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: hello@cloudappreciationsociety.org.
Cloud Appreciation Society founder, Gavin Pretor-Pinney, Member 001, was recently invited to join Amanda Yorwerth on the podcast, Environment Matters. They discussed all things cloudlike along with Cloud Appreciation Day which is coming up this Friday, 13th September.
You can listen to the Environment Matters Podcast here
Image credit: Lacunosus over Beaconsfield, United States by Cheryl Lappin
Clouds form when water vapour condenses or freezes around tiny particles, called cloud condensation nuclei, that are suspended in the atmosphere. These particles are hygroscopic, meaning they attract water. Examples of cloud condensation nuclei, also called cloud seeds, include dust, ocean salt, and sulfuric acid particles. Often, entirely new particles are formed in the atmosphere to create cloud condensation nuclei. It was previously thought that most of these new particles originated in the region of outflow winds from large convective clouds, like Cumulonimbus, at the top of the troposphere. But a recent study published in the journal Science suggests that another mechanism may also be at play – one that creates new particles in even more abundance.
The troposphere is the lowest layer of Earth’s atmosphere. It is where our weather happens, and it is also the region of our atmosphere where most of our clouds form, largely because it contains the most water. By contrast, the layer above the troposphere, known as the stratosphere, is typically very dry, and so only a few specific clouds are able to form up there. While these two atmospheric layers are distinct, they can sometimes mix with each other. One type of mixing occurs when a meandering jet stream causes the stratosphere to dip into the troposphere, a phenomenon known as stratospheric air intrusion, and this seems to be a major source for the creation of cloud condensation nuclei.
The stratosphere is rich in ozone, a highly reactive molecule. When this dry, ozone-rich air of the stratosphere intrudes into and mixes with moist upper tropospheric air, other highly reactive molecules known as hydroxyl radicals are created. These hydroxyl radicals in turn mix with sulfur dioxide, which is found in abundance high in the upper troposphere, to form tiny particles of sulfuric acid – just right to serve as cloud condensation nuclei.
This new research provides new insight into the formation and properties of clouds and how they regulate incoming and outgoing solar radiation. As such, it is a step towards a better understanding of the role clouds play in our changing climate.
Science Direct has published this informative article that goes into further detail about this important discovery.
Image: NASA
On May 28, 2024, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) teamed up to launch a 3-year mission called EarthCARE in order to profile Earth’s clouds to see what effect they are having on climate change.
Different cloud formations interact with sunlight in different ways. For example, the low, thick, and puffy Cumulus and Stratocumulus clouds act as giant reflectors, pushing solar radiation back into Space, whereas the high, thin ice-crystal clouds Cirrus and Cirrostratus allow sunlight to easily pass through them but act as giant blankets, trapping in the Earth’s radiation and thus warming surface temperatures. Tiny particles suspended in the atmosphere, known as aerosols, also either reflect or trap solar radiation. It all depends on their composition. Some of the tiny particles are natural, such as desert dust or sea salt, and some unnatural, such as pollution. The aerosols are also crucial in the formation of clouds, for they’re the seeds onto which all cloud droplets and ice crystals form.
But scientists have a long way to go when it comes to understanding the complex interaction between clouds, aerosols, and solar radiation. This is where EarthCARE comes in.
Launched at California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, EarthCARE, an acronym which stands for Earth Cloud Aerosol and Radiation Explorer, is equipped with a variety of instruments able to make 3D profiles of clouds and aerosols in our atmosphere, measuring their compositions and relationships with both reflected solar and emitted thermal radiation, ultimately providing scientists with a better understanding of the role clouds and aerosols play in the global climate.
Along with all this, EarthCARE will be able to provide meteorologists with valuable weather information, such as the speed of precipitation falling from clouds and the intensity of updrafts within Cumulonimbus storm formations – an important indicator of thunderstorm severity.
If you want to find out more about this exciting mission, the website LAist has published a helpful article about it called Unlocking The Clouds and ESA has published an informative short video about it called Unravelling the mysteries of clouds.
