Stormy sunset

03/27/12, 6:30 pm, looking northwest

These low and heavy cumulus clouds hung above the warm yellow glow of the sunset creating a dramatic contrast of complementary colors. We got showers late in the evening which cleared up completely by the next morning. More warm springish weather.

You know it's spring

03/23/12, 3 pm, looking north

03/24/12, 3 pm, looking east

In Central Virginia, you know it's spring when your car's windshield is dusted with yellow pollen. The wisteria is blooming in trees and along fences. The redbud and forsythia is in full bloom and the dogwood is just beginning to show its creamy white bracts.

03/25/12, 4 pm, looking northwest

You also know it's spring when huge cumulus clouds gather into gusty thunderstorms. The rain creates swirls of yellow pollen spirals in the puddles. Ah, spring!

Stormy Leap Day

02/29/12, Noon, looking north

Dark, heavy clouds against a soft gray overcast sky was the dramatic view in the north on Leap Day. With rain and gusting winds, this was a wet day but nothing like the terrible storms in the Midwest and deep South.

Warm, windy and stormy

02/24/12, 4 pm, looking north

So many big beautiful storm clouds--it was hard to choose one view of them. There was even a rainbow this afternoon. What else can one expect when it is 81 degrees in February?


We had wind gusts of over 40 mph that broke off tree limbs and rattled the roof. There was thunder and lightning but only about a quarter inch of rain. It was a dramatic weather day more like the lion of early March than the groundhog of February.

Cold front

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.

Thunderstorms from the west

Big beautiful cumulus clouds moved in yesterday evening a gave us a delightful thunderstorm in advance of hurricane Irene. Again these cumulus clouds were underlaid by thick stratus "dinner plates".


The day was breezy and warm but there was a hint of changing seasons in the air. Plants that looked thoroughly dejected revived in the rain and lifted their leaves.


Note that there is no earth visible in this watercolor, painted about 6:30 pm while facing west. The more solid forms in the lower third of the sheet are also clouds.

Sunday thunderstorms

During this very busy day, I managed to see these astonishingly beautiful clouds in the southeast above downtown Richmond as thunderstorms moved in from the west at about 4 pm. The light changed quickly as the larger, heavy clouds rolled in behind me. These cumulus clouds still caught the weird light of the day and held the dark of the coming storm.


This was a strong but brief storm with rumbling thunder and distant lightning. As it has so often been this summer, there was not enough rain. Gardens and lawns exhibit that late summer droop of fatigue and thirst.

Dismal clouds

Soot-stained clouds full of rain blew up from the southeast today. The fire in the Great Dismal Swamp continues to burn. Most of the day we had scattered clouds and sunlight, but about 4 pm the skies darkened and we got a shower you could see coming at you across the fields.


I was buying pickling cucumbers at Gallmeyer's Veggie Stand when the rain came down. It didn't last though. When I painted these dark clouds at 4:20 pm the rain was still holding off and blowing north. Hope it rains on the swamp.