The first painting

Another 102 degree day with scattered clouds and middling humidity. This summer seems to go on forever. I've set myself a task to create a sky work each day--a painting or drawing in any medium. Today's watercolor involved finding materials, paints, brushes, watercolor block. There's nothing like being an artist out of practice, retraining the hand-eye connection and using mental muscles weak with inactivity.

A cloud a day, a mental discipline and a work of art. We'll see, won't we?

This evening watercolor was painted of rapidly changing skies facing east with an oncoming storm making the clouds turn gray and streaky. Higher clouds retained the color of the sun and the odd blue patch of sky seems more like positive than negative space. The darkness of the little blue clouds moving in front of the blue sky looks strange--at one point it reminded me of a rabbit hopping through space.

Here's another warm up sketch of quick clouds with vibrant colors.