Cloud a day: Skying in Virginia

Cold front

2012-02-11T10:03:00.000-05:00

02/10/12, 11 am, looking northeast

Here are the clouds rolling into Virginia bringing rain and cold. I was up at 5 am and the sky was mostly clear with the moon still visible in the west just above the horizon. By mid-morning the clouds streamed in. By noon, the sky was completely overcast.

These morning clouds still provide a glimpse of blue sky.

Mooning

2012-02-11T09:57:00.000-05:00

02/09/12, 9:45 pm, looking east

The season of Valentine's Day and love made me think of the word "mooning" and not the kind that involves dropping one's pants. Here's a definition of mooning from the Free Dictionary as related to love:

to yearn or pine as if infatuated

And, I just looked it up in the American Heritage Dictionary, 4th edition, and it is exactly the same. That sent me to the Oxford English Dictionary (1970 reissue) which has six pages of moon-related words including moonblind, moonish, moonlighty, and moony. There is a set of moon-word meanings that play on this definition:

Inclined to moon or act in a listless, aimless manner; given to mooning; stupidly dreamy

In other words, moonstruck, or affected by a mental obsession, or injured by sleeping in the moon's rays. I was moonstruck by this view of Mars and the just-past-full moon draped with a gauzy cloud and a prism of color.

Misty full moon

2012-02-08T18:45:00.000-05:00

02/08/12, 4:15 am, looking west

The February full moon is called the Snow Moon and that is a bit out of sync with the climate in the US this year. The snow coverage today in the US is heaviest in the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada Mountains at more than two feet, and northern New England and New York with only 4-8 inches. Although 1-3 inches of snow is predicted northwest of Richmond today, we have only a light rain falling. It feels very unwinterly.

La Niña seems to be making the north wetter this winter, record snowfall in Washington and Colorado, and the south dryer, with drought in Texas and Florida. All these weather predictions seem to overlook the mid-Atlantic region. Maybe that means we'll have an ordinary winter, whatever that means.

Lovely sunset

2012-02-08T18:43:00.000-05:00

02/07/12, 5:45 pm, looking west

On Tuesday, we had a wonderful clear day with a cool, bright blue sky. Clouds moved in late in the day just in time to catch the flaming pink blush of the sunset. I love the angle of these clouds as if they are rays of the setting sun which is below the horizon.

The full moon rose just after sunset in the east and the gauzy clouds surrounded it like a glowing halo.

Cirrus circus

2012-02-07T09:17:00.000-05:00

02/06/12, 2 pm, facing west

Such a wonderful cloud day! I paint one painting per day and if something gorgeous happens in the sky after I've started my one painting, I let it go.

Monday was an amazing sky day--beautiful clouds all day long. That's why I called it the cirrus circus, a dazzling parade of cirrus clouds in many different shapes, colors and styles to delight and entertain.

This cirrus flaming feather was dominant in the west for several hours until dissipated by the winds. How to make something look so cold and soft at the same time is a challenge.

Giant cumulus

2012-02-06T11:48:00.000-05:00

02/05/12, 2:15 pm, looking north

The cold front has arrived overnight on Saturday with rain, wind and lots of clouds. On Sunday, February 5th, the day began with solid cloud cover. The clouds broke up in early afternoon and giant cumulus clouds moved in from the north. They rose from below the horizon to halfway to the sky with dark shadows at their base.

Windy conditions made the sky changeable all day with many dramatic cloudscapes. The temperature rose to the low 40's F and then dropped to 25 overnight. Winter weather, finally!

Rosy-fingered dawn

2012-02-06T11:15:00.001-05:00

02/04/12, 7:15 am, looking northeast

Homer's "rosy-fingered dawn" is a description from the Odyssey. In English, the quote is:

Now when the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared, Telemachus rose and dressed himself. He bound his sandals on to his comely feet, girded his sword about his shoulder, and left his room looking like
an immortal god.

Telemachus gathers all the people in Ithaca together and makes a wonderful speech about how he yearns for his father Odysseus' guidance and how his mother Penelope's suitors are eating (and drinking) him out of house and home. He is about to go searching for his father who has been away at war for twenty years. The suitors want to be first in line to marry Penelope because they assume that Odysseus is dead.

Aurora is the Latin word for dawn and the goddess of dawn in Roman mythology. She brings the dawn with rosy fingers dropping dew.

Cirrus bellwether

2012-02-06T10:38:00.000-05:00

02/03/12, 2 pm, facing west

A bellwether is an indicator of trends and comes from the bell around the neck of the ram (or wether) leading a flock of sheep. Cirrus clouds often presage a weather change, and we've had lots of changes this winter. Cold fronts followed by warm fronts--both passing through and bringing rain.

These cirrus clouds were laced over central Virginia on Friday, January 3rd in the early afternoon. We expected overcast skies on Friday but that didn't arrive until afternoon with brief showers after dark.

We are finally closer to average winter temperatures with highs in the low 50's and lows in the 30's. This cold front may bring some actually winter-like temperatures.

Afternoon moon

2012-02-03T09:12:00.000-05:00

02/02/12, 4:40 pm, looking up and east

Despite the dramatic rain clouds that passed over Virginia yesterday, this little moon was what I painted. Yes, I missed all those cumulus clouds. Some days are like that, I guess.

Thursday morning was cool and very rainy with heavy storms overnight and the sky a solid gray. As the cold front came through, the clouds broke up and the temperature went lower. By 4 pm the skies were clear and cerulean blue. All that was left to paint was this waxing gibbous moon at 66 percent illumination. Rather lovely in the daytime, though.

Cirrus with altocumulus

2012-02-01T18:13:00.000-05:00

02/01/12, 10 am, facing northwest

More like April than January, today's high was 70 degrees F with an anticipated low of 49 degrees tonight. The crocuses are blooming along with some early daffodils. Coral pink quince blossoms dance in the warm breeze. Pansies hold their flowers high and dandelions bloom in the lawns.

Today's clouds began with an overcast sky that broke into this pattern of low cumulus and high cirrus clouds by mid-morning. We had a variety of clouds throughout the day with taller cumulus with dark, dramatic shadows developing later in the afternoon. Rain tonight.

Six-month cirrus

2012-02-01T18:00:00.001-05:00

01/31/12, 2 pm, facing north

This painting marks six months of cloud and sky studies. What a lot I've learned in that time about cloud types, stars and planets, phases of the moon, ice crystals and prevailing winds. It seems that in central Virginia, the winds usually move from the southwest to the northeast. Basically, most winds blow up the US east coast.

Tuesday's cirrus clouds were wide ranging and varied in shape. These are whipped in an arc across the sky from west to east. They fan out into a wider shape as the wind blows them east. I like the curved clouds hugging the horizon at the bottom of the painting. It was another unseasonably warm day with a high of 69 degrees F.

Another thing I've learned in six months of blogging is how to allow comments on the posts. I changed the setting yesterday and you should be able to comment now.

Soft sunset cloud bank

2012-01-31T08:57:00.000-05:00

01/30/12 5:30 pm, looking west

These low soft mounds of cumulus clouds covered the eastern horizon just after sunset last night reflecting the rosy glow.

After several days of seasonal temperatures (lows in the upper 20's F), we have a warming trend forecast for the next couple of days with highs maybe reaching 70 degrees F. I hope we'll have some interesting clouds out of this warm front. I miss big, fat summer cumulus clouds! I admit it!

Jupiter and the waxing crescent moon

2012-01-30T12:56:00.000-05:00

01/29/12, 8 pm, looking west

This smirking moon smiles like the Cheshire cat in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. Last night's cool darkness was the perfect foil to this cat-like grin, the waxing crescent moon at 43 percent illumination.