Image: ESA
On August 2nd, UK-based soundscape artist Justin Wiggan is releasing Skydentities: Cloud Scanner the first album of music generated by clouds. The tracks were produced using a device, known as a cloud scanner, that was created by Wiggan in collaboration with artist-engineer Dominick Allen. The device collects light and colour from the clouds converting them into electrical signals to trigger musical notes via synthesisers. This setup allows musicians to use the cloud-generated data as a foundation for their performances. Wiggan invited select guest musicians to respond to the cloud-generated sounds, interpreting the sonic characteristics of clouds in real-time.
Wiggan, who also worked with the Cloud Appreciation Society to create the Memory Cloud Atlas to collect views of the sky on Cloud Appreciation Day, has named the tracks on Skydentities after each of the ten main cloud types. The album, he says, is “centred on our profound connections with the skies.” He hopes the music, inspired and created by clouds, will “encourage listeners to engage with nature and their surroundings in meaningful ways to take skies into people’s daily mindfulness routines as part of new wellbeing rituals.”
Skydentities is released on August 2nd and can be pre-saved now.
You can already listen to Altocumulus, the first track on the album.
Tom Bean, Member 41,135 has shared details of an art exhibition CUMULUS: THE ART OF METEOROLOGY, that’s opening in Flagstaff, Arizona on June 29. The exhibit will run for three months and coincide with the arrival of the Southwest US Monsoon Season. He told us “While Flagstaff, is a small city, it is the jumping off point for many of the 5 million annual visitors who come to see Grand Canyon National Park. This exhibit would be of interest to CAS members, who come from all around the world.“
You can see more about this exhibition on the Coconino Center for the Arts website
Diana Bander, Member 49,101, spotted this article on The Atlantic website. The article, written by Zoë Schlanger, begins with the sky near to the equator. It states, “clouds and wind run the show”, explaining that tropical cloud systems drive global atmospheric circulation, which determines the weather around the world. It draws on the thoughts of Da Yang, an atmospheric scientist, and Tiffany Shaw, a climate physicist, both from the University of Chicago.
Image Credit: Cumulonimbus clouds over the Maldives spotted by Emilia Fulgido, Member 47,092
A small-scale experiment was recently carried out by a team at the University of Washington to explore a potential tool in the fight against the climate crisis: marine cloud brightening. The idea is that spraying tiny particles of sea salt into marine Stratocumulus clouds – the low, clumpy layer cloud that can form over large bodies of water – might encourage them to form more droplets of smaller sizes and thereby appear brighter by reflecting more sunlight. This, the argument goes, would reflect the Sun’s heat back up into Space, helping to cool the oceans below.
This first experiment of its kind in the US was conducted on the deck of a ship in Alameda, California, where the team sprayed into the air a mist of sea-salt particles to see how their size would be affected by different atmospheric conditions. The crucial aspect for the team is for these sea-salt aerosols to be just the right size to encourage the cloud droplets to form. If the salt crystals are too small, they’d be ineffective; too large, and they could potentially make clouds less reflective rather than more.
The experiment has not been without pushback. Some have argued that projects like marine cloud brightening represent a stopgap measure that would distract from tackling the root causes of climate change. Others have raised concerns about the potential for unexpected side effects were we to try to change the nature of cloud cover over large areas. According to the lead scientist in the project, Dr. Robert Wood, another decade of testing and trials would likely be needed before marine cloud brightening is even something that could be implemented at any scale.
The next phase of this experiment is for the team to start to quantify any effects the particles of sea salt have on cloud reflectivity out in the open ocean.
To read more about this test, and marine cloud brightening in general, here is an article by The New York Times and another by the University of Washington itself outlining further details.
Chicago’s Filament Theatre are in the final week of their production of Cloud Man.
Filament Theatre is the premier theatre for young audiences on Chicago, Illinois’ Northwest Side, and is delighted to present the magical Constellation Points’ Cloud Man.
The production is thanks to a new partnership between Filament and the Scottish theatre company Constellation Points.
