Natalie Christensen is an award winning photographer whose focus is ordinary settings, seeking the sublime in colour fields and shadow. She now lives in New Mexico and like many artists, was drawn to the distinctive Southwestern light. The above piece is entitled “You can’t get there from here”
You can see more of her work on her website
Massimiliano Squadroni, continues his project “The Sunrise from Alps to Apennines” and this timelapse was filmed over Frontignano, Belvedere at 1650m on 3 November this year (Apennines, Monti Sibillini, Italy). He told us he would also like to start an appeal to save the glaciers.
Minnie Biggs, Member 4,330, recently sent her poem about the skies over Bhutan, which is situated on the Himalayas’ eastern edge. We’ve accompanied it with an image from Michael Ellis “Aladdin’s lamp spotted over Bhutan, South Asia“
Go to Bhutan
Cloud heaven
we are looking at the clouds in the distance
we are below the clouds
we are in the middle of the clouds
We are above the clouds,
Looking at more clouds
in the clouds is different
Than above or below
Wet damp not rain wet
And the mountains
That meet the clouds
Embrace the clouds
Are embraced by the clouds
Intermingle with the clouds
seldom one without the other
In Bhutan
Clouds
Heaven
© Minnie Biggs
Kathleen Frank is an artist who now paints landscapes after many years specialising in woodcarving and fabric printing. The above painting is called “Hogan’s Storm”.
You can see more of her work on her website
Michael Menger, Member 16,382 was able to observe clouds at their own height 500 m above the Atlantic on the southwest coast of Madeira. He told us “it was a stunning spectacle at sunset which left me with mouth agape”.
Ann Kraus, Member 48,329 has an upcoming show in NYC. The title of the show is “Spirit In The Sky” and features her cloud paintings and skyscapes. This will be her third solo show at the historic Pleiades Gallery and will run from 29th October to 23rd November.
More information can be found at www.Pleiadesgallery.com or www.annkrausstudio.com
Dan Barstow, Member 41,557 introduced us to the ‘Earth Music Theatre’ which he curates. Each week he features a new movie with one of the latest being ‘Pathway to the Centre’ which musically describes walking a labyrinth. Set to Bach’s Cello Suite 1 in G Major, performed by harpist Laura Zaerr, the journey takes you from serene clouds to the eye of a hurricane and back to serenity.
Sherry Palmer, Member 27,151 recently made a return visit to the Isle of Skye from her home in New England, USA. She told us “Painting the mountain on the mainland, Beinn Sgritheall, was a different challenge! It glowed in purples and blues. The mainland hills and Skye in general, continue to have me in awe of their beauty, after 36 years coming here to paint!”
Cloud enthusiast Dora Drake, shared ‘In the Clouds’ an album by Michele Ippolito. Its relaxing ‘atmospheric’ music is great to listen to whilst watching clouds.
Kathleen Grace Bennett, Member 20,977 told us her favourite thing is to paint clouds. She lives along the New England coast of the US and this is one of her oil paintings entitled “Sunrise Splendor”.
You can see more of her work on her website
Eileen Hennemann, Member 27,616 was extraordinarily lucky to have her camera ready to video these Asperitas clouds over Ontario, Canada on 6th October 2024. She says “We dashed outside to see a narrow swatch of storm clouds that had creeped up from the US midwest and actually accelerated through our area.”
Julia Dedieu, Member 63,285 sent this, her second work in the “Azure Sky” series entitled “Cumulus congestus of azure sky“. It is painted in oil on canvas.
You can see more of Julia’s work on her website
Simon Rickman, a cloud enthusiast, was inspired by our Cloud Poetry section to send us a Haiku he wrote a few years ago. He also sent the featured photograph taken on 7th April 2023 near his home in the UK.
purposed clouds glide by
on missions to somewhere else
leaving me behind
© Simon Rickman
Starr Sutherland, Member 58,384, wrote to tell us about a small show she is part of at the Far Out Gallery, San Francisco from 20th September to 27th October 2024. She told us that “these photographs reflect my fascination with Ocean Beach. During the pandemic years, to get away from the computer, I spent most sunsets walking on the beach”.