There are several stories of the origin of the Cheshire cat including carvings on churches, St Wilfrid's in Grappenhall, Cheshire, St Nicolas in Cranleigh, Surrey and St Christopher's church in Pott Shrigley, Cheshire. The latter has the carving that most resembles the illustration of the cat in the book. The story I like best on the Wikipedia page is about the cheese molds in Cheshire:

cheese was formerly sold in Cheshire moulded like a cat that looked as though it was grinning. The cheese was cut from the tail end, so that the last part eaten was the head of the smiling cat.

The moon was just north of Jupiter which was the brightest planet in the sky last night. Tonight Venus shines bright in the southwest, maybe rivaling Jupiter's brilliance.

Sunset clouds

2012-01-30T12:16:00.000-05:00

01/28/12, 5:15 pm, looking west

These tie-dyed cumulus silhouettes, in size order, glowed in the west on Saturday afternoon. The colors around the edges of the clouds were so vivid and a strong contrast to the deep violet shadow.

I am noticing how the sky color seems bleached at this early point in the sunset. The sky is pale blue and the glow is just butter colored. The sun is just below the horizon. As the earth rotates and the sun moves further below the horizon, the color darkens and intensifies. Yet these clouds soak up the brilliant color from below the horizon!

Bold cumulus layers

2012-01-28T12:14:00.000-05:00

01/27/12, 1 pm, looking north

These bold cumulus layers were so dramatic. The intensity of the cerulean sky contrasted with the snowy white top layers and the deep blue-violet lower layers. It wasn't clear whether the dark clouds were part of the white clouds or were below them. The darkness of the shadows may indicate that the white clouds were above.

This painting is a snippet of the sky which was covered with these clouds in all directions. I'll have to start painting much larger to capture something like that!

Icy cirrus, high in the sky

2012-01-28T11:53:00.000-05:00

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!

Polaris

2012-01-28T11:31:00.001-05:00

01/25/12, 10 pm, looking north

Polaris (in upper left) shown forth against the encroaching altocumulus clouds on Wednesday night. We had a warm and damp front coming through. The clouds covered the sky by 11 pm, but at 10, there were large gaps in which the stars shown clearly.

Polaris is the North Star, or Pole Star, that marks the direction north. Polaris is a multiple star, composed of six stars that we know of. Polaris remains steady over the North Pole, one of the reasons it is used as an aid to navigation.

Polaris is the end of the handle in the Little Dipper, and the Big Dipper constellation circles around it in 24 hours. It is also the famous star in the Drinking Gourd (Big Dipper) that slaves in American followed to escape to free northern states and Canada.

Solar flare

2012-01-25T18:10:00.000-05:00

01/24/12, 5:30 pm, looking west

The sun returned to Central Virginia today. I know it was there all the time, but we couldn't see it for all the clouds, mist and fog. And, coincidentally, today the earth receives the largest solar flare in six years.

These blazing clouds are two contrails and one wispy cirrus paisley shape that reflected the colors of the setting sun. So nice that the sun is setting later and later each day. Sunset was 5:24 pm on January 24th and a little more than a minute later each day. Oh, and the high today was 65 degrees F!

Dreary days

2012-01-24T09:09:00.000-05:00

01/19/12, 2 pm, facing south

01/20/12, 2 pm, facing south

Here are the skies beginning with a cold front on Thursday, January 19th through the fog and mist of today, January 23rd. We've had overcast, rainy skies and very warm weather on Thursday, cool on Friday, and cold on Saturday and Sunday.

The system began on Thursday, January 19th with mixed cirrus and cumulus clouds and partly sunny conditions. On Friday, January 20th, the masses of cumulus clouds rolled in allowing brief glimpses of blue sky and sunshine. The warmth of previous days began to chill.

01/21/12, 5:30 pm, looking northwest

By Saturday, January 21st, the sky was completely overcast with boiling, moving cumulus clouds low in the atmosphere. This sunset painting manages to show the colors soaked into the cumulus sponge. The cold was here at last with sleet and mixed ice and rain.

On Sunday, January 22nd, we had light rain and mist all day. The temperature range was very small; the high was 35 degrees F and the low was 33.

01/22/12, 4 pm, facing northwest

01/23/12, 2 pm, facing any direction

Monday, January 23rd dawned in the dark. Central Virginia was completely socked in with fog and mist. A warming trend means temperatures are forecast for the low 50's--almost 20 degrees warmer than yesterday. But, it never rose above 41 degrees, remaining cool, damp and dreary all day. Dismal indeed!

Blustery night and day

2012-01-23T09:40:00.000-05:00

01/18/12, 11 pm, looking up

It was windy all day and the night brought overcast skies with big cumulus clouds sailing quickly northeast. These lighter clouds made for a contrast to the dark cloud mass higher in the night sky.

The edges of clouds are soft and ever-changing and forming different shapes. Sometimes the edges of watercolor look soft and ethereal until one returns hours later. Then, one often sees a hard line of color in what was intended to be a soft blur.

After many layers of watercolor, I think these came out pretty amorphous, as intended.

Warm and cloudy

2012-01-18T19:03:00.000-05:00

01/17/12, 9 pm, looking east

Tuesday was overcast most of the day with frequent light showers amounting to only a trace of rain. The high was 62 degrees F slightly lower than the forecast of 65. With uniformly overcast skies, there was little interesting cloud formations until after 5 pm when the clouds broke up into jutting cumulus forms that allowed vistas of a pale cerulean sky. Sorry that I was unable to paint at that time.

I was consoled by these little white puffs that rode the northeasterly winds at 9 pm. That's the way this year project has worked, serendipity. Look up and there they are, silhouetted against a gray sky, little white puffs of cumulus clouds looking like they are very busy and have someplace important to go.

Cirrus feather quill

2012-01-17T11:22:00.000-05:00

01/16/12, 11:30 am, facing the northwest

More cirrus uncinus today with a weather change, a warming trend this time, in store. This cloud looked like a quill pen to me. I like how the lacy, feathery bits came out.

Tomorrow's weather is forecast to be a complete change with showers overnight and a high of 65 degrees F.

Cold, vast space

2012-01-16T16:23:00.000-05:00

01/15/12, 8 pm. facing up and west

On a day with no clouds, here's a cold, crisp night with planets and stars putting on a wonderful show. What are all those heavenly bodies? Well, the only one I can absolutely identify is beautiful, bold Jupiter on the far left.

Here are the candidates for the stars. In the top middle, perhaps Alpheratz with Algenib below. On the right in the upper corner, perhaps Alderamin with Deneb in the lower right. If you were able to continue your gaze to the right, you'd see Polaris.

Cold cirrus wisps

2012-01-16T16:03:00.000-05:00

01/14/12, 1:30 pm, looking west

The sky was full of teased cirrus wisps on this cold day--sort of sounds like a food! Fresh cirrus wisps, ice-cold cirrus wisps! These look like rooster tails to me, but cirrus uncinus are usually called "mare's tails".

Unicinus in the name is Latin for hook and refers to the wispy curls the wind makes in the cirrus clouds. Cirrus uncinus generally indicates the presence of high- speed winds, which pilots often associate this cloud with turbulence.

Cirrus uncinus do not necessarily indicate any weather change. They can come before a warm front although that isn't the case on this day. It is getting very cold.

My big, fat cumulus clouds

2012-01-14T17:42:00.000-05:00

01/13/12 10:30 am, looking northwest

On an almost cloudless day, these huge cumulus clouds drifted over Richmond mid-morning headed northeast. I was lucky to catch them because that was it for the rest of the day until sunset. I think I've developed an awareness of shadow so that when I'm inside and an occasional cloud covers the sun, some part of my brain registers Clouds! Go paint!

