More gray today

The rainy weather continues. These white or light gray clouds against a dark violet-gray background were visible in the south at about 11 am in Doswell, Virginia this morning. Notice the thumb print on the left in the lower third of the edge. Amazing how many grays there are and how many different grays can be mixed. I love the way the colors separate out at the edges of the paint so you can see the alizarin crimson more than the blues or yellows. And, the French ultramarine blue separates and floats on top.


Here's a rainy cloud poem from Goethe:


Stratus


When from the still mirror of the plain of water
A mist begins to raise its level carpet,
And the moon joins the curling of this apparition
And like a ghost seems forming ghosts,
Then Nature, we are all, we must admit,
Quickened and delighted children.


The the mist raises itself upon the mountain'
Broadly piling up streak (of cloud), so that far and wide
The middle air is wrapped in gloom, equally favorable
Either to its falling as rain or rising airily.


Goethe was inspired by Luke Howard's article entitled The Shape of Clouds according to Howard (1820) and his essay On the Modification of Clouds (1822). He wrote a poem for each of the shapes that Howard described. John Constable probably also had read Howard's work and thought Howard had much to learn.