A cleverly staged show featuring one performer, puppets, storytelling and lots of clouds, Cloud Man explores the ways we try to make sense of the world. It encourages audiences to notice the beauty and wonder to be found in everyday life. It’s a gentle lesson in the ways we can care for the world without controlling it.
Local adventurers can catch the final performances of Cloud Man April 27-28 by https://filamenttheatre.org/cloud-man/
Global adventurers can support Filament’s campaign to bring Cloud Man to schools and community spaces by visiting Filament Theatre’s website.
Instagram: @filamentplays
Facebook: Filament Theatre
The prehistoric peoples of the Colorado Plateau in the southwest United States knew a thing or two about clouds. And they shared their knowledge in the form of ‘cloud beings’ drawn and carved onto rocks that are still visible today…
This beautiful book about clouds by Nikki McClure is about the imagery she used to bring to life a long-forgotten television script by Rachel Carson, ‘Something About the Sky’ which aired on March 11, 1956. Nikki approached Rachel Carson’s estate and they granted permission for her to illustrate and publish the script. She explains that it’s full of Carson’s thoughts about the sky, and now it has become a book-shaped ‘something’ to inspire cloud gazing and wonder. The illustrations by Nikki McClure are mesmerising and this article shows how she created them.
You can read the full article here.
Thanks to Lisa Hixon, Member 49,482 for telling us about this.
Kathy Wilson, Member 58,037 recently told us about an exhibition by Andy Eccleshall entitled “Luminosity” that is showing at the Seattle Art Museum Gallery until 31st March 2024. Andy was previously a muralist but is now focusing on cloud art and with pastoral landscapes to the far reaches of the sky, Luminosity spotlights his work.
Read more about the exhibition on the My Edmonds News website
Cumulonebulous is an exhibition currently running until 23rd March 2024. It features works by Chris Dorland, Thomas Hart Benton, Jacob Jackmauh, Tim Lyons, Elbert Joseph Perez, Nora Maité Nieves, Rachel Rosheger, and Viktor Timofeev.
Exhibition Preview
Book a Viewing Appointment
Image: Thomas Hart Benton, Threshing, 1941, Lithograph (ed. of 250), 9 1/4 × 13 3/4 in (23.5 × 34.9 cm)
A recent study has shown that Cumulus clouds begin to disappear during partial solar eclipses. The study, published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment in early February 2024, used satellite cloud measurements from three solar eclipses between 2005 and 2016, and the results showed that Cumulus clouds over land began to dissipate when around 15% of the Sun’s disc was obscured by the Moon. This is because Cumulus clouds feed off columns of rising air, called thermals, and these rising thermals are formed by the heat of the Sun shining down onto the ground. As the Sun begins to be obscured, less of its heat reaches the ground, halting the formation of Cumulus clouds. This halting is, however, only temporary, for Cumulus begin to form once more after a solar eclipse has passed.
The findings of this study show that scientists may be underestimating the amount of solar radiation that reaches Earth during solar eclipses, for low, thick clouds, such as Cumulus, tend to reflect solar radiation and have a cooling effect on the planet. That solar eclipses affect cloud cover has implications with proposed climate engineering techniques. As Victor Trees, one of the researchers who worked on the study, said: ‘This could be a warning for climate engineering. If we eclipse the Sun in the future with technological solutions, it may affect the clouds. Fewer clouds could partly oppose the intended effect of climate engineering, because clouds reflect sunlight and thus actually help to cool down the Earth.’
To find out more about the relationship between Cumulus clouds and solar eclipses, you can read this article published by Phys.org (which includes a direct link to the study in full).
Image: NASA
The English word ‘cloud’ stems from the Old English clūd, meaning ‘boulder’. It is therefore fitting that the clouds on distant exoplanet WASP-107b are made of particles of silicate – minerals that are often the main constituents of sand. It is thought that the sand on WASP-107b behaves in a way reminiscent of Earth’s own water cycle: particles of silicate form clouds in the upper atmosphere. These particles then rain back down into the hotter layers of the planet’s atmosphere below, where they evaporate. In its gaseous phase, the silicate then rises and condenses back into the solid particles of cloud. This process then repeats in cycles, rather like the water cycle on Earth – but with sand!