Weather change

2012-01-12T18:40:00.000-05:00

01/12/12, 9:30 am, facing northwest

Yesterday's rain and low clouds gave way to this broken pattern of loose altocumulus blowing northeast with high cirrus above them. These clouds are the back of the rain that covered Central Virginia all day yesterday. Today's forecast of partly sunny and warm (60 degrees F) is the warm before the cold. Tonight will see a cold front move in from the west carrying with it a brief shower and a lows in the low 30's.

These soft, diaphanous layers covered the sky in all direction this morning, Thursday, January 12th, at about 9:30 am. Two hours later, all the cumulus clouds had blown away and just the high wispy cirrus remained. Even later in the day, it was all huge puffy cumulus clouds shadowed with violet.

Pink city glow

2012-01-12T18:38:00.000-05:00

01/11/12, 9:30 pm, looking northwest

All day rain, low clouds and a damp chill. This glow was what I saw as I drove back from a rural area to the city just after 9 pm on Wednesday, January 11th. The low-pressure sodium (LPS) lamps in street lights cause the pink tint in the urban landscape. LPS reduces ambient light pollution and is less distracting for wildlife like migrating birds.

The low-hanging altocumulus clouds hung in the sky like polyester batting and soaked up the pink LPS glow. Almost looks like cotton candy.

Moon and cirrus clouds

2012-01-12T18:35:00.000-05:00

01/10/12, about 8 pm, looking east

This is the full moon on Tuesday, January 10th at about 8 pm still rising above the trees in the east. The sky was covered with wispy cirrus clouds and as the moon emerged they began to glow with silvery moonlight.

January's full moon was called the Full Wolf Moon by native American Indians. From the Farmer's Almanac is the description of why it was so named:

Amid the cold and deep snows of midwinter, the wolf packs howled hungrily outside Indian villages. Thus, the name for January’s full Moon. Sometimes it was also referred to as the Old Moon, or the Moon After Yule.

This moon painting is somewhat wolfish--reminds me of the fur of a gray wolf.

These cirrus clouds are the harbinger of wet weather forecast for tomorrow.

Raining

2012-01-10T09:11:00.000-05:00

01/09/12, 1:30 pm, looking south

Today's clouds are full of rain, low and completely blanket the sky. Looking in most directions, there is little variance in the pale gray clouds but there were occasional shifts in dark and light like this one.

It is a cool day in the low 40's with bone-chilling damp and frequent showers. It feels like these showers should be sleet, but no, just rain.

Rising full moon

2012-01-09T15:14:00.001-05:00

01/08/12, about 6:30 pm, looking east

Technically, the moon was full this morning, January 9th, sometime, but last night the clouds came in. There would be no opportunity to paint the full moon after about 8 pm on Sunday, January 8th because of the overcast skies. This is the moon rising in the east just above the tree tops at about 6:30 pm.

As is so often the case when the moon is near the horizon, the moon looks yellowish orange. The color of moonlight is changed by the layers of atmosphere it travels through to reach one's eyes. The blue, green and violet colors are scattered and one sees only the red, yellow and orange colors.

Sunset cumulus clouds

2012-01-09T14:57:00.000-05:00

01/07/12, about 5 pm, looking south

Saturday, January 7th, was a warm and lovely day with highs in the mid-60's and fresh, soft breezes. These disorganized cumulus clouds glowed with the light of the setting sun. They were moving briskly to the northeast in the wind which swirled and tore them into trails and clumps.

This was a spring-like day, good for working in the garden and watching robins pull earthworms for supper.

Moon with Aldebaran and Jupiter

2012-01-09T14:51:00.000-05:00

1/6/12, about 7:30 pm, looking up and southeast

By rights, this moon should be rounder at 84% illumination. I don't know how I came up with this lopsided ellipse on Friday, January 6th. Aldebaran is closest to the moon, a round, yellowish glow. Jupiter is in the right corner, bright and strong in the darkness.

The night sky in winter is a crisp delight.

Warmer and cirrus

2012-01-09T12:48:00.000-05:00

1/5/12, 12:30 pm, gazing south

Lots of gauzy cirrus clouds in a cerulean sky on Thursday, January 5th just after noon. These delicate, icy layers are high in the atmosphere and it seems like a miracle that we can even see them. All those tiny ice crystals aligned on the winds 20,000 feet above us.

A high in the low 50's made the day seem balmy after the past days of chill. The cycle of cold and warm fronts running up the Eastern US coast continues.

Last day of the frigid front

2012-01-05T19:10:00.000-05:00

Today's low was 17 degrees F according to Weather Underground, but the thermometer on the back porch read 12 when the dogs went out (briefly) at 5:15 am. The temperature will only go up for the rest of the day. Winter is here for the moment but the warmer temperatures of fall/spring are forecast for the rest of the week.

A warm front moving into Central Virginia and displacing a cold front causes interesting cloud formations. This one was in the south just before 5 pm, a few minutes before sunset. Lots of layers here including cirrus, altostratus and altocumulus. Looks like a muddy gray curtain closing over the sky.

Cloudy and windier

2012-01-04T17:53:00.000-05:00

01/03/12, 2 pm, looking north

Colder, cloudy, windy and, did I mention colder? These monstrous slabs of windblown and angular cumulus clouds were visible in the north. Very windy today, the wreath was blown off the door, and it was so cold the bird bath is solid ice.

The frigid wind came from the northwest straight under the doorway and we had gusts of almost 40 mph. Our high temperature on January 3rd was 35 degrees F with a low of 23. I'll just remind you that we are Southerners and this first day of winter weather is a shock to out genteel and temperate lives.

Cloudy and windy

2012-01-04T17:43:00.000-05:00

01/02/12, about noon, facing the northeast

The cold front continued to move over Virginia on January 2nd. Early in the day, the sky was webbed with cirrus clouds. By noon, those had blown off and cumulus clouds moved across the deep blue sky. The wind was about 20-25 miles per hour and gusty.

These clouds are being blown to the left of the painting, northeast with the fast-moving front. They were evenly spaced from my perspective and none overlapped. Unusual. I must have caught them at the right moment.

New Year's Day Moon

2012-01-03T10:59:00.000-05:00

01/01/12, 3 pm, looking up

The waxing gibbous moon rose mid-afternoon on New Year's Day and shone brightly in the cerulean sky. At 53 percent illumination, it is well on its way to full on January 9th. The swift cumulus clouds played peekaboo with the moon. They were whipped by the breeze and softly formed with trailing edges.

The cold weather is on the way for tomorrow night so we can expect cold wind and more fast-moving clouds tomorrow.

Rolling lines of clouds

2012-01-03T10:42:00.000-05:00

12/31/11 2 pm, looking north

On the last day of 2011, big lines of thick cumulus clouds rolled in long lines across the sky. Kind of like soft, puffy mini blinds. These clouds mark a weather change to cooler and more seasonable temperatures.

The high on New Year's Eve was 60 and the low 40 degrees F. The usual temperature in central Virginia is about 20 degrees cooler. Even though the warm days were lovely, we know that reality is on the way early in 2012.

Almost New Year moon

2011-12-31T10:24:00.001-05:00

12/30/11. 7:45 pm. looking up to the west north west

Here's the waxing gibbous moon at 42 percent illumination last evening at about 7:45 pm. Couldn't wait any later to paint it because by 8:30 it was covered in clouds. You can see the beginnings of the cloud migration in this painting.

I think that the night's silvery tone was also a thin layer of cloud across the sky. A very magical winter moon indeed.

Cloudy and getting cloudier

2011-12-29T15:01:00.000-05:00

12/29/11,10 am, facing northwest

Well, cloudy and becoming cloudier. This morning there were a few cirrus clouds high in the atmosphere. By the time I painted this watercolor, loose altocumulus clouds had crossed the cirrus and these mixed layered clouds were on view. By noon, the sky was overcast, filled with a gray and low hanging mixture of clouds.

