Lovely big cumulus clouds wafting through Virginia today. These were painted facing east at about 2 pm with the wind lightly blowing southeast.
This watercolor is painted on Arches rough watercolor block. If you look at the blue sky above the middle white cloud you can see some characteristic puddling of the blue pigment in a kind of pebbled texture. Also a feature of painting on rough paper is the broken brush stroke where the brush hair bounces over the uneven surface. An example of this is in the edge of the right-most white cloud on the border of the blue sky.
These scattered fluffy clouds in a row, possibly stratocumulus, reminded me of Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey which just celebrated 70 years since its publication. Mrs Mallard and her progress through Boston with her brood was an inspiration to parents who wanted safer streets and easier crossings. McCloskey's charcoal drawings are lively and reflect the personalities of the mallard parents and ducklings.
These clouds trailed by at about 8:15 pm last evening in the pale eastern sky catching a rosy reflection of the sunset. Stratocumulus clouds are thought to warn of coming thunderstorms and wind but once again the rain fell elsewhere. The parched grass is crunchy underfoot and the leaves are turning early and falling from the willow and maples.
This is a new Arches watercolor block in an almost 8-inch square format that I find very attractive. There is nothing like new art supplies to create excitement and excite creativity.
