Painting Continues

The painting continues. The sculpture has approximately 250 square feet of surface to paint. The progress is good. The winds are less strong today and the team from UHP Projects, Inc is able to apply the primer with a spray gun. The spay gun should help them achieve a smooth and even base layer for the final paint color.

Painting is also continuing on the interior. Because metal absorbs heat from the sun, the temperature on the outside surface of the metal skin is hot, whereas the temperature on the inside, although hot, is less than the outside surface. This contributes to condensation of water vapor on the inside, making the application of a paint layer on the inside a very difficult and slow process.

This is a photograph showing the cross sections of the original paint layers, before removal with the water blasting. As can be seen in the lower paint layers, the statue was various shades of brown for many years. For a few years, the statue was metallic silver (layers 13 and 15). However, in the most recent years (layers 16 and 17), the statue was green.

The images below are from the National Park Service website, showing the actual Statue of Liberty made by Bartholdi. Brooklyn Museum Designer, Lance Singletary and I made a visit to Liberty Island to closely look at the surface of the torch to choose a closely matching paint color. With the help of the Rangers and specifically George Tselos and Diana Pardue for arranging the visit, we were able to find a paint color that closely matches the existing corrosion on the original Statue of Liberty. Please stop by as the painting progresses.