Puffballs

2011-12-29T14:51:00.000-05:00

12/28/11, 10 am, looking north

These loosely-formed altocumulus clouds were blowing east in a cool, stiff breeze on Wednesday morning, December 28th. The altocumulus clouds had little solidity with misty edges and virga. Virga is visible precipitation falling from a cloud that evaporates before reaching the ground.

I have observed few days in which the wind blows directly east so far this year. This is one with winds up to 25 miles per hour and gust even stronger. One has to think these puffballs were being teased and torn apart as they blew due east.

Five o'clock shadows

2011-12-29T14:30:00.006-05:00

12/27/11, 5:30 pm, looking northeast

Actually, they were closer to 5:30 pm shadows. These massive cumulus clouds hugged the horizon in the northeast against a deep blue-violet sky. The tension created by the angle and the dramatic shadows makes for a delightful cloudscape. These beauties dominated the sky on Tuesday evening, December 27th.

These magnificent clouds bring to mind a portion of William Wordsworth's The Prelude, Book First:

. . . these same scenes so bright,

So beautiful, so majestic in themselves,

Though yet the day was distant, did become

Habitually dear, and all their forms

And changeful colours by invisible links

Were fastened to the affections.*

Kurt Badt quotes this snippet of the poem in his book, John Constable's Clouds, to illustrate the idea of "second vision" in the work of Wordsworth and Constable. Second vision is the mature, "ultimate truth of nature [created] in the quiet of his own studio." This follows the first vision which the painter sketched en plein air on location. I'm all about the first vision myself.

*lines 606-611

Boxing Day and all's clear

2011-12-29T14:27:00.000-05:00

12/26/11, 11 am

Boxing Day is not celebrated in the United States, perhaps because we are a more egalitarian nation and have less history of servants in the home. Less history as in fewer years of the tradition and fewer people wealthy enough to have servants. Boxing Day was the day that servants received a gift box from their employers. It has evolved in the UK and Canada into a general public holiday.

The weather this Boxing Day, December 26th, was clear and cool--a lovely winter day. There were no clouds in the sky at all so all I painted was this gradient wash of blues. I hope it looks cool and clear.

Christmas clouds

2011-12-27T11:15:00.000-05:00

12/23/11, 12:30 pm facing west

Here's the variety of clouds we received in Central Virginia as Christmas gifts in 2011.

The shadowed cumulus clouds of the eve of Christmas Eve were rounded and soft. They drifted slowly northeast singly and in little groups across a beautiful blue sky.

12/24/11, 2:30 pm, looking north

12/25/11, Noon, facing northwest

The wind picked up on a cool Christmas Eve especially in the upper atmosphere and whipped up long tendrils of cirrus clouds throughout the sky. We had lots of contrails from people flying home for Christmas. These quickly became fuzzy and soft like a woolly yarn draped high in the air. I particularly enjoyed the barbed cloud shape on the right at mid-page.

Christmas morning was still breezy and seasonably cool--slight frost, but the birdbath wasn't frozen. These majestic cumulus clouds were headed northeast around noon. They have no shadow because the sun was above and just over my left shoulder. They were all slanting up to the right which makes them seem optimistic I think.

Cloudy Solstice

2011-12-23T09:28:00.000-05:00

12/21/11, 4 pm facing northwest

The Winter Solstice was cloudy and very warm in central Virginia this year, very unseasonable in my opinion. How unseasonably warm you ask? The high on Wednesday, December 21st was 66 degrees F; Thursday's high was 69 degrees.

With overcast skies full of altocumulus clouds almost bursting with rain, the warmth and humidity felt like springtime. All these clouds moved in from the southwest blanketing the east and moving northeast up the coast. This warm front precedes a cold front moving in on Friday.

12/22/11, 11:30 am, looking east

We had about a half inch of rain during the two days but most of those showers were sudden, brief and pelting. On Thursday morning the clouds broke up and thinned allowing glimpses of blue sky. Later in the day, we were deluged by heavy rain showers and oppressive warmth.

The clouds will thin and move north early Friday morning and we'll have steadily dropping temperatures throughout the day. So it will feel a lot more like Christmas!

Massive blue-gray clouds

2011-12-21T11:40:00.003-05:00

12/20/11, 5:30 pm looking northwest

These giant dark silhouetted clouds against the last of the day's light were dramatic in the extreme. Certainly, they made me feel the majesty of Nature and my insignificance. Because the low light, the clouds seemed to be one smooth mass taking up the entire sky. The few peeks of twilight sky made for an interesting shape like a tattered velvet curtain.

That last idea of the curtain makes the watercolor seem Gothic as if it were a backdrop in one of Mrs Radcliffe's novels. Perhaps, The Mysteries of Udolpho. Hmmm.

Two directions at sunset

2011-12-20T09:21:00.000-05:00

12/18/1, 4:45 pm, cumulus clouds, looking west

12/19/11, 4:30 pm, stratus clouds, facing north

Here are two little sunsets about 24 hours apart and in two directions. The Sunday December 18th sunset has a low cumulus cloud in the west lurking in the rosy glow of the setting sun.

Sunset two in the Monday twilight looks north. The sky has no sunset glow although the clouds reflect the lavender color. The sinuous clouds streak across the sky ans seem to dissolve at the edges.

Early blue

2011-12-17T11:29:00.003-05:00

12/17/11, 7:30 am, facing northwest

Here are some vague cumulus clouds glowing by dawn's early light in a cobalt blue sky. This is a sooty pink glow, sort of tawdry, like a forgotten silk stocking cast off and crumpled from revels of the previous night. They were the early clouds to a morning that is now full of clouds with no blue sky visible.

The day is to be cool (42 degrees F) and the night cold (29) with no precipitation. So, just a gray day that is perfect for drinking tea, wrapping Christmas presents, reading and singing carols.

Cirrus morning

2011-12-17T11:20:00.000-05:00

12/16/11 10 am, looking east

These cirrus clouds look just like the ice crystals they are--stretched by strong winds like cold taffy into wisps. The temperature at ground level was about 56 degrees F and dropping from a high of 62 earlier in the morning. The low is forecast to be in the upper 30's tonight.

But how much colder it is up in the clouds. Cirrus clouds are 18,000 feet up in the atmosphere where the temperature may be as cold as -22 degrees F.

The ice crystals they form are small, estimated to fit 96 in a gallon. Yet, cirrus clouds warm the earth below them by as much as 10 degrees F. The shapes of ice crystals vary also: solid and hollow columns, bullet rosettes, plates and needles.

Breezy, lots of clouds

2011-12-15T17:17:00.000-05:00

12/15/11, 10 am looking northwest

A cloudy night turns into a warm (65 degrees F) and breezy day with cirrus, stratus and altocumulus clouds scattered and layered in the blue. The wind must be very strong in the upper altitudes because after these altocumulus layers passed over by about 11 am, wispy cirrus clouds were revealed teased out like giant downy feathers.

A lovely day of warmth and open windows before winter makes us batten down the hatches. The sunset was a spectacular blend of blue violet and orange.

Clouding up

2011-12-14T18:19:00.000-05:00

12/14/11 10 am, facing northwest

This morning the clouds moved in after yesterday's crisp clear skies. This is a warm front coming in advance of a cold front later in the week. By noon, the sky was overcast with little blue visible. There were a variety of cloud types including stratocumulus, altocumulus and stratus.

Today and tomorrow are forecast to be warmer than normal with the promised cold front arriving on Friday with possible showers. Lots to paint!

Clear twilight sky

2011-12-14T18:09:00.000-05:00

12/13/11 5:30 pm, facing southwest

Sometimes in the winter the atmosphere is so crisp and clear it seems like one can see forever. Last night was such an evening.

Colors are enhanced by the clarity of the air. The warm glow of the earth was a sharp contrast to the coldness of space. The planets visible are Neptune above and Venus below. Venus has a slight pink glow.

