ship.from every direction. Everyone was in some state of seasickness and no doubt wondered why they were here. I most certainly did and gave serious thought to call this career quits. Some how after twenty four hours of just hanging on we limped into Hobart and the friendly arms of the locals.

Abstract & Non-Objective Painting

1. 

   Peter Kreet

Tsunami

Acrylic on board   $1200

This painting was undertaken in response to the tsuanmi in Sumartra , We held an exhibition at T.M.A.G. to raise funds for the victims. Various artists donated work and all told we raised some $22000.

Peter Kreet "Vision of a wreck" 2004
Acrylic on Board  $1000

The wreck can be seen if you walk along the rocks in the Channel Area.

Peter Kreet "Allegro in Yellow" 2005
Acrylic on Board  $500

Peter Kreet "Moneky Business" 2005

A fun view on life.   (sold)

N

Peter Kreet "Laura Walk" 2004
Acrylic on Board     (sold)

Non-objective painting offers the artist total freedom, it allows for total self expression.
There is no prior agenda, simply an opportunity to open a window onto your sub-conscious.
It is the experience that is  important, in a sense a Zen experience, either you are able to relate or you aren't.

A week to forget

Last week was one most of us would wish to forget, but on second thoughts I remembered I had promised myself to be as truthful as possible in both events and memories.It started with the drama  of stitching giving way on my recent skin graft on my head and the ensuring rush to hospital [ see encounter with fate]. But this proved not to be the only disappointment I experienced as I was diagnosed with Idropathic pulmonary fibrosis [ thickening of  lung tissue to the point where there is lung no a longer function],  The worst news being such  a condition has no cure nor responds to any suppressive therapy.

Everyone imagines that they will live into ripe old age and these events only happen to others, reality is always a shock. I am trying at the moment to be as philosophical as possible under the circumstances, but at times this is hard. Hoping for some break through solution, but reality keeps drawing me back to a bucket list I must put into action. At least I now have a time frame, always a good thing, so the important thing is to remain positive, finish outstanding current projects and hope that in the near future some treatment appears on the horizon.

Bella Italia

 Making notes of various theatrical techniques so beloved by conductors can be both rewarding and entertaining to both eye and imagination. Olari Elts performance last night with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra in his rendition of Puccini's Messa di Gloria proved to meet both.

          
I had not heard this mass since I was a boy soprano ,where our then choirmaster was nick named Windmill
due to the energy he exerted waving his arms around. He was equally formidable in administering the cane to any boy not paying sufficient attention.Conductor Elts did not fail in this respect, although not as expansive for his controlled performance with prods, pushes and pulls. His movements at times often resembled the sensual movement of a lover's hand on the loved one thigh. Unfortunately this was not enough to lift the strength of the female section of the choir above the ever present volume of the orchestra. But despite this shortcoming the performance was highly memorable.

Tasmanian East Coast

Peter Kreet "Bruny Island" 2007

                                            Acrylic on Board  $1500    (sold)    

Peter Kreet "Bruny Island Two" 2007

                                                 Acrylic on Board.   $1500.

Peter Kreet "Another World" 2008

                                               
                                           Acrylic on Board.   $1500.

Peter Kreet "Bicheon Walk"  2007
Acrylic on Board   (sold)

Peter Kreet"East Coast" 2007

                                             Acrylic on Board  $750

Peter Kreet "Rocky Coast" 2007

                                                   Acrylic on Board  $1500

Tasmanian East Coast Is one of the state's most beautiful coast line. I particularly love the colours and sculpture shapes of the rocky shoreline. I travell up the coast as often as possible, I have still to arrive at a satisfactory abstruction of this landscape.

Peter Kreet "Bruny Coast" 2008
Acrylic on board  

New Landscape

"Packaged Landscape"
Mixed Media    $1500

"Organ Pipes Mt Wellington"

                                                       Acyclic on canvas  $1500

"Lyall Highway" 1979
840 x 600
$600

"Kodak View"
Acrylic on canvas   $1500

"Anne's Mountain" 1979

660 x 850  acrylic

$600

Southwest Tasmania Acrylic on convas  $750

"Evening Cocktails"
acrylic 760 x 600 $600

This series of painting were executed during the Franklin River controversy .Why paint in terms of gray you may ask. Well firstly I felt the whole affair was very sad in the way Tasmania was divided in both spirit and failure to see each others view, unfortunately this is still true today. Secondly our own private life was travelling through choppy waters, both in a business sense and a private one.The family hated where we were living on Mt.Nelson, but for me it offered the opportunity to observe landscape from great distances, how the blue gray tones take over, so there was an amalgam of two streams of thought.