Kathy Miles is a poet living in West Wales; her fourth full collection was published by Indigo Dreams in 2020. This is a poem she wrote about Luke Howard with a photograph by Jan Boles of Anti-crepuscular rays over Idaho, US.
Cloud-Whisperer
after Luke Howard, 1802
He named them because he could.
For the thrill of cirrus on his tongue,
cumulus and stratus a banquet
on the palate. Obsession ached
inside him, the need to claim
and classify. The logic of shape.
He envied their resolve,
the purpose that kept them feral,
wandering from place to place
like nomads, always heading
to the next clear patch of sky
that argued its blue emptiness.
Seeing them submerged in sea
or lake, he wanted to raise
them like a grounded swift,
throw them high as he could,
then call them back to his side
by the names that he had gifted.
Now I watch their floss and bustle,
like a woman hurrying to work
worries building inside her; ragged
fractus, weary with the day,
shapeshifting into mist, keeping
its nose to the grindstone.
Their bellies are full of storm
and fire, while mine has emptied
of passion. I think of the man who
organised the skies; how nothing
pleased him more than waking
to quilts of nimbus, cirrostratus.
© Kathy Miles 2023
Scott Willhite, works from his studio in Boulder, Colorado. His traditional oil paintings focus on the natural landscapes of the surrounding area with this one being entitled “Brewing”.
You can see more of his work on his website. You can also follow him on Instagram
Dan Barstow, Member 41,557 and Education Mission Specialist at the Association of Space Explorers introduced us to the ‘Earth Movie Theatre’. Working with world-class musicians they combine music with ISS movies of Earth. The one here is part of the Trio Sonata for Organ by Johann Sebastian Bach performed by world class organist Brian Hoffmann with a day view of the Earth taken by astronauts on the International Space Station.
Chuck Metcalfe, Member 61,468, sent us a poem he wrote in November 2023 and a photograph he took at his camp in Stockton, New York, that inspired it.
Ladder to the Clouds
If I could build a ladder to the clouds, we could climb so high into the sky.
We could frolic and play, and stay all day, just the two of us;
while we jump and bounce from Stratus to Cumulus.
We might sing and dance on Altostratus; or perchance ride the mares’ tails of Cirrus Uncinus .
Amongst the Cirrus we would search freely in, until we find a parhelion; petting that sundog we could do, and maybe see its halo too.
Nimbostratus would not ruin our day, if above the rain we were able to stay.
Even Cumulonimbus with its flashy show would look different from above you know.
We would have our own park without the crowds, if I could build a ladder to the clouds.
© 11/17/2023 Chuck Metcalfe
Joan Pogalies, Member 62,612 from Ohio USA, created these Lake Erie clouds. They are photos on metal at 3ft x 5ft each.
You can find out more about her and her creations on her website
“From Above the Clouds” is an excerpt from the composition “Wasteness of the Sky” by Anita Andreis
Resa Blatman, Member 57,717, is an artist from Somerville, MA and recently submitted some of her cloud related art. The main image is called “Climbing the Hill to Consciousness, 2023” painted in oil and acrylic on wood panel (size: 48h x 36w inches). She told us “I’m currently making a lot of moss paintings for an upcoming solo show. All of them have clouds as their backdrop because, for me, clouds and moss are the perfect pairing”
You can see more of her work on her website
“Little Green” is a solo exhibition of moss and sky paintings by Resa Blatman
McCoy Art Gallery at Merrimack College in Andover, Massachusetts, U.S.
Opening reception (free and open to the public): Friday, September 20, 2024, 6:30-8 pm
https://www.merrimack.edu/academics/rogers/art-galleries/
Leah is a cloud enthusiast who regularly watches the clouds from her window at work.
Image: Fibratus over Yarra Glen, Australia by Phil Chapman
Whispers in the Sky
Soft whispers drift in endless skies,
Where clouds like dreams in silence rise.
They dance in hues of white and gray,
A gentle pause in life’s busy day.
They paint the dawn in shades of gold,
A canvas vast, a story told.