I love the process of placing washes of color down, letting it dry, and then putting down another wash. The subtleties of the color change are intriguing. This watercolor has about eight layers of color, one atop the next.

Vein of marble

2011-12-13T10:00:00.000-05:00

12/12/11 5:10 pm, altocumulus, facing south

These layered altocumulus clouds hung in the sky yesterday evening. I thought the shape was intriguing because it had bulges and loops of cloud hanging down. After the painting was dry, I thought it looked like marble, very cool and misty.

I chose to paint this unusual cloud rather than the blazing orange and purple sunset in the west. It reminded me so much of the sunset I painted on Thanksgiving (11/24/11), that I refrained. The sky was covered with low clouds turning gray and purple in the twilight, with a gap of orange sky above the horizon. The sun had set minutes before. Interesting how the southern view does not reflect any of that warm glow.

Three moons

2011-12-12T16:28:00.000-05:00

12/9/11 7:45 pm, looking up, Armour House

Yes, I know it is the same moon, just three visions of it in these paintings. In the first image from December 9th at 7:45 pm, there is something I'm calling a moonbow. Since there is a Wikipedia entry for it, it must exist, right? Apparently Aristotle thought so for he wrote about the rare moon rainbow in his Meteorology.

There was a lot of moisture in the air, a very dewy dew point, and maybe it reflected a ring of moonlight around the moon as I looked up at it. A full moon halo. So a true moonbow is white since it emanates from moonlight. Any bow containing prismatic colors is caused by sunlight.

12/10/11. 5:45 am, facing west

The second moon painting is the setting moon on the following morning at 5:45 am. This moon wears an altostratus cloud cap. This portrait was taken just before the lunar eclipse which we were unable to see on the East coast of the US. The moon set here before the eclipse began.

12/11/11, 7:30 pm, facing east

The third moon still looks full but is a waning gibbous moon at 92 percent illumination. The moon shine is particularly bright and strong. The moon face is seems somewhat quizzical and amused in its personality. Altogether, this is a charming, waxing gibbous moon.

Just another cirrus sunset

2011-12-12T15:52:00.000-05:00

12/8/11, 4:30 pm, facing west

This sunset on Thursday, December 8th, shows the definition of the word cirrus, from the Latin word meaning curl, as in a lock of hair. These beautiful cloud curled over Richmond and glowed with the rosy light of the setting sun.

Here's the meteorological definition of cirrus courtesy of dictionary.com:

cirrus, noun, plural--a cloud of a class characterized by thin white filaments or narrow bands and a composition of ice crystals: of high altitude, about 20,000–40,000 feet (6000–12,000meters).

Lovely, aren't they?

Gray days

2011-12-08T19:22:00.000-05:00

Two gray days full of altocumulus clouds making monochromatic ripples across the sky. Sometimes on the beach there are sand effects like this after several soft waves lap the gray-brown sand we have here on the coast of Virginia.

The top painting was done on Tuesday, December 6th at about 2 pm facing east. The bottom painting is from 4 pm on Wednesday, December 7th facing west. just before the deluge. Storms in central Virginia last night brought down trees and almost an inch of rain in just a couple of hours. Wind gusts of up to 70 mph broke tree limbs and caused hazardous driving conditions with many power outages (including my workplace!).

The mighty James River was the color of hot cocoa and dotted with large tree trunks and branches this morning (December 8th). The temperature plummeted by 25 degrees overnight and the sky is now clear. What a dramatic cold front--brrrr!

Clouds rolling in

2011-12-06T09:38:00.000-05:00

The cirrus clouds of the past few days have given way to altocumulus with few breaks of blue sky. This warm front (high of 79 degrees F) is passing by before a cold front coming through tomorrow.

These sooty pink clouds wafted over Central Virginia yesterday afternoon, Monday, December 5th, at around 2 pm. I was facing the east as I painted them.

Cetacean clouds

2011-12-05T10:15:00.000-05:00

I blame Herman Melville and Nathaniel Philbrick for these clouds. I've been fascinated by everything whale lately as I've read Philbrick's In the Heart of the Sea and Why Read Moby-Dick? Of course, I am also reading Moby-Dick and whales are showing up even in my sleep, so why not also in the sky?

I think these are some kind of cumulus cloud moving in after the cirrus clouds in advance of a warm front. It may also be a mixture of cumulus and cirrocumulus clouds. This painting was done on Sunday, December 4th at 2 pm facing east.

More cirrus

2011-12-05T09:38:00.000-05:00

More cirrus clouds in the sky in indicating a change in the weather. These high cirrus clouds have threaded across the sky for a couple of days now and have been very entertaining to watch. The clouds are constantly changed by the wind, spun out like cotton candy in those giant metal vats at the fair.

This painting was done on Friday, December 3rd at 1:30 pm facing the northwest.

Cloud-like cirrus

2011-12-03T14:21:00.000-05:00

I am amazingly pleased with the way this painting came out because cirrus clouds are so challenging to paint. Their diaphanous nature is difficult to render realistically because they are so multi-layered. They have to look wind blown and wispy, thin and variable. I like the iciness of these clouds also. Cirrus clouds are high in the atmosphere where it is really cold, so they are composed of ice crystals.

This was painted on Friday, December 2nd at about 4 pm facing west.

Celestial bodies

2011-12-03T13:00:00.000-05:00

Since this was an unclouded day, here is a portrait of the celestial bodies in the night sky at about 10 pm, on December 1st facing west. First of all, the waxing gibbous moon, almost half full at 48 percent illumination. Next, the planet Uranus immediately above the moon. Then two stars, Markab (on the right) and Algenib (on the left) in the constellation Pegasus. Neptune is out of the picture, below the moon.

The layers of paint on this watercolor are many. I began with what looked black to me (in the dim light). Since that initial wash, I've put eight more glazes of color over the night sky. Each wash has to dry before the next is applied. Most were French ultramarine blue sometimes mixed with cobalt blue or alizarin crimson. So although I began this painting in the evening, I didn't finish it until the following evening.

Cool and clear blue skies

2011-12-01T18:31:00.000-05:00

Except for these picture-perfect little cumulus clouds, of course. These were painted on November 30th at 11 am facing the northwest. The cold front moved through and the sky is a rich beautiful blue punctuated by puffy white cumuli moving swiftly northeast. Temperatures of 53 degrees as the high and 38 as the low make the air crystal clear and seasonably chilly.

Ready for December!

The cold front is here

2011-12-01T17:21:00.000-05:00

And, with cold fronts comes rain--in this case we had almost three-quarters of an inch on November 29th. The sky was cloudy all morning with frequent heavy rain. By noon, there were breaks in the cloud cover and blue sky was visible. By 2 pm, when this was painted, the gaps of blue were wider and more frequent. The long cumulus clouds were lined up in rows with a good breeze blowing them northeast. With temperatures going down to 38 F tonight, it's beginning to feel like winter.

A new gray

2011-11-29T09:30:00.000-05:00

Monday, November 28th was a transitional day of clouds and breeze. We are on our way to a cold front coming through on Tuesday with heavy rain and dropping temperatures.

I've gotten into a gray rut by mixing French ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson and cadmium yellow light together. To break out of this habit I mixed French ultramarine with cadmium red and cadmium yellow deep to create the gray in this painting. See any difference?

These soft low cumulus clouds were in the northwest on the 28th at 1:45 pm with peeks of blue sky between. With the wind they were moving steadily northeast at about 15 mph.

Cirrus and altocumulus

2011-11-28T11:13:00.000-05:00

The bell weather cirrus clouds are now joined by some altocumulus clouds. This one caught the beginning of sunset colors at 4:30 pm on Sunday, November 27th. Notice that the cirrus clouds are too high to have any color reflected onto them. Only the low cumulus clouds shown with color at this early point in the sunset.