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope was used to carry out this research. It is the first time the chemical composition of another planet’s clouds has been detected, and its findings provide a unique insight into both the differences and similarities that can exist on planets other than our own.
You can read more about these clouds of sand in this NPR article.
Image: What would clouds of sand look like? Nobody knows, but probably not like the above since it’s an upside-down photo of the Sahara Desert. Image © Pierre André CC BY-SA 4.0.
An exhibition showing clouds portrayed in both art and photographic form is currently happening in Zürich, Switzerland, running until March 10, 2024.
A collaboration between the Image Archive and the Graphic Collection of ETH Zürich, the exhibition covers different printmaking techniques involved in cloud imagery, as well as asking philosophical questions about the very nature of capturing images of clouds. As the official press release says, ‘Constant movement and ever-changing form are of the essence of clouds. Their mobility and variety make them impossible to pin down – yet, by the same token, clouds can be anything: from the sublime embodiment of longing and an ominous portent, to the dwelling of the gods, to a mere accumulation of condensed water. But if the essence of clouds consists in their perpetual motion and formal metamorphosis, how can they be captured in an image?’
You can find out more about this exhibition by visiting the ETH Zürich’s website.
The exhibition is being held at:
ETH Zurich
Graphische Sammlung
HG E 52
Rämistrasse 101
8092 Zurich
Switzerland
+41 44 632 40 46
info@gs.ethz.ch
Image: Einsame Farm auf der öden Hochfläche Südafrikas bei Kimberley by Arnold Heim
© ETH Library, Image Archive
Noreen Reilly, Member 48,298, sent the link to an article published on the CNN website about the purple-pink streak of light that looks like an aurora when it hovers over the Norther Hemisphere but is in fact, something completely different known as ‘Steve’.
The two aurora scientists mentioned in the article, Dr Elizabeth MacDonald and Dr Eric Donavan, have both been experts on Cloud Appreciation Society Sky Holidays to view the aurora in Canada.
You can read the full article and see more images on the CNN website
Emily Fischer is an editorial fellow with Midstory, a non-profit ‘thinkhub’ in the Midwest which encourages the exchange of ideas and envisions the future of the region through multimedia storytelling. She contacted us as she was working on a story about how asperitas clouds have been seen across the Midwest and wanted to include information about the cloud’s official recognition. Society founder, Gavin Pretor-Pinney was pleased to help and worked on the story with Emily, sharing with her the background to its recognition and describing it as “Very much like the surface of the ocean when you’re underneath, looking up. But not on a kind of calm day with regular waves — more on a chaotic, choppy day”. Emily told us “I’m so honored to have your perspective as an integral part of its discovery!”
The article is very detailed and well written. You can read it in full here
Sing Blues in Grey, an exhibition showing off thirty paintings and watercolours of the moody cloud-heavy Scottish skies by American artist Jon Schueler, is running in Eton, Berkshire, England from 28th September until 5th November, 2023.
For more information on how to attend this event, please visit the official exhibition’s website via this link.
Image: © Jon Schueler
We tend to think of clouds as being an Earth-based phenomenon, but they also exist on other planets. On Neptune, the Solar System’s furthest planet from the Sun, cloud coverage appears to correlate with the 11-year solar cycle. The blue ice giant planet is usually covered in bands of white cloud, which become more frequent two years after the solar cycle’s peak, where the Sun’s activity increases. However, since 2019, the clouds have been disappearing, with latest imagery from the Keck II telescope showing clouds being found only on the planet’s southern pole. ‘This is extremely exciting and unexpected, especially since Neptune’s previous period of low cloud activity was not nearly as dramatic and prolonged,’ said Erandi Chavez, of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard-Smithsonian (CfA).
To discover more about this fascinating finding, you can read this article published on NASA’s website.
