Perfect Day, SS United States Aft Funnel, Starboard Side

Oil on panel
18" x 24" x 3/4 in
2026
 
This is a painting of one of the upper decks of the SS United States.  When the ship was towed to Turkey in 1994 to have the asbestos removed, someone sold some of the railings for scrap, which you can see on the uppermost tier. 
 
In the upper left you can see one of the two funnels- smokestacks. One reason that the SS United States was so swift is that the superstructure was lightweight aluminum and not steel. A sheet of aluminum was fastened around a cylindrical steel frame. Metal expands and contracts with fluctuations in temperature, so you can see the areas where the sheet metal is fastened to the frame: Those are the stripes where the surface was more stable, so the paint hasn't flaked off. The funnels were originally red, white, and blue. The yellow is a layer of primer under the red paint. The hat on top of the funnel directed the smoke away from passengers.