Our weather change continues with Monday's forecast including overcast skies, warm temperatures and rain overnight.

Cirrus clouds

2011-11-28T11:04:00.000-05:00

Here again are the heralds of changing weather patterns, the cirrus clouds. I've noticed that cirrus clouds show up about 72 hours before a frontal system. These sketchy cirrus clouds covered the sky on Saturday morning, November 26th, which was a warm and lovely day.

With a high temperature of 70 and a low of 54 and breezy sunshine all day, it did not feel like November. This was a day to treasure and remember deep in February when I'll be longing for the warmth of the sun on my face.

Sunset and Venus

2011-11-28T10:48:00.000-05:00

Here is Venus, although I did not know that it was she at the time, about to disappear below the horizon and into the colors of the setting sun on Friday, November 25th at about 5:30 pm. When I'm painting a celestial body, I try to think about whether it is a planet or a star so I can look it up later.

What's the difference? My rule of thumb is that stars twinkle and planets glow steadily. Stars are nuclear factories constantly flaring and creating energy so they pulse in light which becomes twinkling. Planets are lit by reflected light from a star and therefore the light appears constant.

Thanksgiving sunset

2011-11-28T10:19:00.000-05:00

This is the sunset on Thursday, November 24th, Thanksgiving evening, at 5:10 pm reflected in the eastern sky. The intense colors were much more colorful that the sunset in the west that night. There were no shapes of clouds, just color reflected onto the atmosphere.

Here's a poem by Lee Rudolph that seems appropriate for a Thanksgiving of intense sunset color (it could be fog!). It is called "Little Prayer in November":

That I am alive, I thank
      no one in particular;
and yet am thankful, mostly,
although I frame no prayer

      but this one: "Creator
      Spirit, as you have come,
come again", even in November,
on these short days, fogbound.

Another cold front

2011-11-23T18:40:00.000-05:00

Heavy thunderstorms overnight and clearing this morning have made for a dramatic day of skying. These clouds were painted at 10:30 am today, November 23rd, facing northwest and they were moving pretty briskly to the east.

The temperature range is also dramatic--a high of 72 degrees and a low of 40 is forecast. The beautiful blue sky of the morning gave way to heavy overcast skies and chill temperatures with continuing 10-15 mph winds from the north and northwest. And for Thanksgiving Day--a cool, clear and lovely day!

Day of clouds and intermittent rain

2011-11-23T18:27:00.000-05:00

The whole day of Tuesday, November 22nd, was overcast with vague, blue-gray and blue-violet clouds covering the sky. This painting was done at 1:30 pm facing west with the amorphous shadows of stratocumulus clouds above.

This is forecast to be the early part of big thunderstorms coming in through during the night. We've had light showers every so often during the day with thickening of the cloud layer as the day went on.

Big cumuli

2011-11-22T09:25:00.000-05:00

After brief ran showers yesterday morning the sky cleared and then the big cumulus clouds began rolling into central Virginia. These beautiful giants were separate, not a single mass, with peeks of cerulean blue sky between them.

This was painted about 1:30 pm facing north on November 21st. The clouds continued to gather all afternoon leading to light rain in the early evening and overnight. Clouds and rain are forecast for the next few days up to Thursday, Thanksgiving Day.

Tale of two sunsets

2011-11-21T10:15:00.000-05:00

The sun is now setting just before 5 pm. On Saturday, November 19th, the sky was clear and cerulean blue with these large cirrus clouds reflecting the rosy glow of the setting sun.

In the second image, 24 hours later, massive altostratus clouds dominate the entire sky.This painting tries to show the stark contrast of clouds in front of the setting sun (violet) and clouds behind it (orange, red & yellow).

Painted at 4:50 pm on Sunday, November 20th, this painting is all cloud, no sky and the colors of the sunset are framed by the shadowed clouds like the leading in a stained glass window.

The altostratus clouds indicate the coming rain forecast for Sunday night continuing through Monday.

Contrails or cirrus clouds?

2011-11-21T09:51:00.000-05:00

Contrails, short for condensation trails, are visible trails of condensed water vapor exhausted from jet engines. Often they appear and fade away almost immediately. Sometimes they linger in the sky as trails or are teased out into wisps by the wind. In the latter case, they look like cirrus clouds.

It is thought that after contrails spread out, they essentially become cirrus clouds and affect the planetary climate in similar ways. On days when contrails disappear almost immediately, one can expect continuing good weather. When contrails persist for hours, there will be a change in the weather.

Friday, November 18th was a transitional day from our cold front to warmer weather leading into rain by Monday. This sky pattern was visible at about noon on November 18th in the southeast.

Cold front

2011-11-17T18:04:00.001-05:00

Tuesday, November 15th dawned warm and drizzly. The high was 75 degrees and the low 58. The cold front moved in from the southwest bringing showers and damp air, and lots of clouds. By 5:30 pm, when the top painting was made facing west, the rain had settled in for the night.

The second painting is a study of thunderclouds in the west on Wednesday, November 16th, at 4 pm. The clouds had become more thick all day with thunder and lightning in the early evening and through the night. The torrential rains caused warnings of flash flooding in suburban and urban areas with a total rainfall of almost 2.5 inches for the day.

After another warm day with a high of 70, the temperature began to drop almost 20 degrees to just above 50. As Wednesday night became Thursday morning, that was the high temperature and we are down to 40 now with clearing skies.

In the last image, here is the back of the front, so to speak, as it moves away to the northeast leaving bright blue skies and cool temperatures behind it. This was the view of the sky on Thursday, November 17th, at 4 pm with the temperature down to 40 from a high of 53 degrees.

Cirrus sunset

2011-11-15T12:02:00.000-05:00

Not too many possible painting days for sunsets left in 2011; soon it will be dark when I leave work. As it is, this sunset was available only from the car last night at 5:15 pm on my drive home. Facing west, the cirrus clouds had shadows on the top of the cloud since the sun was below them. These streaks of pink lit up the still-blue sky with violet shadows increasing every second.

The sun set on November 14th at 4:59 pm and the time of nautical twilight is 5:58 pm. In general, nautical twilight, or nautical dusk, is when you can no longer see well enough outside to do anything. In astronomical twilight, or astronomical dusk in this case, the sun is far enough below the horizon that it does not brighten the darkness. And, one can begin to see the stars and planets.

Mackerel sky at night, sailor's delight?

2011-11-14T15:39:00.000-05:00

Well, a mackerel sky indicates instability in the atmosphere possibly leading to thunderstorms if moist air moves in. So, maybe not a sailor's delight. This nighttime mackerel sky was painted about 7 pm on November 13th while facing west. The leading edge of the front is on the right (north) with the scales of the mackerel following behind.

These altocumulus clouds are roughly parallel and are said to resemble the scales of the King Mackerel. The King Mackerel would have been familiar to Atlantic sailors and is still plentiful today. This is a beautiful fish, silvery and glistening. You can tell that it is as fast as quicksilver.

Moonrise with low clouds and Aldebaran

2011-11-14T15:29:00.000-05:00

On Saturday, November 12th, the moon rose in the east at about 6:45 pm and was accompanied by low clouds immediately above it. Also keeping company with the rising moon was Aldebaran, a great red giant star in the constellation Taurus.

As the moon rose higher in the night sky, the clouds came between us and the clouds shone with moonlight. The name Aldebaran is Arabic for "the follower" perhaps because it appears to follow the Pleiades star cluster. Aldebaran is the eye of the bull, Taurus. Here's the StarDate description of November 12th.

11 11 11

2011-11-14T11:09:00.000-05:00

So, what to paint on a day that only comes around once every century? This is the only day that has all the same digits, excluding the 20 in the year. How about pretty little puffy cumulus clouds in a cerulean sky on a beautiful fall day? Here it is, a view to the west, painted at, of course, 11 am.