Images: NASA, ESA
Clotilde Wang, Member 37,435, recently told us about a French broadcast entitled “Head in the Clouds”. The translated programme description states:
“At the beginning of autumn, the course of the clouds parades, carrying showers and clearings. If we cannot grasp them with our hands, we can nevertheless grasp them through the arts and sciences. From the mapping of clouds, which reveals their territories to us, to meteorological engineering, which makes it possible to make rain fall, through their pictorial and poetic study, we learn to know them better”.
You can listen to the broadcast here
Image: Cirrus over Rossmoyne, City of Canning, Western Australia, Australia © Rosa Bud
Noctilucent clouds, also known as polar mesospheric clouds, are ice-crystal formations found in a region of the upper atmosphere called the mesosphere. They form at altitudes of 50 miles (80 km), right up near the fringes of Space, making them Earth’s highest clouds. Named with the Latin for ‘night shining’, they have a bluish glow as they catch the light when the rest of the sky is dark. The clouds are seen only during twilight hours when the Sun is below the horizon (between 6° and 16° below, to be precise). They are only visible during summertime, and from mid-to-high latitude regions of the world.
Over the past few decades, sightings of noctilucent clouds have become more frequent. They have been seen from more extensive regions, appearing further south in the Northern Hemisphere, for instance. It is possible the increasing frequency of this mysterious and ghostly formation is a consequence of our warming climate.
You can read more about noctilucent clouds and their possible connections to climate change in this BBC Sky at Night Magazine article.
Photograph: noctilucent clouds spotted over Schleiz, Germany by Juergen Klimpke.
Marilyn Murphy, artist and CAS Member 41,144, shared with us the news that Vanderbilt University’s Ralf Bennartz is to lead a NASA mission to study ice clouds. This is a NASA satellite mission, supported by a grant of up to $37 million, aimed at better understanding Earth’s high-altitude ice clouds. Ralf Bennart, Stevenson Chair and professor of earth and environmental sciences, will lead the mission, which will underscore Vanderbilt’s cutting-edge contributions to comprehending our planet’s climate.
You can read the full article on the Vanderbilt University website.
ATTENTION ALL AMATEUR WEATHER PHOTOGRAPHERS! Enter your best weather photos in the 2023 Weatherwise Photography Contest. Winners will be featured in the September/October 2023 issue. One grand prize, one first prize, two second prizes, three third prizes, and several honourable mention prizes will be awarded.* All winners receive a one-year online subscription to the only magazine about the weather – Weatherise. SEND IN YOUR ENTRIES TODAY!
Hans-Georg Arzt, Member 44,560 send us details of this exhibition at Museum Sinclair-Haus, Löwengasse 15, 61348 Bad Homburg v.d.H. It is running from 19th March to 13th August and you can see more about it on the gallery website or by downloading the exhibition catalogue
Heike Negenborn, Member 8,845, an artist from Windesheim, Germany currently has a solo exhibition entitled “Landscape Stories” at the Galerie Hübner & Hübner, Frankfurt. It’s running from 17th March to 22nd April 2023.
The subtitle of this Netscape is “Changing Landscape”. The artist explaineds “In the series of monumental overview landscapes, which were awarded the Palatinate Prize for Fine Arts and the Wilhelm Morgner Prize, I combine cloud and earth fragments with perspectively fanned-out grids, which transform into digital pixels dissolve and mutate into network landscapes, into Netscapes. The reshaping of the cultural landscape is underpinned by the reduction of my otherwise strongly colored palette to black and white tones and by the depiction of the landscape as a construct. Clearly visible construction and perspective lines reveal my strategies and support the depth effect in the picture. The works deal with the relationship between nature, its image and its multimedia transfer possibilities.”
