Lee continues to fling bands of clouds and rain to the northeast. This was painted this morning about 10 am as we alternated gentle rain, sun, thunderstorms with lightning and pelting rain. I was facing east so the bands of clouds were moving upward to my left and off the paper. After getting most of this down in broad washes of gray, the sun came out and I was so dazzled by it that I couldn't see.
Naturally I set it aside and then got distracted by an article published in 1976 in The Geographical Review. It was written by Ronald Rees and is titled "John Constable and the Art of Geography". Here's the quote that struck me:
This dynamic view of the weather, which Constable was able to project in his paintings, has attracted the attention of meteorologists. In a paper commemorating the centenary of Constable's death, Bonacina, an officer of the Royal Meteorological Society, praised his skies for being "highly realistic, thoroughly true to type and full of dynamic force."
Dynamic indeed.
Has made central Virginia and much of the Appalachian region gray and rainy today. Lee is depressing but that's okay because it makes a change from the relentlessly sunny days that we've had this summer. This watercolor was painted about 2 pm facing the southwest (whence Lee comes). It includes the special addition of actual raindrops! Can you find them?
The forecast looks like Lee will be giving us rain throughout the week. Prepare for more gray paintings.