By noon they gather, thick and deep,
Guarding secrets that they keep.
At dusk, they blush in twilight’s glow,
As day concedes to night’s soft flow.
In moonlit nights, they softly glide,
A silver veil where stars can hide.
Transient, free, they roam the blue,
Ephemeral as morning dew.
They teach us that to drift and roam,
Is sometimes how we find our home.
Claire Bywater, Member 55,303, is a painter who includes clouds in most of her work. The main image is entitled “Cloud Atlas (iv)” and the one below “Cloud Atlas (ii)”
You can see more of her work on her website
From the Earth Movie Theatre, this is Jazz Clouds Day, by Steve Thomas’ Folktales and Fusions. Dan Barstow, Member 41,557 and Education Mission Specialist at the Association of Space Explorers introduced us to the ‘Earth Movie Theatre’ and we are thoroughly enjoying the music of world-class musicians combined with ISS movies of Earth.
Beverly Leach, Member 26,259 is an artist who loves the skies over Alabama, USA. She draws using pastels from the photos she takes of the magnificent clouds she sees.
Vyacheslav Konoval is a poet from Kyiv, Ukraine. Many of his poems have been translated into Spanish, French, Italian and Polish but this is one he wrote in English for CAS members to enjoy.
Image: “A Sunset over Kiev, Ukraine” © Vera Uzhva
A dark blue cloud crawls across the sky
A dark blue cloud crawls across the sky,
It rains every day.
As if punishment is pouring from God.
Fluffy fresh caresses,
crowded street of
stockpiled ice fragments.
My body doesn’t obey
It seemed to be dozing,
limps tiredly in laziness.
© Vyacheslav Konoval
The Portland Gallery is preparing an exhibition by contemporary artist James Lynch. The exhibition, Light as Dreams, brings together over 25 works at the gallery, which is his first solo exhibition since announcing his new representation with them. His atmospheric scenes of the English landscape, explore the artist’s fascination with both the sky and landscape of Wessex. The exhibition will also include a selection of works focussed on cloud formations.
The exhibition will take place from 26 September to 11 October 2024 at The Portland Gallery, 3 Bennet Street, London, SW1A 1RP
More details can be found on the Portland Gallery website or by emailing Esme Dollow
Pertti Björn, contacted us to suggest Suite: Clouds (Rain) by David Gates: Electra Records 1973 for our Music to Watch Clouds by section. He told us “This is a masterpiece, every cloud watcher should know”
Massimiliano Squadroni sent us part of his project “the sunrise from alps to apennines”. He told us that he wants to use his videos to launch an appeal to save the glaciers.
Schar Freeman, Member 54,318 sent us one of her recent paintings of wispy Altocumulus clouds on summer days on the island of Kaua’I, with a gentle sea lapping the shoreline. She told us “these are the days of great memories”.
Sue Shaw, Member 55,742, is enjoying her membership of the Cloud Appreciation Society. She told us she’s been travelling lately and watching a lot of lumpy clouds and finding shapes and faces almost endlessly. It inspired her to write the two poems below. She says they are “similar, but different— and are products of that shape finding”
Image: A Cumulus elephant spotted over Geelong, Victoria, Australia spotted by Heather Prince
Clouds Change and Rearrange!
It can take a cloud but seconds
To change its shape or place…
To re-form from a castle
To a dragon or a face!
Why…with a lot of lumpy clouds
You can read a fairy tale.
By looking all across the sky
In a zig-zag sort of trail.
There’s a princess in a lovely gown
And the castle…her abode…
The alligator in the moat
The prince…but as a toad!
There’s a puppy and a kitten
And a flying bird or two…
A monster and a gremlin…
All in shades of white on blue!
You can create a story line
By reading what is there,
With just imagination
And ice crystals in the air!
To play ‘pretend’ is so much fun
With daydreams in your mind
When you relax and watch the clouds…
But be careful, for you’ll find
That if you wait, your cast will change,
And the players that you’ve got…
Will all drift off and fade away…
And you’ll need a brand new plot!
Faces?
There are faces in the clouds–
Monsters wrapped in stormy shrouds…
Or a laughing, pug nosed leprechaun,
Or someone with a top hat on!
