One of the most enjoyable emails I receive is the Cloud Appreciation Society, and here’s the latest. In this there’s a survey to ask if you think there should be a (I assume we’re talking international here) Cloud Appreciation Day. If we can have National Cupcake Eating Day, why not?
I’ve missed posting the last couple newsletters….something to do with having been on a mental hiatus from normal art life for half a year… but here’s one I couldn’t resist. The time lapses of the storms are especially spectacular. I’ve been more inspired my clouds since we’ve had actual ‘weather’ here recently instead of the plain cerulean dome. The California low desert needs a bigger share of the rain from the storms now sweeping in (just not on weekends as there is the occasional art fair back in existence now…..).
Always have fun reading the Cloud Appreciation Society newsletter but this one is extra special – the Cloud of the Month for August is amazing. Check it out!
It’s my pleasure to announce that one of my paintings was accepted into the 4th Annual Skies Exhibition with Fusion Arts. I guess I have been working with Fusion for quite a while as I was accepted in the 3rd Annual also. And further joy, as they’re local to me, I was able to meet them a couple years ago – back when we met people IRL!
Anyway, enjoy the virtual exhibition HERE.
I loved this quote from the beginning of the Cloud Appreciation Society’s Newsletter.
“You have to regard yourself as a cloud because, you see, clouds never make mistakes. Did you ever see a cloud that was misshapen? Did you ever see a badly designed wave? No, they always do the right thing… But if you will treat yourself for a while as a cloud or wave, and realize that you can’t make a mistake whatever you do. Because even if you do something that seems to be totally disastrous it’ll all come out in the wash somehow or other. Then, through this capacity you will develop a kind of confidence, and through confidence you will be able to trust your own intuition.”
From the lecture ‘Way Beyond Seeking’ by Alan Watts (1915-1973).
Always my pleasure to pass along the Cloud Appreciation Society’s occasional Newsletter.
If you are – or you decide to become – a member of the society, you can also join local groups of cloudspotters. I started the Imperial County California group, and then was encouraged to merge with the Borrego Springs group. It’s a small world of little towns and big spaces under this open sky and the coordinator of the Borrego Springs group was none other than a client of mine!
Now that we have the two groups merged, it’s actually catching us at the least-busy time of year for cloudspotting here. Plain blue is installed almost without exception through about the end of July. We might get some thunderheads to look at in August! But if you’re in our catchment area, please join us and we can start sharing some of the clouds when they return from their sojourn.
Always my pleasure to pass along the CAS Newsletter. I recently became the leader of an Imperial County Cloudspotter group. If you’re into clouds – and I am – in fact at the moment I’m writing this I’m inside a cloud because it’s raining – you should consider joining – and if you’re in Imperial County, join the cloudspotter group too. We don’t always have a lot of clouds around here, so they’re more of a treat!
I love the desert rain when you can see it falling from a distance – sometimes the air below being so dry the rain never reaches the ground – the effect known as virga.
#1409 Desert Virga. Watercolor collage on foamcore, 7.5×5.5″ in mat to fit 10×8 frame. $45.
Contains the haiku:
Desert virga falls,
precipitation transforms
into a thin veil.
Another little collage, ready to go. Very appropriate for a post on a cloudy day.
#1406 “Sky’s War”
Watercolor collage on foamcore, 7.5×5.5″ with mat to fit 10×8 frame. $45. Haiku written for it reads:
Clouds are the sky’s war,
The strategy and battle
and sometimes, the blood.
Skyscapes for the Soul - Jeni Bate 