This lovely Earth movie combines heart-felt Bach music with a dream-like flight over clouds and night lights, from Ireland to Saudi Arabia and features movie taken by astronauts on the ISS. The music is Bach’s “Komm in Mein Herzenshaus” (Come into my Heart’s House), the 4th movement of “Ein Feste Burg is Unser Gott” (A strong fortress is our God).
Dan Barstow, Member 41,557 and Education Mission Specialist at the Association of Space Explorers introduced us to the ‘Earth Movie Theatre’.
Sheila Finch, an award winning artist, shared one of her latest pieces “Where Angels Soar”. On her website she tells us “Where Angels Soar began over 5 years ago when I recalled from memory a moment, a brief glimpse of an ocean sky that felt other-worldly. The clouds swept upward in layers with streams of light filtering throughout”.
Paul Davies, Member 28,330. wrote this descriptive piece to share with us. We’ve paired it with an image of Zunderdorp, Gemeente Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands © mercy
Staring out the window,
wondering why those cotton-wool balls
which look like mammoths
or a score of shrubs shoulder-to-shoulder
don’t over-fly my garden in smaller clumps
the size of cows or sheep or rabbits or birds
I mean
why are these clouds so large
is there some gravitational attraction
which keeps those visible water particles
together in bundles of roughly similar size
© Paul Davies
This piece is called “Coming Storm” and was painted using oils by Diana Howard, Member 41,003. She told us it’s of the Ste Victoire in Aix en Provence.
Don Hatfield, supporting member 42854, recently proposed ‘Move the Clouds’ by Shadowfax for the ‘Music to Watch Clouds By’ section of our website.
Gary McArthur, Member 5,353, sent us this timelapse of mesmerising patterns produced by an upper altocumulus floccus layer projecting shadows onto a lower layer of Altocumulus stratiformis . It was captured from his home in Tasmania, Australia in February of this year.
Marilyn Murphy, Member 41,144, is an Artist and Professor of Art Emerita at Vanderbilt University. This is one of her graphite drawings entitled “Air and Dreams”.
You can see more of her work on her Marilyn Murphy website
She also has a solo exhibition at the Haley Gallery in Nashville, Tennessee with some of her cloud series, including the one above. The exhibition also includes 19 of her relief prints. It opened on 24 February and will be up until 22 March 2024
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 moves of Earth. This video shows a flight path along Peru, Chile and Atlantic Coast – such a peaceful flight accompanied by the guitar of Steve Thomas
Laurel Sherrie, a lifelong artist, paints landscapes of treasured places. She uses traditional oils and rich colours to create her pieces, which of course include wonderful skies. Here is the first from her Ethereal Skies series entitled “Clouds of Freedom”
You can see more of her work the Laurel Sherrie website
Jan Boles, Member 13,316, sent us his humorous cloud related limerick. We have paired it with an image of a curtain of precipitation falling from a storm system over Charlo, Montana, US by Ruth Quist.
A cloud spotter, known as Horatio,
Was keen on words rhyming with “ratio.”
He often would sigh,
Looking up at the sky,
“That’s not ‘rain,’ it’s ‘praecipitatio.’”
© Jan Boles February 2024
Sue Hendry, Member 60,264, submitted her oil on canvas painting “Late Afternoon Clouds over Auckland“. She painted it from a photograph taken from Devonport Ferry Terminal and told us she is “purely an amateur cloud loving artist”.
Casey Clapp, Member 62,659 has suggested “How Sweet to be a Cloud ” by a group called “The United States of America” for our Music to Watch Clouds by section.
“Air Liquide” are German electronic music producers. This is a track from their album “Nephology” (the study of clouds) called “If There Was No Gravity”. It was suggested to us by cloud enthusiast Elias Brandorff.
In September of last year, George Preoteasa, Member 41,445, travelled to Whitehorse, Yukon. Although the aurora was the main attraction, he found that the Yukon is stunning.
He told us: “as you know, I take timelapse pictures and turn them into movies, so of course I have one from this trip. The aurora was let’s say, subdued, not as powerful as when we were in Yellowknife, but I managed to get some reasonably good clips, I think. What I really like about them is how the clouds roll in and cross over”.
Sheila Finch, an award winning artist, has had her work exhibited through the USA and Europe. This is one of her latest pieces “The Light Within”. The description on her website states “As the sun slowly falls to the horizon in the afternoon, I’m offered a visual gift of light and color from layers upon layers of clouds out over the Pacific Ocean”.
