LOOK UP!

Clouds on the high plains of NM

As I prepare for my next "5 Senses" painting, which will feature clouds, I've been looking up more to deeply observe clouds. It's been really fun, as oftentimes I'm looking down as I walk, or I am inside the studio, or just inside working. Lately, the sky has been full of fascinating clouds, as in the photo above on a dog walk outside of town, and the more I look, the more I see.

In addition to feeding my eyes and my mind with ever-evolving shapes, colors, and values, I find that my neck enjoys the break from looking down at a phone or computer. :)

In school, I learned some basics about clouds, but I realized I wanted to learn more about them so I could better understand how to paint them. As British painter John Constable said, "We see nothing till we understand it."

To that end, I found a delightful and fascinating book called "The Cloudspotter's Guide: The Science, History, and Culture of Clouds" by Gavin Pretor-Pinney, Founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society and a funny guy.

The book cover for 'The Cloudspotter's Guide" by Gavin Pretor-Pinney

What I'm appreciating is how the book not only looks at how and why clouds are formed scientifically, but also shares how artists, Romantic poets, writers, myths, world cultures, religions, and pop culture talk about clouds. It is anything BUT a dry read!!! (pun intended)

Here are just a few of the fun facts I've learned:

• There are about 350,000,000,000 water droplets in one cubic foot of a cloud

• The water droplets in one medium-sized Cumulus cloud (the puffy ones) weigh the same as 80 elephants

• In 1959, US Marie Corps pilot Lieutenant-Colonel William Rankin fell from 48,000 feet when his aircraft malfunctioned directly above a Cumulonimbus cloud full of rain, hail, lightning, and thunder, and lived to tell the tale

• It's estimated that 40,000 thunderstorms occur around the world daily

One of my favorite passages in the book states, "Although cloudspotting is an activity best undertaken with time on your hands, it is something that everyone can enjoy. Clouds are the most egalitarian of nature's displays, since each of us has a good view of them, so it really doesn't matter where you are".

That statement rings true to me; the sky and the clouds that form in it are free for everyone to look up and enjoy. Dear reader, it is my sincere hope that you do look up the next time you go outside and enjoy nature's show.

And, I'm happy to say that learning more about them has helped me paint them. Here is a recent cloud sketch that shows how I'm beginning to understand some of the dramatic forces involved in the cloud and how light interacts with the water droplets:

Cloud sketch in soft pastel by artist Lucy Finch, 2025