Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Watershed Cumulus

This is the view to the east from the front yard of Watershed Farm. It is mid afternoon and fair weather cumuli have developed in the northwesterly flow. These cells are slightly capped by a layer but some cumulus clouds like the main subject and the one in the right background, have erupted through this cap. The clouds are sheared toward the southeast indicating strong northwesterly winds above the cap. Nothing bad was going to happen with these particular cumuli. It was a fair weather day ahead of an upper ridge. My main goal was to have fun with the colours and to try to capture the cloud and its texture without making the hard cumulus appear like a boulder in the sky. Clouds can be like "ink blots" to fathom the inner workings of the mind. Everyone sees something different - sometimes very different! I was just painting what I saw...

2 comments:

Kath Schifano said...

I watched these same clouds over Buffalo, off Lake Erie-they looked like white baseballs encased in fluff. Now I know that 'erupted' is the correct term for how the tops of the cumulus clouds appeared. My mother's nursing home has a clear view of -sky- and we have enjoyed a bumper crop of cloud colors & variety the past few weeks.
Kath Schifano
www.kschifano.blogspot.com

The Art of Phil Chadwick said...

Thank you so much... clouds are wonderful. The wind increases with height and has caused the clouds to roll over on their top edge and dissipate downstream as they tumble along.