You can find out more about Heike and her work on her website
Sisters Maggie (a mathematician) and Brynna (a chemist) recently interviewed Cloud Appreciation Society founder, Gavin Pretor-Pinney, for their Podcast BA in Science. They discussed all things clouds of course and there are two podcasts for your enjoyment:
King of Clouds and a special bonus episode about Luke Howard
When a cloud of iridescent colours and eyebrow shapes drew a crowd in the Himalayas…
Monday November 28, 2022 was the 250th anniversary of the birth of English chemist and amateur meteorologist Luke Howard, the man who named clouds. On a cold December evening in 1802, this modest young Quaker presented a lecture called ‘On the Modification of Clouds’ to members of his scientific debating club in London. Howard had loved the sky ever since he was a young child, and he proposed in his talk a system for naming the recognisable forms of clouds with Latin terms like those used for plants and animals. For millennia, a consistent and systematic way of referring to cloud types had eluded great minds. Many insisted clouds were too chaotic and ephemeral to be classified, or that naming them served no purpose. But the simple, science-based system of classification Howard proposed struck a chord not only with his audience that night but soon with an international scientific community and even with poets and artists. Luke Howard, much to his discomfort, became a celebrity across Great Britain and Europe. He was applauded for opening people’s eyes to the recognisable forms of the sky and for successfully arguing that Latin terms would provide a lexicon to ensure consistency across international weather observations. Howard’s naming system, now codified and maintained by the UN’s World Meteorological Organization, still remains the official system used worldwide. This week we are theming our Cloud-a-Day emails on ‘Father of Meteorology’ Luke Howard to mark the influence he had on the sciences, the arts, and on everyday people looking up when he forged a new language for the sky.
This portrait of Luke Howard, likely painted by John Opie in c. 1807, is in the collection of The Royal Meteorological Society in Reading, England.
Photo © Derek Bayes. All rights reserved 2022/Bridgeman Images.
In Luke Howard’s 1802 lecture ‘On the Modifications of Clouds’ he proposed three main cloud families, or ‘simple modifications’ as he called them, which he named Stratus, Cumulus, and…
‘But Howard gives us with his clear mind
The gain of lessons new to all mankind;
That which no hand can reach, no hand can clasp…
Luke Howard was a tireless and disciplined weather observer who for decades kept daily records of his measurements in and around London. This diagram of the mean temperature throughout the…
The World Meteorological Organization – the official keeper of cloud classifications – has rigorously maintained the Latin naming system that Luke Howard first proposed in 1802. But nothing in the world of cloud is ever fixed, and so…
The sky in this watercolour from the first half of the nineteenth century was painted by Luke Howard. He became adept at depicting cloudscapes to use for illustrating his talks and publications about…
Attached high on the wall of a semi-derelict house at 7 Bruce Grove, Tottenham, London is an English Heritage blue plaque that reads, ‘The Namer of Clouds lived and died here.’ This was the home where Luke Howard spent…
Ann Kraus, Member 48,329, is holding a solo show at Pleiades Gallery in NYC from November 29th to December 24th 2022. She explains on her website “Clouds are a key subject in my skycap paintings. These omnipresent and ethereal gifts of nature are dynamic, poetic and can sometimes mirror our own emotions. The clouds are constantly evolving as they are buffeted by the wind and add drama and clarity to our world at sunrise and sunset. Being focused and cloud aware is certainly a needed antidote for our downward gaze at our digital screens”.
Edward Graham, editor of Weather, and Gavin Pretor-Pinney (Member 001), wrote the article “When Clouds Raise an Eyebrow – the case for a new supplementary cloud feature ‘Supercilium‘” to celebrate 250 years since the birth of Luke Howard. Supercilium are short-lived cloud features, which appear in turbulent airflow over, and to the immediate lee of, steep mountain peaks during periods of strong mountain summit level winds. The image shown here was used as our March 2022 Cloud of the Month.
Artist, Justin Wiggan, has started a crowdfunding campaign to fund the creation of a Cloud Scanner device to turn the appearance of clouds into sounds and haptic feedback for visually and hearing impaired children. He told us:
“The sky should be the most accessible thing of all so I’ll build a working prototype of a handheld device called a cloud scanner which reads clouds and converts the signal into sound which is then converted to a haptic signals which can be felt.
