California State University, Northridge
IMPRESSIONS
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OF
AEROSPACE HARDWARE
An abstract submitted in partial satisfaction of the
requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in
Art
by
David Whelpley Starr
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January, 1979
The Abstract of David Whelpley Starr is approved:
Tom S. Fricano
$~ren Carson, Committee Chairman
California State University, Northridge
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Table of Contents
Page
Title Page
i
Approval Page
ii
iii
Table of Contents
1
Abstract
Illustrations
Plate 1 - Rocket Nozzle
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Plate 2 - C-47 Cooling System
9
Plate 3 - C-47 Vacuum Pump
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Plate 4 - Phototheodolite
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Plate 5 - C-47 Controls
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Plate 6 - Missile - AM Firing
Ready
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Plate 7 - Tracking Radar
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Plate 8 - Environmental Test
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Plate 9 - Post-Firing
16
Plate 10 - Missile Magazine
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Plate 11 - C-47 Elevator Control
18
Plate 12 - Developmental Sketches (washes)
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1
ABSTRACT
IMPRESSIONS
OF
AEROSPACE HARDWARE
BY
David Whelpley Starr
Master of Arts in Art
The hardware associated with aerospace equipment has
been treated largely from an illustrative point of view by
most artists.
The unique environment in which this material
.functions suggests an entirely different type of portrayal
which is neither abstract nor realistic but is impressionistic.
It is this impressionistic approach that I chose to
use in the creation of those painted forms which depict the
hardware of space and weaponry in both their functional and
basic physical aspects.
As an older student having an engineering education and
experience background in military weaponry spanning over 35
years, I found unlimited subject matter for my paintings.
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:The apporach to this body of work involved sketching of the
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:material in manufacturing plants, aircraft hangars, at mis:sile test sites and aboard missile ships of the
U.S~
Navy.
Security restrictions prohibited the taking of photographs
for technical reference.
However, the feeling of energy,
strength and complexity of the equipment was more important
than technical accuracy.
In fact, technical accuracy was
not at all important.
Initial pen and ink sketches were taken to my studio
and translated into washes in order to establish values and
the overall compositional aspect desired.
Engineering drawings were used to supplement sketches
so that forms could be generated which would be in consonance with the· hardware being portrayed.
Selection of the colors was based upon the function of
the equipment involved and the environment in which it
operated.
For example, where elements of the machinery were
in dynamic modes, operationally, warm colors were used to
portray those features.
When static elements were involved
.in the equipment's design, cool colors were used to describe
those elements.
Rives bfk paper 22" x 30" was used.
The initial step
in the preparation of the final painting was to cover the
light areas with a thin acrylic wash of a complementary
color from that which was to be used in the final application of color.
This, in effect, made a color negative of
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'the painting.
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Succeeding transparent washes were made
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interspersed with applications of pastel to accent critical
lines and areas of the work.
After each use of pastels, the
work was sprayed with a light coating of fixative.
In some
areas, the pastel colors were applied while the fixative was
still wet and analogous acrylic color was added to the area.
An average of ten to twelve thin washes of acrylic and two
or three opaque acrylic applications were used on each
painting.
Precise definitions of volumes were not within the
objectives of the series.
A statement of the dynamic forces
involved in this type of equipment and the.interplay between
flat plates, irregular and receding planes and regular
cylindrical shapes, were the primary targets of the investigation.
Most of the work is low key because the environment in
which aerospace machinery functions is not a carnival of
color but mostly of a monochomatic nature.
Space has a
sameness about it which further articulates the form of the
machinery which invades it.
However, because of the vast-
ness of space, the equipment takes on the hues of that
arena; catching a flash of light here and a sombre tone there.
The first painting of the series (Plate 1) is an
impression of a rocket nozzle for a space engine which has
just been removed from a plating tank.
The nozzle is sur-
rounded by anode and cathode paddle-like shapes and the
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.nozzle itself is a dark, glossy green as the
shines from the structure.
p~ating
fluid
Since, at this point, the nozzle
is a static mass, the colors are cool with red underpainting
used to indicate the potential kinetic energy source it will
be when it becomes an operational unit.
From space hardware I returned to an aeronautical theme
of some vintage.
A C-47 Cooling System (Plate 2) suggested
a man-made jungle of vine-like forms reaching into the
bowels of the aircraft.
Some of the pipes and tubes are
dynamic and warm colors are used for those elements.
These
weave in and out of cool structures and elements, tying
them together into an integrated whole.
Continuing with older aeronautical material, I became
rather intrigued with the possibilities of a C-47 Vacuum
Pump (Plate 3).