Full moon with thin clouds

2011-11-14T10:50:00.000-05:00

The November full moon has several names. According to the Farmer's Almanac it is the Beaver Moon, the time to set beaver traps before the swamps froze. The Old Farmer's Almanac agrees with Beaver moon. StarDate calls the November full moon the Frosty moon with no explanation except the obvious one.

Many more names are listed in the Wikipedia entry for the November full moon: Hunter's moon, Beaver moon, Frost moon, and Snow Moon. Calling the moon by its name makes one think more about the natural rhythm of the seasons.

This full moon was covered by thin clouds passing north at 11 pm on November 10th. The clouds around the moon reflected its light through the diffuse layers. It was a magical sight!

Almost full moon and Jupiter

2011-11-10T14:38:00.000-05:00

November 9th

Here is last night's almost full moon (95% illumined) and Jupiter. Painted at about 10 pm and looking straight up in the night sky, the moon shown very brightly and Jupiter held its own beside her. The forecast for tonight's full moon includes overcast skies which will obscure it so I thought it better to take a portrait while I could. I really like the feeling of light around the moon.

Altostratus sunset

2011-11-10T14:14:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday, November 8th we had a beautiful sunset of altostratus clouds in the west at 5:30 pm. Seemed like a good time for Coleridge and his romantic turn of phrase. I particularly like "head bent low / And cheek aslant see rivers flow of gold / 'Twixt crimson banks".

By the way, in nubibus is Latin for in the clouds, vague or undefined. These altostratus were well defined.

Fancy In Nubibus, Or The Poet In The Clouds

O! it is pleasant with a heart at ease,
Just after sunset, or by moonlight skies,
To make the shifting clouds be what you please,
Or let the easily persuaded eyes
Own each quaint likeness issuing from the mould
Of a friend's fancy; or with head bent low
And cheek aslant see rivers flow of gold
'Twixt crimson banks; and then, a traveller, go
From mount to mount through Cloudland, gorgeous land!
Or list'ning to the tide, with closed sight,
Be that blind bard, who on the Chian strand
By those deep sounds possessed with inward light
Beheld the Iliad and Odyssey
Rise to the swelling of the voiceful sea.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Waxing gibbous moon with Jupiter and Hamal

2011-11-08T09:30:00.000-05:00

November 7th was beautiful clear night after a cool and cloudless day. The waxing gibbous moon was at 82% illumination and was kept company in the east at 7:30 pm by Jupiter (lower left) and Hamal (upper left). Hamal is the brightest star in the constellation Aries and is known by astronomers as Alpha Arietis.

This drawing was made with 4B and 8B Derwent sketching pencils which add richness and texture. The moon's face is completely unintentional but shows where the idea of the man in the moon originated. When one really looks, there's a semblance of a face.

Waxing gibbous moon in daylight

2011-11-07T09:29:00.000-05:00

The moon rises during the afternoon in the east and yesterday (November 6th) at about 4 pm was high above the horizon and well above the trees. This beautiful fall day was cloudless and cool, the red and golden leaves blowing in the breeze against a bright blue sky.

The waxing gibbous moon is growing toward full on Thursday. Yesterday it was at 76% illumination. You could also see the remainder of the dark moon if you looked very closely. This painting still has pencil in the moon's border and face where I sketched it in. I am always interested in other artist's work that leaves the sketch below the painting.

Night clouds lit by the moon

2011-11-07T09:17:00.000-05:00

So imagine the moon shining off the paper to the upper left, lighting up the clouds. That was the scene at about 9 pm on Saturday, November 5th. Facing west, I couldn't see the moon which was blocked by the house over my left shoulder. These clouds streamed south across the sky getting denser and covering more of the sky as I observed.

Night clouds are such an intense color as if they have soaked up the lights below and the moon above. The color is a glowing pink with subtle shadings from the night sky seen through the diaphanous clouds.

Perfect fall day

2011-11-05T13:05:00.000-04:00

Friday, November 4th was a perfect fall day with gentle breezes and orange and gold falling leaves. Rain came in the night and dawn was overcast. The afternoon sky was a clear cerulean blue deepening to ultramarine in the higher atmosphere. Small puffy clouds were blown south into the sunshine at 4 pm. They were lovely to watch, a fragile parade.

The clouds were between me and the sun and so the shadows were strong on each of these insubstantial fluffs. Apparently having a shadow is characteristic of altocumulus clouds which makes them easy to distinguish from high-atmosphere cirrocumulus clouds.

Art historian Kurt Badt, in The Cloud Studies of John Constable, proposes two perspectives to view Constable's cloud studies:

One can look at these cloud studies in two very different ways. One can observe their faithfulness to nature and their accuracy; (although that is not their most striking quality, it would be hard to find anything to equal them elsewhere in paintings of the atmosphere). Or one can approach them as pictures (albeit of strange subjects), as compositions, and then one will become aware of the intellectual element in them, or the 'poetic' element, to use the terminology of the Romantics.

In all the sky, an artist selects the compositions from the expanse before her. The challenge of creating a three-dimensional world on paper or canvas is great.

Cirrus and cerulean

2011-11-03T18:38:00.000-04:00

Today was a day of high wispy cirrus clouds in a deep cerulean sky. Well, maybe a little bit of cobalt blue is mixed in at the top for vibrancy. These clouds were painted about 2 pm facing the east.

The large number of cirrus clouds in the sky today seems to forecast rain in our near future. Cirrus clouds in great number precede a frontal system or upper air disturbance. The clouds which follow today's cirrus should be nimbostratus, or low-lying rain-bearing clouds which will move into Virginia overnight.

Waxing crescent moon

2011-11-03T18:09:00.000-04:00

Last evening, November 2nd, was the waxing crescent moon--its face turned toward us half illuminated by the sun. It was a cool, damp and misty night down at ground level at about 9:30 pm. In the sky above, the space was clean, crisp and vast.

This moon, although half illuminated from our point of view, is at first quarter. The first quarter and third quarter moons (both often called a "half moon"), happen when the moon is at a 90 degree angle with respect to the earth and sun. So we are seeing exactly half of the moon illuminated and half in shadow. (Source: www.moonconnection.com)

November 1st

2011-11-02T14:37:00.000-04:00

Today marks three months of cloud and sky images. Keeping up this discipline has been challenging, frustrating and time consuming but now I feel that I can't go to bed at night without doing a picture. This challenge has also been rewarding beyond my ability to describe. My life is richer for the process and the focus.

Tuesday's painting is large enough that the scanner cannot capture it all so I have a photo. These giant cumulus clouds spotted the southern sky at 2 pm separated by rich pools of cerulean and ultramarine blue. The clouds were bright white and fluffy with very dark shadows that look full of rain to me. The contrast of the cloud to the sky was almost vibrating with crisp color.

Halloween

2011-11-01T10:29:00.001-04:00

October 31st was overcast and cool. With only a 10 % chance of rain, there seemed little possibility of trick or treating being wet. When this painting was made at 5:30 pm, facing east, the sky was very cloudy with a little break of blue-gray sky. Dark cumulus clouds filled the horizon in all directions.

By 6:30 pm, prime time for Halloween visitors, the clouds dropped their rain and everyone was soaked. The heavy rain continued until about 9:30 pm. It was only the most determined parents and children who made their way from door to door with umbrellas held high and raincoats over their costumes.

Waxing crescent moon

2011-10-31T10:44:00.000-04:00

The Sunday sky was clear of clouds all day. It was a crisp and clear fall day in which one is warm in the sunshine and chilly in the shade.

The waxing crescent moon was 31% illuminated last evening, October 30th. Rising in the southwest, this portrait was taken at 8 pm with the moon still low over the neighboring houses. Despite the previous few days of wind and rain, trees have hung on to their leaves on lower branches. The upper branches are bare.