The funds will go on development of the tech , parts and testing so that children with sight impairment can hear and feel the clouds and allowing this accessibility to the sky for these children will have a major impact in wellbeing.
Climate action awareness sometimes forgets to include those who may be overlooked due to physical disabilities .
Cloud scanner allows a channel to trigger emotive and empathetic conversations leading to behaviour change in children that are sight impaired or blind. This gives a voice to those”.
You can see read more and see a video about his work on his CrowdFunder page
…in the Wolking Experience*
Kariene van Steenoven, Member 59,569, describes herself as a wonderer and storyteller of the earth who designs installations so that people can time travel in nature. Her latest walking experience shows yesterday’s skies and walking through them encourages participants to wonder more about today’s skies. She is currently crowdfunding this idea to go to Ameland Art Month in November with 30 printed sky-frames.
* ‘Wolk’ means ‘cloud’ in Dutch
If you’d like to make a donation please visit her crowdfunding page.
You can also see a short film to see how the wolking installation works on her Instagram account
Fleur Flowers, Member 54,145, sent this article from cnet.com showing Mount Rainier appearing to erupt. However, it was quick to reassure readers that all was well as the formation seen atop the volcano was actually a lenticular cloud created by moist air pushing over the top of the mountain.
You can read the full article and a brief video on the cnet.com website
Cloud Appreciation Society founder, Gavin Pretor-Pinney, was recently invited to join Mary Bermingham on her “Nature Magic” podcast. The podcast is a positive voice for nature and Gavin very much enjoyed the informal chat about clouds. Mary subsequently told us she had been extra observant of the clouds since the interview.
Frank Swaringen, Member 59,459, recently wrote a children’s book entitled “There’s Tur-Bul-Lance Up There”. It’s written for children aged 4-8 with a positive message, explaining to them in an imaginative, endearing and fictional way, why we see shapes in clouds. It is published by Dorrance Bookstore and can be ordered from them or purchased online through Barnes & Noble, Amazon and Walmart
Diana Ewer is curating an exhibition of Skyscape cloud paintings by American artist Jon Schueler (1916-1992) entitled “Reflections on the Sound of Sleat”. The exhibition will be at the Caledonian Club, London and will run from 29th September to 4th November 2022.
The official press release reads:
“Jon Schueler: Reflections on the Sound of Sleat” on view in the Caledonian Club’s newly renovated drawing room from 29th September presents a seminal exhibition of Scottish abstract skyscapes. Described as “A home away from home for Scots in London”, the club would undoubtably have appealed to the late American painter Jon Schueler (1916-1992) who was a Caledonophile at heart.
A member of the Second-Generation Abstract Expressionists, whose mentor at the California School of Fine Arts was Clyfford Still (1948-1950), Schueler, having achieved both critical and financial success in New York with the Leo Castelli Gallery, set off to the Western Highlands in 1957. Settling in the small fishing village of Mallaig, he found in the Scottish landscape, most notably in the Sound of Sleat’s weathering skies, a source of intense feeling and expression that would become a constant touchstone and enduring influence on his paintings. In 1970 Schueler returned, to establish a new studio at Romasaig, a former schoolhouse by the sea, just a mile from Mallaig. The artist would paint there year after year until his death in 1992.
These seven Romasaig skyscapes from the 1970s and 1980s are as vibrant as the day they were painted and can be interpreted as distillations of Schueler’s direct experience of the constantly shifting weather. These works are deeply personal, revealing through layer upon layer of paint, an artist who tirelessly dedicated himself to capturing the evocative and fleeting moods of the sky on canvas. “In Scotland, I have looked each day at the lonely horizon, at that line (or is it a line?) where the sea and the sky meet. I have tried to understand it and tried to know how to paint it and what the painting of it might mean. I have seen the light immediately above and I have seen the light immediately below. I have tried to understand the shadow and the reflection upon reflection.” I But these paintings also hold a universal appeal, especially resonating with those who are familiar with the ever-changing dramatic sea and skyscapes of the Isle of Skye and beyond.
