I made this piece to auction at the Chesapeake Roller Derby fundraiser (tomorrow night as of this writing, if you are interested). I had a lot of fun making the fluid waves and the smallest Jolly Roger ever and the first mermaid to show up. The diorama is in a Cento anchovies tin. It’s kind of the opposite of an Altoids tin.
Up next, working on several pieces for an April group show in DC.
I try to do something “creative” everyday – something above and beyond the normal “creative” activities that I would do anyway. Often, this happens on my train ride – it can be a piece of writing, or computer code or a drawing. It doesn’t matter, as long as it’s fun and has that new idea smell.
I didn’t ride the train today, so after work, I snuck out to the stevedore docks and did this as quickly as I could. It’s obvious that I don’t have a grip on watercolor, but thought I’d give it a whack.
I presume this fellow hunts stray pirates. AND…that tunnel leads to a water tower.
Last fall, while working on the barn renovation project, I found a well worn copy of the “Water Tower Engineer’s Guild Handbook.” It was truly an AMAZING find.
I am thinking the former owner of my house must have been a guild member – this book contains some rather esoteric material, stuff that Mr. and Ms. Vince J. Public doesn’t know. For example, I bet you didn’t know that water tower engineers and light house keepers have a special bond. They are close cousins, and part of a secret aquatic society. When the master of a lighthouse needs to travel inland, he always stays with a water tower guild member.
I’ve also learned something about the actual mechanics of different types of water towers. The “sky pimple” model uses a gravity driven well system (much like the lochs in the Panama canal) to pump water from underground aqueducts to the top of the tower. An octopus, usually, lives in the tower itself and manages the flow to surrounding communities [see diagram]. An octopus is as smart as a house cat – very clever – and much more industrious. That’s another guild secret – they understand the cephalopod mind. Some common East Coast water tower structures are summarized in the following diagram. Please click to view full sized version:
This book is packed with a lot of information that I don’t really understand – and I’m pretty sure that I am as least as smart as a house cat. As I learn more, I’ll post it here.