I enjoy reading – and passing on – the newsletters from the Cloud Appreciation Society. Here’s the latest. I’ve actually seen a low-bow myself, though it was draped across the top of the San Gorgonio mountains…. about an hour before the windstorm hit.
Here is an interesting video showing lightning in slow motion. And all this comes from air, water and movement.
https://birdinflight.com/news/industry/20160526-florida-lightning-slow-motion.html
I thought I liked this one that I put together yesterday. But I wasn’t sure. So I slept on it. (Well, not literally, that would’ve been really messy.)
Last night’s version of ‘Cascade’
This morning I toyed with it a little more – now I like it a lot better, I think it has more movement:
That’s the up side of working in oil. It’s not too late to change your mind the next morning.
Several people have wanted to see this upside down. It’s not the first time I’ve hung something upside down (The Road to Selfoss looked great upside down when I accidentally wired it the wrong way and hung it up before I realized.) So – here it is without the surrounding ‘wall diaper’ – upside down. Nah, it doesn’t work for me.
I was preparing for an upcoming poetry feature or two that happened to pop up in the next 6 weeks and decided to read a few poems from each of my books plus some newer ones. While going through the poetry folder on my laptop, I found a poem that I’d forgotten I’d written. I guess that’s what happens when I don’t exercise the poems after they’ve been completed. I think this one was inspired by a dream, rather than a storm, but as we can see with my train of thought, the sky is still playing a role!
A grove of trees
Near the top of the hill
A grove of trees
Stands in warming sun, refreshing rain
In storms, in blazing heat
In beautiful dawns and sunsets
Growing together, outstretched limbs
Touching and intertwining
Shedding leaves mingling on the ground
Budding together in spring.
A summer storm
Gathered beyond the distant mountain,
Rolled thunderheads like cabaret girls plumes
Water looking like smoke
Anger aloft for no reason
Power gathering, struck
One of the trees
Cast into flames briefly
Extinguished by a torrent
A spirit borne aloft into the wind.
And still we stand
Trees growing together
Still stretching, ever branching
Budding and shedding in the seasons
Seeds falling by and saplings sprouting
And a space amongst us
Left by one tree taken
Where sun now shines between.
Our branches still dance the memory
of your shadow on the grass.
This will be my second show in Toluca Lake – and this time I’ll be right outside the wonderful coffee store. If you’re in the area please drop by – I’m in space #10. Bring your umbrella, we’re forecast for the possibility of a cloud being delivered right to the booth.
Is that a start eyewall??
This time last week I was at my mother’s house in Wales. It rained. I was there for seven days and it rained (at least a sprinkle) for five of them. On the Tuesday night, it poured, and I was sleeping in an upstairs room that is partly under a flat roof and I could hear the rain delightfully.
I was happy to see lightning across the sea when I looked out the window this morning at about 4:30. I spent some time attempting to photograph it – my digital is not up to the task so we will see when I get the film back whether I had succeeded. Accuweather and NOAA had been promising the possibility of rain and this morning there was a brief shower. I regret finishing the task I was on before going out to dance in it, because it only rained for about three minutes, and I was too late.
This evening, there is a continued promise of rain – but as we are so far from any hills, it’s really just vague maybe. I did step outside once I saw the sky colors – now this is an interesting formation. Looks like the beginnings of an eyewall…. we don’t get those around here. I hope. But it will likely be the precursor to a painting. At least if the rain stays away we will have a meteor shower instead tonight.
I spent a lot of time poking water out of the awning, which doesn’t slant enough for runoff, but the tent top and see through tarps kept everything important dry.
They say that ‘once is one thing, twice is a coincidence, but three times is a pattern’. Well I’ve noticed of at Big Bear shows. I’ve shown there four times. The first time, the weather was gorgeous, if a little toasty, and I sold to people who lived in ‘down the hill’ in Orange County, LA County and San Bernardino County. The second time, we were threatened with 15% showers. I sold one painting to a local, it poured for two hours and flooded us out and I packed up in disgust and went home. The third time, my fans came from the Desert, Riverside County and San Diego County. We were promised 30% showers. It hailed for 15 mins, then rained for the balance of five hours. This year, we were promised perfect weather – until the day we went to set up. On Friday it poured for 30 mins hard, on Saturday we had an earthquake followed by 2 hours of solid rain and both roads out were at times blocked by landslides as a result of the combination of both. We needed the rain, just not that weekend!!!My new fans were from San Bernardino, the Desert, Orange County and San Diego.
First view of the desert – in this case the Mojave – but at least it’s desert
Conclusion – stay down the hill and do more shows on the coast during the summer! It was nice to get this view on the way home and know that the steep windy hairpin stretch that I hate driving only lasts five miles, and that I will never*** have to do it again.
#1095 The Early Worm… Watercolor collage on flat panel 12×12″ $180
It’s been a while since I’ve made the trip to the Yuma Art Center to restock in their gift store, Artistically Inclined – but tomorrow is the day, and it looks like I’m going to be blessed with slightly cooler weather for the trip, seeing as it is getting quite toasty here.
#1096 The Heron’s Nest. Watercolor collage on flat panel, 12×12″ $180.
I have three new watercolor collages on panel that I’ll be taking, and quite a few new small acrylics (the ever popular 4×4″ ones) and I know they ran out of The Skies of Peace and Passion a couple of months ago.
#1097 Flying over the orchid ocean. Watercolor collage on gallery wrap panel 12×12″ $250
The 4×4″ acrylics are at the end. I can’t get the canvases at a price that allows me to sell them at $20, so this is the last batch. I still have some though for the next few shows where I’ll show acrylics and oils.
Today it’s cloudy – I’m wondering if we’ll get an interesting sunset…. it’s been a while since I’ve seen a sky here that’s been worth the shot! Sadly though, no hope of rain. In the studio – I’m in progress on a refractured watercolor that will be going to Maturango Museum in Ridgecrest next month.
Plain blue sky.
Here are five progress steps for the painting I created at the 6th Indio Chalk Festival yesterday. I understand my painting is being washed away by rain as I write. That is the destiny of ephemeral art. It took about 5 hours.
Tops of clouds, early stages
Lower clouds taking shape
Golden reflection added.
Finished.
“August afternoon”. Sunset off my back porch – a reason to live here in the summer.
This Thursday and Friday I am scheduled to be working at the 6th Annual Indio Chalk Festival. I say scheduled, because on Friday, raining is also scheduled, according to noaa.gov and accuweather.com. We need the rain so badly. I intend to chalk my fingerprints off on Thursday! Unless I find a better photo between now and then, I will repeat ‘August Afternoon’ (above) in homage to the rain gods and will be content that my offering would be washed away on Friday. Also, hopefully the downpour will be completed by Saturday morning as this weekend I will also be at Frances Stevens’ Park for the Desert Arts Festival. For this show my work “Palm Springs Sunset” is featured on the event postcard.
Skyscapes for the Soul - Jeni Bate 