Nuvens | Clouds (Obscura nº1) from Eduardo Brito on Vimeo.

Over the past year Clare Rose been collecting a sky diary, and using Facebook as a way of sharing these images with friends. Other people have joined in and it has been a great way to connect with people all over by looking at the same, but also very different sky.

Clare would love the chance to create a worldwide sky diary over the course of one day – June 21st, the solstice.

Over the course of the day, she is inviting people to capture three images of the sky. One in the morning, one in the afternoon and one again at evening/dusk – or night if people have the equipment and skills for night skies.
She is hoping to collect 1500 images of the sky from all over the world and from these images complete a series of paintings. She is not yet sure of the full scope of that, however you will be acknowledged in anything that comes of this endeavour. By submitting your photographs, you will be consenting for them to be used for any work, publication, artwork that might come of the event and all participants will be acknowledged.

So if you think you would like to be involved, or know someone who might be keen to participate, please sign up and spread the word.

Here is what to do:

1. Let Clare know you are going to take part – She needs at least 500 people to commit to this so invite your friends along. There’s an invitation on Facebook called fifteen hundred skies. Join!
www.facebook.com/events/499127830135320/?fref=ts

2. Set yourself a reminder to take photos on the 21st of June this year – in fact set three reminders, one for the morning, afternoon and again at dusk. It doesn’t have to be at the same time, people’s situations are all different, just choose three occasions over the day to take the time to look up and capture a sky. Just use your phone, don’t worry about having your camera. Whatever is convenient.

3. Take your images – it can include buildings, nature, anything – though the focus is the sky. It doesn’t have to be beautiful – it can be grey, misty whatever you are offered. It will change over the day!

4. Record three words to capture where you are at, what might be on your mind, how you feel, what the sky “says” to you, memories – just three words. It might seem completely random – that’s ok.

5. Record where you are – e.g. Oxford St, London, UK, paddock, Grass Valley, WA, Mount Cook, South Island, New Zealand and the approximate time. e.g. 2pm, mid afternoon.

5. Send your images through to fifteenhundredskies@yahoo.com along with your words and locations.

6. Watch this space. If Claire knows you are taking part, she can keep you involved in what happens with this project so please let her know.

Any questions/suggestions, please email Clare or post a message on the Facebook event page.

Only 6 weeks to go – spread the word, She needs your help to get this off the ground – literally- and start looking up!

When: Thursday, May 2, 2013
Time: Doors open at 7pm. Talk starts at 7.30pm
Where: Rook Lane Arts, Rook Lane Chapel, Bath Street, Frome, Somerset BA11 1DN, UK
Cost: £8 (£6 concession) + booking fee
Book tickets: You can buy tickets from the Bath Box Office…

When: Thursday, May 2, 2013
Time: Doors open at 7pm. Talk starts at 7.30pm
Where: Rook Lane Arts, Rook Lane Chapel, Bath Street, Frome, Somerset BA11 1DN, UK
Cost: £8 (£6 concession) + booking fee
Book tickets: You can buy tickets from the Bath Box Office…

RSPB Old Moor and The Cloud Appreciation Society have joined forces to create a perfect day of cloud gazing with a slideshow, talks and a chance to just lay back, look at the sky, and relax.

Date: Sunday 19 May
Talks: at 11 am and 2pm given by the Cloud Appreciation Society Photo Gallery Editor, Ian Loxley.
Price: The event is free but the reserve entry fees apply: £4 adults, £2 children, £2.50 concessions.

Full details of the event can be found here

Norfolk and Norwich Festival are looking for enthusiastic cloud spotters to come and participate in an exciting installation taking place in Norwich city centre from the 11th to the 26th May.

We are currently inviting groups to come and hold different happenings, discussions, social encounters and events as part of ‘It’s all up in the Air’, by Irish artist Rhona Byrne. The piece consists of a series of large ‘black clouds’, which the public are invited to wonder through or sit underneath on carpet islands. The clouds are made from black modelling balloons, and play on the opposites of the playful, celebratory, light weight nature of the material and the tense twisted dark heavy mass of a storm cloud.

It would be great to have members of the Cloud Appreciation Society come and share their knowledge, experiences or even quirky facts so we can really make the most the space and this amazing project. We are up for all ideas and it would really be up to you about how you would like to run it – perhaps you would like to have an in-depth discussion about the science behind clouds, share images or stories, or just sit and chat. Our only request is that the public can join in and develop a greater understanding of what it’s all about!

If your group are based in Norfolk or the surrounding area and would be interested in hosting a meeting or discussion about cloud appreciation under the big black clouds, please contact Lizzie@nnfestival.org.uk for more information. For more info on the artist please visit her website

You can see the full details of this and other events at the festival here

A Fiery Brazilian Beauty

The Cloud of the Month for April was photographed over Brazil by Pilot Ron Engels from the flight deck, en route from Amsterdam to Lima. It shows a majestic vista of castle-like towering Cumulus and Cumulonimbus clouds extending for miles ahead. A pilot must plot his route carefully to find a safe passage through these cloudy battlements. You might think that, unlike real castle turrets, the ephemeral clouds wouldn’t present many problems for an airliner, but clouds like these have to be avoided at all costs. They contain violent up- and downdrafts of air that can flip a plane like a pancake. As the author G. K. Chesterton wrote, “There are no rules of architecture for a castle in the clouds”.

Photograph © Ron Engels.