Attention All Cloudspotters
You can’t look around when you’re looking up, so we’ve had a look around for you.
If you have cloud news that you think we should include here, please email it to us at: news@cloudappreciationsociety.org.
Cloud Appreciation Society member, Peter Kaiser from Vienna sent us this link to stunning indoor clouds that were created by artist Berndnaut Smilde. He uses smoke machines combined with lighting and interior atmospheric conditions along with meticulous experimentation to create these results. He told Gizmag “I wanted to make the image of a typical Dutch raincloud inside a space”.
Musician Brian Spence released his new album On the Mend on January 3rd 2012. We think that the cover photograpy is spectacular. It is an image of crepuscular rays and was taken by Angela Craggs.
Now you can go cloudspotting without
getting off the sofa
Buy ‘A Fantasia for Clouds’ from The Cloud Shop…
Unfortunately, Gavin won't be wearing his 'cloud 9' outfit, complete with fake legs. Sadly, it fell apart after he wore it at a previous talk.
Gavin would love to say hello to any cloudspotters who happen to be in the area and free to come along on Wednesday afternoon.
Cloudspotting by Gavin Pretor-Pinney
Wednesday 7 March, 5.15pm
Theatre By The Lake, Lakeside, Keswick, Cumbria, CA12 5DJ.
Ticket price: £7.50
Box Office: 017687 74411
Or go to the Theatre By The Lake website and scroll down to find the talk under “Gavin Pretor-Pinney” to buy a ticket online.
A stunning fog formation on the coast of Florida, US, is our Cloud of the Month for March. This dramatic wave effect made media headlines around the world. Well done to photographer, J.R. Hott, for capturing such a rare and beautiful formation.
You can see the March Cloud of the Month here.
Diana Willcox, Secretary of the Macclesfield Astronimical Society has asked us to let you know about an upcoming talk on Red Sprites. It will take place on Tuesday, April 3rd 2012 at 20.00 at Hulley’s, Astrozeneca in Macclesfield.
The speaker, Peter McLeish. is a multimedia artist, filmmaker and painter from Montreal. He has been involved in collaboration (based on Red Sprites) with American Scientist Walter A Lyons. Peter’s lecture will include a video presentation and footage of this startling phenomenon.
If you would like to attend this talk you should visit the Macclesfield Astronimical Society website to reserve a ticket and find directions.
Tom Benjamin currently has a solo exhibition running at the St Anne’s Gallery in Lewes called “In the Service of Clouds”. Alex Leith of Viva Lewes Magazine says “He’s a great painter, in the impressionist mode, who does all his paintings au naturel. He has developed a style whereby he kneels down to paint so as to get a snail’s eye view of the sky”.
The show started on 25th February and is running until 4th March. You can visit Tom Benjamin’s or the St Anne’s Gallery website for more details.
firstsite is a contemporary art gallery in Colchester. Jes Fernie, Associate Curator of the gallery recently contacted us about their current exhibition, Equivalents. The exhibition, selected by the artist Steven Claydon, contains a series of cloud studies painted by Constable during the 1820s.
Cloud Appreciation Society founder, Gavin Pretor-Pinney, will also be coming to firstsite to give a talk about clouds referring to Constable’s studies on 3 March 2012.
The exhibition runs from 4 February to 7 May at firstsite, Colchester, UK.
The heart in the sky over Saint Etienne en Devoluy, France. © Emily Morus-Jones.
“Prior to my accepting the job over here, breaking away from my old job, I was divided and in two minds as to what to do. I consulted one of my dearest friends whom I have known since we were both children and who completed a ski season last year in Meribel in the 3 Valleys. He told me that I had to go, and that I would not regret it. One week later he died under incredibly tragic circumstances, (for details please see the following link about the inquest a few days ago into his death) leaving a gap in the universe that will never again be filled and, in my opinion and that of others, leaving the world a far worse off place. As far as I was concerned I no longer had a choice, I had to go.
“Five weeks into my season, I was still in an incredibly fragile state, I still am now. However, I had been doing quite well at just getting on with it, telling myself that he’d kick my arse if he saw me moping all the time. Despite my efforts though, I did find myself being overcome with emotion from time to time. One such occasion I was sitting in one of the cafes on the slopes taking a break after boarding for 3 hours on my own. I was tired which didn’t help and I was depressed because I really just wanted one person who I could go out with and learn from. I kept on thinking about how different it would be if he was there, if he was with me. I found water to be welling up in my eyes so I looked up to the sky in the hope that if anyone saw me they would just assume that it was the sun in my eyes that was making them water. Attached you will find a photo of what I saw, I took two pictures just to make sure I wasn’t tripping or anything. Then, at the exact moment that I saw it, the music in the cafe changed to Pink Floyd, ‘Wish You Were Here’. Now I am generally quite a scientifically minded person, but that day I am convinced that he spoke to me. And even if it was all coincidence, I still found myself getting back on my board and riding like mad for the rest of the day.”
Emily’s story touched a chord with us. It made us think of the 1913 poem, ‘Clouds’, by the British war poet, Rupert Brooks:
They say that the Dead die not, but remain
Near to the rich heirs of their grief and mirth.
I think they ride the calm mid-heaven, as these,
In wise majestic melancholy train,
And watch the moon, and the still-raging seas,
And men, coming and going on the earth.
Read Emily’s blog here.
See Emily’s photograph of a heart on the society photo gallery.
Cloud Appreciation Society member, H Brown, recently sent us the link to the Met Office publication “Cloud Types for Observers”. This is an extremely good classification source and will be interesting for all cloud enthusiasts.
It can be found on the Met Office website here.