The moon is on its way to full on November 10th and growing in light each night. I like how the shadowed moon still appears in this painting like another ghost barely seen, the Arches paper watermark. The watermark is probably only visible to me, but look for it to the right of the moon reading Arches sideways.

More nimbostratus clouds

2011-10-31T10:21:00.000-04:00

Dramatic nimbostratus clouds covered the sky again on Saturday, October 29th sometimes with breaks of sun-lightened cloud like these in the west at about 4:20 pm.

We had rain all day totaling an inch and a third and a very small range of temperature change with a high of 45 and low of 36 degrees F.

This cold (and wet) front moved through the middle Atlantic states and up the eastern coast to cover New England with a foot and a half of snow. An early winter this year!

Cloud, clouds everywhere

2011-10-31T09:46:00.002-04:00

These nimbostratus clouds covered Virginia on Friday, October 28th. Nimbostratus are our frequent rain clouds that cover the sky and provide day-long showers. That is in contrast to the nimbocumulus clouds which are associated with thunderstorms and sudden, violent showers.

I painted these clouds at 6 pm facing the west. The air was so cool (about 36 degrees F) we also had sleet in the early evening, just before this painting was made.

Since clouds are so amorphous, it seemed a good time to quote part of Goethe's poem "To the Honoured Memory of Howard" honoring Luke Howard, a Quaker, whose 1820 classification of cloud types inspired so many artists and scientists:

But with pure mind Howard gives us

His new doctrine's most glorious prize:
He grips what cannot be held, cannot be reached,
He is the first to hold it fast,
He give precision to the imprecise, confines it,
Names it tellingly--yours be the honour!--
Whenever a streak (of clouds) climbs, piles itself

together. scatters, falls,
May the world gratefully remember you.

And, we do.

Complex cloud layers

2011-10-28T14:34:00.000-04:00

October 27th was very warm, with a high of 79 degrees and 77 percent humidity This was in advance of a cold front that has dropped the temperature overnight to the current 45 degrees.

Due to the cold front, a complex collection of clouds covered the evening sky. Cloud types in this sky are cirrostratus, cumulonimbus and cirrus which are all typical of a cold front.

This drawing was begun at about 6 pm with blue-gray, rose and crisp yellow-white clouds in the eastern sky. All that color and I decided to draw in graphite! I was intrigued by all the shapes and tones of the clouds so I found a nice sharp 4B pencil and got started.

Pencils are graded by their hardness. The harder the graphite the lighter the line drawn with it. Here's a link to the HB scale to see where 4B (soft) fits into the scheme. The old number 2 pencil from school days is usually an HB pencil which is in the middle of the scale.

Jupiter's big night

2011-10-28T11:50:00.000-04:00

On October 27th, Jupiter was in opposition to the sun and at its closest point to earth and its brightest light for the next 11 years. This painting was done on October 26th at about 10 pm facing the east because I knew that the sky would be completely overcast on the 27th. Planet Jupiter out shown all the stars on this night.

Sometimes during the evening, the altocumulus clouds obscured Jupiter. I chose a moment when the clouds were moving away to the northeast (upper left in the painting).

Altocumulus clouds appear as parallel bands of puffy clouds in warm weather and indicate coming rain or thunderstorms.

Fair weather cirrus clouds

2011-10-26T15:03:00.000-04:00

The most common form of high-level clouds are thin and often wispy cirrus clouds. Typically found at heights greater than 20,000 feet (6,000 meters), cirrus clouds are composed of ice crystals that originate from the freezing of supercooled water droplets. Cirrus generally occur in fair weather and point in the direction of air movement at their elevation (source WW2010 University of Illinois).

I like the way these turned out because they do look like a curl of hair. This was painted on October 25th at 6:20 pm.

One note about using hot press paper: I find that I have to wait longer between glazes for the paint to dry extending a 15-minute painting over a two-hour time frame. Hot press paper has a smooth finish that seems to hold the pigment above the paper surface. Although the paper takes longer to dry, it is also harder to remove pigment down to the paper color. It stains very quickly!

Coleridge's sunset

2011-10-25T09:42:00.000-04:00

Painted about 6:45 pm on October 24th facing the west. Cool, sky almost free of clouds except this little conjunction of cumuli blown northeast.

Sunset

Upon the mountain's edge with light touch resting,
There a brief while the globe of splendour sits
And seems a creature of the earth; but soon
More changeful than the Moon,
To wane fantastic his great orb submits,
Or cone or mow of fire: till sinking slowly
Even to a star at length he lessens wholly.

Abrupt, as Spirits vanish, he is sunk!
A soul-like breeze possesses all the wood.
The boughs, the sprays have stood
As motionless as stands the ancient trunk!
But every leaf through all the forest flutters,
And deep the cavern of the fountain mutters.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1805.

Pink stratus wedge

2011-10-24T11:18:00.000-04:00

Sunday's (October 23rd) eastern sunset was a wedge of pink stratus clouds with a blue-gray sky above. This was the appearance at about 6 pm after a mostly sunny day with few clouds. There was little wind and the air was cool so that in the shade it felt chilly.

The maple trees still have beautiful orange, red and yellow leaves attached, but it will take only one good windy rainstorm to strip them. The fallen leaves are gathered in great drifts that come halfway up one's calves. Even the fallen leaves are still lovely colors, faded versions of the trees' glory.

Improbable lumpy clouds

2011-10-24T10:58:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, October 22nd, the clouds appeared in the eastern sky at about 6:45 pm. They were low and lumpy as if a dog skidded on the carpet and pushed it into folds. There was very little light left so the clouds are almost the same tone as the sky above. Their shadows were the most distinct part of them.

As I looked at them, I thought that they looked unrealistic all stacked together just above the horizon. I am guessing that these are Stratocumulus cumuliformis because they still have the puffy (or lumpy) cumulus shape.

A day of gathering clouds

2011-10-22T11:24:00.000-04:00

The forecast on October 21st was for a sunny fall day and it began clear and bright. As the day wore on, little clouds blew in from the south and by 4 pm when this painting was made, larger cumulus clouds were showing up.

These clouds kept company in the west on their way northeast. Later in the evening, the sky was full of clouds and by night, completely overcast.

Here is an excerpt from Kurt Badt's John Constable's Clouds:

Most of [John Constable's] cloud studies seem to have been painted in 1822, however, as Constable reported (on October 7), 'I made about fifty careful studies of skies, tolerably large to be careful.' Leslie, who was probably the first to see them, felt at once how extraordinary these studies were. He has told us that 'twenty of Constable's studies of skies made during this season were in his possession'; and he said 'there is not one among them in which a vestige of landscape is introduced. They are all painted in oil, on large sheets of thick paper, and all dated with the time of day, the direction of the wind, and other memoranda on their backs.'

Today dawned clear and cool

2011-10-20T13:56:00.000-04:00

As I've been making a record of the weather over the path couple of months, I've noticed that there are fewer clouds earlier in the day. Clouds seem to move in about 11 am and then build up over the afternoon. I think this has to do with the rising temperature during the daylight hours.

These little cumulus clouds were the the early arrivals at about 10 am in the east. They were blowing northeast on this gusty, clear and cool day. It is a very Fallish day with blue skies, cool temperatures (about 60 degrees F) and red, yellow and orange leaves swirling in the gusts.

I've recently found a wonderful book by Kurt Badt called John Constable's Clouds. Written in German, but translated by Stanley Godman and published in English in 1950, this book seems to reflect the fascination I feel for Constable's cloud studies. Kurt Badt was a German art historian born in 1890 in Berlin who died in 1973 of suicide while despondent. He was interested in the meaning of color in paintings and questioned deeply rooted principles of art history. This charming and insightful book will prove a good companion to my year of Constable.