Its' a Corker

Peter Kreet "De Stijl Wine"  1995
mixed media  940 x 640 on board. $750

Peter Kreet
"Proto-press" Mixed media on board 1995
850 x 650  $500



Peter Kreet "Estate bottled"  1995
Mixed media on Board  $750



Peter Kreet "Flying High" 1995
Mixed media  $500

Peter Kreet "Bottle Fermat ion" 1995
Mixed Media  $500

A few years ago a friend of mine arrived home and announced that she had arranged an exhibition for the both of us on the theme "Its' a Corked". Unlike Lorianne , who was working on a body of work based on the packaging plans for stacking cartons on pallets, I took the title fairly literally. We were heavy into wine making at the time and the above constructions were the result. All the materials were discarded objects and were arranged to try to give a new view on vineyards and viticulture in general. Unfortunately Lorraine was killed in a road accident before the opening resulting in the event being more of a wake. All very sad for Tasmanian art.

Collectors Gallery

All these works are from my private collection put together over the last forty years. The prices are for unframed work and dosen't include freight or insurance'

Original prints are not reproductions.They are original works of art, conceived and created by an artist who is deliberately using his chosen medium to create an effect which could not be achieved in any other way. As such they have a vitality and clarity which reproductions can very seldom achieve. The main processes are etching, lithography and screen printing.

Etching and Aquatint: Etching was first used by artists, including Durer, in the early 16th cent. The image is created by the controlled erosion of the surface of a metal plate by acid. First the plate is covered with a specially prepared acid-resistant ground of black wax or ground. The design is then drawn on  the black ground with a sharp point or "etching needle', to reveal the metal below. Aquatint is used to create tonal areas. In this process a dusting of finely grained resin is fused onto the plate by heat to leave a grained pattern of bare metal. The prepared plate is then immersed in nitric acid which bites into the metal; the length of time the acid remains on the bare metal governs the depth of the line bitten. The deeper the line, the darker it will print.Those parts of the design which have been sufficiently worked can be 'stopped out' with varnish to allow for further biting of the remaining areas. When printing, the plate is inked and wiped so that the ink remains only in the etched lines or areas.It is then printed under pressure onto dampened paper, producing the plate mark which is common to both etchings and engravings.

Once printed the individual prints are numbered up to the edition size and then the plate is distroyed.

Adam Rish  b.1953 [Australia]
 "Carrington Hotel"  $380
etching

Ian  Armstrong  "Wallagaraugh" 1978 [Australia]
Lino cut.

Lino cut are sometimes called relief prints. They are made by cutting away those areas on a piece of lino or woodblock that the artist wishes to leave blank, as only the remaining areas will receive ink. Several blocks may be made and superposed one on top of the other to obtain a multi coloured print.

Camill Hilaire b.1916 -2004  France
"Trees"  litho.
Studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts da Nancy., where he became Professor of drawing. He was awarded the Prix de Venice in 1948,Grand prix de Rome and Grand prix de la Case Velasquez in 1950'  In 1958 became professor of drawing Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris.




Lithography: First discovered in 1798 and Goya was probably the first to make truely memorable use of it. The principle of lithography is that when a greasy image is drawn on a prepared surface which is subsequently dampened , greasy inks will be picked up bythr greasy areas and repelled by the damp areas. The artist draws on the preparedstone with pencilor crayon, or paints with a brush, to create infinitely variedeffects of colour,transparency and texture. The final lithography is a resultof printing from a number of stones or plates drawn separately by the artist, one for each colour.

Ian Armstrong  [Australia]
"Wreck 111"  77  lino cut  3/25  signed in pencil
$500



William Hogarth 1697-1764
Portraits of Right Hon. Henry Fox Lord Holland
Right Hon. J. Courfield Earl of Charloment.
Etched by J. Hayes
paper 480x630  plate 180x240  Published March 19th 1782.
$240

Krishna Reddy born 1925 India
"Whirlpool" ed. 38/65 etching   POA
paper650x650   image 370x460. condition excellent.
Lecture Fine Art College Madras. Left India for Paris 1951. Became co-director  of Atelier 17 with Sranley Haytar

Has held many one-man exhibition around the world.Krishna Reddyis a master of etching techniques and has been know to prin tin eight to ten colour from a single plate in a single printing. This is not only a technical tour de force but alsoa marvellous means of makingeach proof a complete original work in which the technical aspect plays only a minor role.

Adam Rish. b.1953, London.
Etching "Dancing with tears in my eyes"

Ino Kidokoro [Japan]
"Water Hyacinth"  ed.35/40  woodblock  condition excellent. signed pencil
$680

Radoran  KRANGULY. born 1934
 Yugoslavia
"Apples on the Floor 14/75  signed pencil.  1974
Paper500x650  image 370x460 condition excellent
$1500
Collection s Museum of Modern Art, New York. Victoria & Albert London, South African Museum of Modern Art , Sydney  University, West Australian Art Gallery & University of W.A. Vancouver Art Gallery and many other public collection.

German

Portrait of a Man
Max  Weber  1881-1961  Lino cut    signed in pencil right corner . P.O.A.