An alligator–snout and eyes
A giant fish–a whale-sized prize!
Dogs and puppies, kittens, cats
Birds, a butterfly and bats!
Castles, towers…places where
Rapunzel might let down her hair!
Realistic or a fantasy…perhaps some fairy tales
Where dragons and white unicorns have golden horns and scales!
Just sit back on a cloud-rich day
And let your mind run wild
It doesn’t matter what your age–
A Senior, teen, or child….
When you’re in a laid back situation
With just a bit of imagination…
Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!…
Are carved in the clouds of a summer sky!
© Sue Shaw
Dan Barstow, Member 41,557 and Education Mission Specialist at the Association of Space Explorers introduced us to the ‘Earth Movie Theatre’. Watch as the Stardust Sinfonie, an ensemble of violin, harpsichord and vibraphone, based in Germany, perform a Bach Aria from Goldberg Variations (BWV 988), as the ISS flies over Patagonia, with its glaciers in Chile and Argentina, by the crew of ISS 43
Ned Stern is a professional artist and received a degree in Fine Art from The American University in Washington. The main painting, above, is called “The Sea Awaits” and the one below is “Cloud Parade”.
You can see more of his work on his website
Melanie McDowell, Member 58,909 thoroughly enjoys her membership of the Cloud Appreciation Society. She told us “I am a poet and a lot of my poetry takes inspiration from the ever changing West of Ireland skies. I also love reading others’ poetry, both contemporary and classic. During Covid, I began the practice of choosing a word and poem for each day so I have built up a large bank of poetry, a lot of it sky inspired”. We’ve paired her poem with an image by Tom Jenner, “A fair weather cloud day over Valentia Island in the south west of Ireland”
Home Turf
Sky thick as cream.
Ski slope clouds
lean into mountains.
Whitethorn bends arms
laden with blossom.
Grass banks quiver green.
Algaed mountain pass
through clods of cloud.
Rain reassures its patter.
Tarmacadam river
sheens purple.
Fuschia bells just
starting to ring out.
Mall Go Slow.
Rough as turf,
home.
© Melanie McDowell
Erica Keener, an artist from Preble County, uses bold colours to capture the world around us. Here are a few of her latest cloud related pieces.
You can see more of her art on her website
Kevin Summers directed us to this cloud song from Josh Grider & Drew Kennedy entitled “West Texas Cloud Appreciation Society”. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
Tineke Flowers, Member 54,145 recently came across this video of massive shelf clouds stretching across Lake Michigan early on 25th June 2024.
Lucia Wilson was delighted to see the Cloud Appreciation Society featured on BBC Breakfast recently with an interview with Gavin Pretor-Pinney. It reminded her of this poem that she wrote over 10 years ago as she was reflecting on how often people in London move around the city without looking up.
Have You Seen the Sky Today
Alarm clock
Bathroom mirror
Dodgy reflection
Breakfast TV
Chirpy presenters
Caffeine injection
Underground warriors battle for seats
Struggle for dominance
Office door
Computer switch-on
Lights and…
.. ACTION!
Email, voicemail,
males and females
Greetings, meetings,
decisions, decisions
Outcome, plans and human factors
Negotiation, confrontation, solutions and laughter.
Some flirty lies, as time flies, the day nearly over
The players bow to mute applause,
Retreat commences
Journey reversed, routine well-rehearsed
with occasional abstentions
Alarm set
eyes close as sleep lays prey
But here’s a thought before you dream
Have you seen the sky today?
by Lucia Wilson / www.luciawilson.co.uk
Image Credit: Adrian Wakefield, Altocumulus stratiformis undulatus, also known as a “mackerel sky”, spotted over West London, England
Kathy Wilson, Member 58,037, recently contacted us about artist Andy Eccleshall’s, collection at the Smith & Vallee Gallery, Edison, WA. Andy is an English artist now residing in WA. He has a deep appreciation of nature and takes his inspiration from the light, form and atmosphere around him.
Calvin Grover sent us a compilation of his cloud timelapse videos which he has called “After the Rain”
