"The cities are still down there, of course- the buildings, streets, grocery stores, schools, all of that.  We glide silently overhead with our big ships the way airplanes would pass over us, before all of this.  Now we leave wakes instead of contrails and rake long shadows across the submerged topography.  The skies were replaced with water- slowly at first, then with maddening speed- as the relentless rains purged and the oceans’ surfaces rose to new, unbelievable heights.   Sometimes I dream of the people who didn’t make it to the ships, still in their houses, deep below the light’s reach. I can feel it in my sleep, when we’re above them, the whole cities, countless suburban clusters, and rural farms, which now exist nearly a mile below. I live my life on the surface, floating over an invisible landscape that is now home to several million ghosts."

Exerpt, The Chronicles of Petroleous 

 

A New Light

As the finishing sections are attached to the hull, the ship takes on a more architectural presence, adding a whole new dimension and changing the way I want to finish and present this sculpture. April and I had a great discussion this afternoon on the beauty of allowing light to penetrate the skin and illuminate the bulkheads and becoming an integral part of this piece. My original plan called for a hull that was to be opaque in finish, something like an antique steel or bronze finish. The cityscape on deck was to be covered in dark, oily blacks and charcoal which would fade, dripping into the hull's finish. April's brilliant plan of keeping everything white and light (like a ghost ship) totally turned my thinking around on this. At this point, the plan now is to white-wash the hull so it's still transparent enough to see the hints of the substructure and allow for light to travel through. Also, the color of brass rivets will still read and won't be covered by multiple layers of paint. The ship will then be displayed on some sort of light table that will illuminate the hull and its skeleton- something that I will enjoy designing and building as an extension of the ark. The ship will "float" an inch or so above the lighted surface (with clear plexi supports), hopefully giving it the appearance of levitation. The big job still lays ahead, building my metropolis and finishing the whole thing by October's show. Oh, and having ten water paintings done as well.