“Building on the artist’s recent London retrospective in 2019 at Waterhouse & Dodd, it is an honour to show Jon Schueler’s paintings in the company of the Caledonian Club’s own fine art collection. We hope the show will encourage further interest in the artist’s work, and that Schueler’s skyscapes will strike a deep emotional connection with those familiar with the coast of the Western Highlands.”
Diana Ewer, Curator for the Jon Schueler Estate.
The Jon Schueler Estate is represented by Waterhouse & Dodd Fine Art, London & New York.
Running concurrently at their London gallery, 16 Saville Row, W1S 3PL “Coming up for air: an exhibition of paintings by Jon Schueler”, 30th Sept– 28th Oct, 2022, please contact: Jonathan.Dodd@waterhousedodd.com
Renée Loth recently wrote a column in the Boston Globe about the joys of cloudspotting and the feelings it can evoke. It’s a beautifully descriptive piece and we hope you enjoy reading it as much as we did. Thanks to Lynn Bruneau, Member 42,098 for drawing our attention to it.
You can read the article here
CGI artist and painter, Matt Wilson, has sent in his series Surreal Cloudscapes. Matt created the CGI cloudscapes in the recent ‘Lightyear’ Pixar movie, but during Covid isolation he began experimenting with creating cloudscapes on his own. He calls his art series Sentinels, and they were recently featured in the Solo Show in New York City.
Matt explained to us how he goes about creating clouds on computers. “Clouds are elusive creatures”, he told us, “and as such require a wide spectrum of methods to represent their forms and movement. Even with today’s massive computing power they still push the edge of the technology, which for me reiterates their magic out in the real world. In movies, television or games, any time you see a puff of smoke, or a cloud or fog or any “volumetric” effect, they are typically represented by something called “voxels”, or volume pixels. Essentially little cubes filled with a certain amount of “density” or a given substance (water droplets, smoke, etc)… often billions of them (yes that does take up a LOT of data storage). You can stack those cubes into a shape by either sculpting it into place, like a sculptor with clay, or you can use the much more complex process of using physics simulations to choreograph the volume into place. Both are equally fun but the later of the two gives you the opportunity to try to understand the underlying physics”.
We asked Matt to explain how he references real clouds when sculpting his digital ones. “
Observation and understanding are my first steps,” he explained. “Combing through the years of C.A.S. images, google image search and my edition of the cloud spotters guide is usually where I begin. I go about my simulation setups by trying to evaluate the source of humidity from the ground up and then the surrounding atmospheric conditions; temperature gradient as the cloud rises up in the air, sheering forces and turbulence. Mammatus undulatus is a great example of a cloud formation where the shape of the turbulence is much easier to visually see, relative to other more complex cloud types like cumulus fractus. You can think of the overall cloudscape as a recipe… a combination of several of types at various altitudes. You begin with a big cumulus congestus formation built using a simulation surrounded by some hand-placed, sculpted, cumulus humilis clouds and “ice the cake” with a layer of altostratus clouds that can be sculpted using some fractal math”.
We think the clouds are really convincing and we’re so pleased that the real clouds on the CAS Photo Gallery have served as inspiration.
You can see more of Matt’s work on his website
We have just launched a Kickstarter to create a website for Cloud Appreciation Day on Friday September 16th. The Memory Cloud Atlas will be a free resource for anyone, anywhere to share their sky on this day and the feelings it elicits in them. Help us record a worldwide snapshot of richly diverse perspectives on the sky and preserve it as a record for the future. Please support this Kickstarter and bring people together by sharing their love of the sky.
NASA is researching clouds in the upper atmosphere of Mars and it needs your help to spot them. If you’re interested in doing some extra-terrestrial cloudspotting, join in with NASAs Citizen Science project to help recognise the tell-tale signals of Martian clouds on the readings from the Mars Climate Sounder, an instrument on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The clouds are likely composed of water ice and carbon dioxide ice. Your input in spotting them from their satellite readings will help us better understand these Martian clouds.
More information can be found here
