Icy cirrus, high in the sky

01/26/12, 10 am, looking south

By Thursday morning, the low cumulus clouds had blown off and revealed the cirrus wisps high in the sky. Although it was a warm (65 degrees F) and sunny day in Virginia, way up high where these clouds are, it was probably -4 to -22 degrees F.


Cirrus clouds are composed of ice crystals and blown into their classic tendrils by winds. The challenge in painting cirrus clouds is how definite to make them. I've found that it helps to turn the paper between layers of color to stop myself from repeatedly painting over the same shapes. By their very nature, cirrus clouds are abstract, soft facets of cloud. An oxymoron in the sky--soft facets!