Soft pink night clouds

03/29/12, 10:50 pm, looking up

On overcast nights, when one looks up at the sky, the moving softness of clouds roiling above can be magical. These night altocumulus blew to the northeast (toward the bottom left). The deep blue darkness winking in between the pink fluffy clouds.


This March day was warmer than usual (in the mid-70's) and mostly overcast and breezy. 

Night clouds lit by the moon

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.

Night clouds

Last night's changing weather pattern from misty rain to crisp clear and windy raced by in these fast-moving cumulus clouds punctuated by gaps of blue-black night sky. I was facing the east at about 10 pm watching these boiling clouds and the glimpses of dark sky emerging between them. The rain was still misting lightly and the air was humid.


The clouds were moving to the left in the watercolor toward the northeast. The temperature began to drop slightly after 11 pm and kept going through the night to reach about 50 degrees F by early morning.

Night clouds

Clouds after dark are lit from below if there is no moon and it is hard to figure out what color they are. In the abstract, we know that clouds are gray (rain) or white (fair), and pink, purple and orange at sunset and sunrise. At night they absorb the ambient light from below and reflect it back on us. 


These clouds seemed white in contrast to the darkness of the night sky, but they were probably more blue gray where they thinned to reveal the space beyond them.


I have not found any examples of John Constable painting a night landscape, so no night clouds for Mr Constable. These were painted about 9:30 pm facing west on Monday, September 19th.