Cables and oddly-shaped tubing massed in a
small volume suggesting an interminable web of serpentine
motion.
The vacuum pump itself is not the salient feature
of the painting, the energy sources emanating from the pump
and comprising the system are dominant.
A Phototheodolite camera is suggested by the painting
presented as Plate 4.
No energy comes from this instrument
used in tracking missiles.
It is used to provide an accurate
record in real time and space of the flight of a missile.
As a functional, analytical tool used in aerospace testing,
the camera looks with multiple "eyes" at space objects .
. Since n·o energy is emitted from this camera it is portrayed
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·-·.as a cold, massive machine.
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It is basically
s~atic
in
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character, but potentially aggressive because of its great
mass and the fact that it explodes beyond the constraints
of the attempt to confine it to the paper.
Aircraft controls are characterized by tension.
Plate
5 portrays C-47 Controls which are depicted by massive
castings in blue and control wires, in tension, in red.
These wires flex and strain as they move masses of aircraft
structural elements in the act of providing direction to the
aircraft.
Unseen and buried beneath the deck in the fuse-
lage, control wires perform critical dynamic functions in a
covert environment.
It is as if they are streaks of energy
or light in a dark blue sea.
The eerie light which bathes a missile test in the
pre-dawn phase before firing is the feeling presented in
Plate 6, Missile -AM Firing- Ready.
Structures are large,
heavy castings and forgings with some critically machined
parts showing within larger volumes.
There is no hint of
the potential dynamic power within the canister constraining
the missile.
Only the size of the structure causes one to
theorize that some large energy source must be present to
require such impressive restraints.
Similar to the Phototheodolite is the Tracking Radar,
Plate 7.
Although there is an energy emitted from the radar
which is reflected back to the radar, the feeling is more
.one of bbserving than of reaching out dynamically.
However,
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deep within the complex structure of the radar many washes
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.of deep red were used to indicate the presence of a powerful
energy source.
The blue, coolness of the structure provides
a bond within the deep space it surveys.
One of the most violent of test procedures to which
guided missiles are subjected is environmenta-l testing.
A
missile form is shown in Plate 8, Environmental Test, in a
test chamber.
The red of the missile connotes a high
potential energy source which is in opposition to the
imposed environment typified by the fan in the background.
The painting was developed as a high energy potential, the
missile, opposed by a temporarily quiescent source, the fan.
The tension between a solid form, the missile, and an integrated but segmented form, the fan, was designed as a reaction to the old adage,
'the calm before the storm'.
Examination of missile launcher hardware after a firing
shows the result of expended power.impinging directly upon
heavy metal forms, cables and other supporting elements.
The colors, as noted in the Plate 9, Post Firing Painting,
are sintered browns, grays and charred paint ochre varients.
Some of the elements are reasonably intact while others are
sheared in irregular shapes, frayed and warped.
In sharp contrast to the post-firing disorder is the
pre-firing order as shown in Plate 10 Missile Magazine.
Shipboard magazines house missile handling elements and missiles which are gleaming, well polished forms, all diligently
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placarded to insure facility of system operation.
Orange
was used to denote a high pressure cylinder associated with
the mechanism which rams the missile on the launcher.
Aero-
dynamic surfaces, because they are dynamic, appear below in
orange and are complemented with blue reflections from the
static launcher forms.
This is the development of a high
energy potential in repose.
The last of the paintings, Plate 11, C-47 Elevator
Control, was an intrigue with a bell-crank and the tension
it imposed between the actuating source and the surface to
be moved, the elevator.
Again, the element in tension
appears in red and those forms receiving the action are in
cool colors.
The last plate, Plate 12, Developmental Sketches, is a
composite of sketches and washes which are typical of those
used to examine all facets of the composition and values
therein prior to starting the painting.
Many approaches to the painting of aerospace material
were tried.
Because I would like both non-technical and
technical viewers to enjoy the way I see aerospace equipment, I believe these impressions most accurately portray
the true feeling of the excitement of the roles aerospace
equipment plays through form and color.
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Plate 1 - Rocket Nozzle
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Plate 2 - C-47 Cooling System
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Plate 3 - C-47 Vacuum Pump
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Plate 4 - Phototheodolite
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Plate 5 - C-47 Controls
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Plate 6 - Missile - AM Firing - Ready
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Plate 7 - Tracking Radar
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Plate 8 - Environmental Test
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Plate 9 - Post-Firing
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Plate 10 - Missile Magazine
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Plate 11 - C-47 Elevator Control
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Plate 12 - Developmental Sketches (washes)