For 30 years, Jane Bennett has painted Sydney's changing urban landscape, lugging her easel and canvas to big industrial sites from Woolloomooloo to White Bay to record the city's history.

Rain or shine, she paints en plein air, or outdoors, and was expecting to do just that when appointed the inaugural artist in residence for Artfiles, a group involved in a pop-up project being staged by the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority (SHFA).

Different strokes for different folks ... artist in residence Jane Bennett was told to move on for doing what she understood she was engaged to do - paint outdoors. Credit:Jon Reid

Although the authority provided her with some space to paint in a former George Street bank, Ms Bennett was working outdoors as usual, finishing a small oil treatment of the Opera House, when two foreshore authority rangers cut short her first full day on the job.

''I was bullied and harassed by the mindless goons operating as SHFA rangers. I was told not to paint in public,'' Bennett fumed on her blog this week.