When it’s all about sky….
August 1, 2020
Lately here in Kamloops, British Columbia, we’ve been treated to cloud Cirque du Soleil. Each time I step out on our deck, there’s another stunning performance in progress:
As a student of watercolour, the challenge of painting skies on location doesn’t come from the medium itself because all it amounts to is sloshing water-tinted pigment over paper.
It doesn’t get more immediate than that.
Clouds are suspended water vapours being moved about by the atmosphere and wind. So a marriage made in heaven–immediate subject matter matched with an immediate medium, yes?
Um, well, maybe for some…. It takes a lot of confidence, deftness and elan to nail a quickly changing sky, and those aren’t exactly my gifts.
What helps move my senior’s ass is panic-induced adrenaline, like the time I brought all my equipment down to Kitsilano Beach in Vancouver. Perched in my umbrella-shaded lawn chair, sipping iced tea, leisurely sketching the Vancouver skyline, I noticed the sky dramatically changing from a fluffy blue to an angry charcoal.
After lugging everything from the parking lot to the shore, I wasn’t about to give up my precious spot for a little weather. Prudence did step in, however, and whisper in my aging ear that I had only minutes to accomplish what I’d been taking hours dallying over.
And then the rains came down, bruising the top of my umbrella, the beach crowd scattering, wind whipping the waves. As the saying goes, ‘in for a penny, in for a pound’, I finally found my spine and went for it, drops pelting my paper, gusts throwing up sand.
weisserwatercolours 
….what a lovely comment. Thank you, Kim.
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Beautiful result. So glad you weathered it for our enjoyment now.
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“A marriage made in heaven” is an apt way to speak about a celestial phenomenon. It’s good that you stayed for your pound’s worth.
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Thank you Kerfe for being so supportive.
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Nothing like a good kick to finish up. Clouds are definitely the kind of thing that never seem quite right and so are easy to overwork. But Mother Nature times it just right for you here. (K)
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Thank you Lance. Appreciate the kind thoughts very much.
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So appreciated, David. I hope everyone visits your site today to view something not only beautiful, but the definition of ‘gorgeous’: “. . . I start out in darkness, and slide into Twilight. . . “
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Beautiful!
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And thank you!
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…..through you, we know all about the subtleties of sky, Michael. thank you!
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And what a sky it is! Impressionism, literally.
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…..and now I know I have another painterly colleague in you, Sabiscuit! Thank you very much for stopping and commenting.
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Great seeing an artist truly dedicated to finishing a project. And I know for a fact that you guys exist because I’ve been outdoors in torrential downpours with groups of artists patting away at canvases with oils.
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