                                                                   Image 50cm x 100
      Max Weber took part in the Armitage Exhibition in New York that brought modern art to America.

Australian?
Church of St. John the Baptist at Canberra "
signed  St Johns' Canberra   JM
Lino cut on back dated 1929. POA

Kenneth Jack  b.1924 d.           (Australia)

Lino cut  Artist print  Paper580x43o image 540x360 condition excellent
$750

                                                                "Gaffneys Creek"
Born Melbourne. Painter and printmaker, studied RMIT , has won over 40 awards. Represented in many collection including Queen Mother,Victoria & Albert, Mertz Collection, all State Gallery Collections and numerous public & private collection.

Tessa Beaver [USA]
"Pelham burial ground"  ed 32/75    woodblock condition excellent.
paper 800x560  image  460x600
$400

Tokio  Miyashita (Japan)
"Summer Evening"  ed.11/50  etching
paper 520x690  image410x560 excellent  $750

Benjamin (British)  born 1931

Domes ed.11/75   1977 etching

paper 380 x560  image 270 x340

slight foxing around image from matt. $750

Studied under Leger and Hayter in Paris. Represented in many public and private collections inclubing Knox Art Gallery Buffalo, British Council, Victoria & Albert ,Museums of Skopje, Nagaoka, Crakow.

Francis Kelly  (USA) born 1927

"Corfu Town" 7/50  etching

paper 580 x 790  image 340 x 490 condition excellent $500

Lived & worked in Paris, Studied Univ. of California, award Fulbright Scholarship in 1955.Collections Boston Museum of Fine Art,Nat. Gallery of Sth. Aust.Ashmolean Museum Oxford.

Deborah SKINNER   (USA) born 1944
"Into the Country" 1977  ed.16/50
etching/acq. paper 650 x 500  image 430 x 300  $650  excellent condition

Studied Boston University, Drawing, painting and mosaic in Florence, Print making City & Guilds of London Art School. Exhibited with Royal Society of Etchers, Royal Academy. Awards Event Graphics Prize Vancouver.

Shigeki Kuroda (Japan) born 1953
"Transposition M-80" Etching ed. 41/50 excellent condition
image 440 x 600  $650

Has won many prizes for his intaglio prints including Miama International Print Biennial 1982

Nishioka FUMILIKO (Japan)
"Statue of a General"  2/50  1980 excellent
silk screen  image 730 x 530  $750

All items are for sale from my personal collection gathered together over the years.
 Where possible a provenance and a short resume on the the artist will be provided (if available).
Packaging, freight and insurance will need to be calculated in each individual case and add to the quoted
price. Original prints are not reproductions. They are original works of art, the main processes are etching, lithography and screenprinting.

L.Roy Davies born 1897 Australia
"The Idealogue" 1923  ed.10/50   11.5cm x 7cm.  $400
Began wood engraving in 1921  . His work is illustratted in Art in Australia, Sydney Ure Smith article " The Revival of Woodcuts. Davis exhibited regularly with the Society of Artist and in 1926 with Sydney Art Salon.

A. Antonini
"Bouquet of Keys" 75/100 etching  $
p.500x380     imag.300x220
$450

Desiderius Orban
Hungery & Australia
"Near Mittagong" 1952 Oil on Canvas  24ins x 18ins.  $4000

Desiderius Orban was born in Hungary and arrived in Australia in 1939. He was a well known artist in this country. Greatly influence by Cezanne, Matisse and Van Gogh, his philosphy to art practice centred on Zen a view he convayed to his many students. Orban wrote several books on art and his work is represented in the National collections of both Hungary and Australia. He continued to paint right up to his recent death.

Ganter,
"Winter Snow"
$800

Lioyd Rees. b.1914. Queensland, Australia.
Represented National Gallery, all State Galleries & Major Regional Galleries NZ. Wellington & Auckland Galleries.
Etching. No69/90. signed & numbered in pencil. 1977
"Hobart Houses"

Max Webber. b.1881 b. Russia
Litho. "Portrait of Picasso"
Signed but not dated. What offers?

Melstein
"Res. Secondaire"

Miyeshita. [Japan]
"Butterfly & Cat'

Peter Laverety. b1926.UK.
Mono print $150

Taught National Art School,Sydney. Head of Fine Art Department. Director of the Art Gallery of NSW 1971-77
Represented in National Galleries of Vic, WA, NSW, Bendigo Art Gallery, Tas. Museum & Art Gallery, Wellington NZ>
Australian National Gallery, Castlemaine Art Gallery and many private and other public collection

Rod Ewens. b.1940. Fiji.
Print maker & teacher.
"untitled'  Litho ed. 6.
$350

Steven Bush. [Australia]
Litho $400

Viv Brecheney. b.1949  Australia.
Studied Tas. School of Art.
Etching. POA.
Vivienne has won several prizes in Tasmania. Teaches printmaking.

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