You can see more of her work on her website, Sheila Finch Fine Art
Dan Barstow, Member 41,557 and Education Mission Specialist at the Association of Space Explorers introduced us to the ‘Earth Movie Theatre’. From Earth orbit, listen to Bach’s flowing Prelude in C, as you watch Earth below – clouds over the Atlantic and the land of Namibia. Stunning! Harpsichord by world-class Bob van Asperen. Earth photography by astronauts of ISS 63
Gary McArthur, Member 5,353, told us he was very lucky to capture this Horseshoe Vortex from an altitude of 4,700ft just south of Wynyard, on the Tasmanian NW Coast
J Pogalies from Madison, Ohio recently sent this example of her art and told us “I live on the shores of Lake Erie, a Great Lake! I photograph clouds and more almost daily. They are not altered except I then flip them or stack them to form new images and have them printed on large metal panels 1’x5’ up to 4’x5’“.
You can see more of her cloud art on her website
Casey Clapp, Member 62,659 has suggested “The Big Sky” by Kate Bush for our Music to Watch Clouds by section. It’s from her album “Hounds of Love”.
Nick Houvras, member 7,347 is a longstanding member of the Cloud Appreciation Society and sent us one of his cloud related poems. We’ve paired it with a photograph from our Photo Gallery of a full moon over Bigfork, Montana by Ruth Quist.
Clouds
The clouds are the roof over our head curiously they break apart and you see the blue sky And sun above.
At night there my appear a star winking at you.
Or a big white round full moon that comes partly through.
The oceans adrift in the sky above but no sail boats there flying high.
Just occasionally white streaks planes leave behind like trails one can walk on.
You maybe, so for now just say hi, high to the clouds in the sky!
© Nick Houvras 2022
Jurene Phaneuf, Member 45,173 , sent us the link to Mike Olbinski’s video “Shadows in the Sky”. The images are mesmerising and the accompanying music very atmospheric.
Larissa Gray is an award winning artist based in Kyneton, a town in the Macedon Ranges region of West Central Victoria, Australia. Although she specialises in small scale bronze and mixed media sculptures, she also likes to draw clouds. This one is called ‘Before the Storm’.
You can see more about Larissa and her work on her website
Angela Winter, member 53,244, release an original song in September 2021 – one that was inspired by a quote that was shared in one of our regular newsletters.
Holly Payne-Strange, Member 52,979, from New Jersey was enjoying the clouds at Thanksgiving when she dreamt up this poem. We’ve paired it with an image of a Circumzenithal Arc over Broadway, NYC, US by Judy Schramm
To Have the Honor of a Cloud
Ice crystals in the sky,
Reflecting sunlight, conjuring shadow
An ever moving gallery of whimsy.
It sounds like magic.
Surely it should be, by all rights
This beauty we ignore, day by day.
I think it’s because they’re so far away,
Glory and valor we assume is out of reach.
There’s a certain proud nobility about them,
Stately and serene.
It all seems so easy, slow, even boring.
An illusion fostered by distance and assumption.
I can’t help but think
That if only we looked,
Really looked, and noticed, and appreciated,
Then maybe grace could be an everyday occurrence.
Maybe we would notice.
Lofty ideals, unencumbered and honest,
Could curl above us
Natural as the wind.
Maybe generosity would need no excuse
And sincerity would be easily accepted,
Suspicion and shame falling like shadow,
To some distant terrain we can’t imagine.
I have to say,
When I think of you,
I only see the clouds.
© Holly Payne-Strange
Sunset Serenity captures the rich colors and serene drama of a sunset, seen from the ISS. ISS orbits Earth in 92 minutes – that means 16 sunrises and sunsets every day! Steve Thomas plays guitar and does sonic magic to help us experience Sunset Serenity.
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 moves of Earth.
Gerard Watts, Member 62,339, sent us this painting by his Anna Watts. He told us
“Anna is an artist from Greystanes NSW Australia. She specialises in abstract art drawing and painting. Much of her art is inspired from nature and her surroundings. Anna’s other interests are music composition and puppetry”
Massimiliano Squadroni has sent us this new timelapse taken of clouds over
Frontignano, Ussita, Italy on 23rd November 2023
Artist, Sophie Keir, sent this detail of an Oil on Canvas painting of stormy, dramatic clouds inspired by the often in the background skies of Old Master paintings. These skies are sometimes more interesting than the main focus!
You can see more of her paintings, prints and cards on her website.
Massimilianoiano Sqadroni recently shared this spectacular “Time-lapse of Castelluccio di Norcia – February 2020”
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 moves of Earth. This production was in celebration of the new Bach Forest and the satellite image covers Ireland to Saudi Arabia at night.
The Bach Forest is situated in Leipzig and over the next few years a forest of approximately 29 hectares will be planted on the western side of Lake Störmthal. You can see more about it on the Bach Fest website
Hayley Richards, member 52,003 lives in Hanover, New Hampshire and told us she has been inspired to paint clouds recently.
Roelof van der Schaaf, Member 30,007, recently sent us his timelapse of a sunset in Franeker, Friesland in the Netherlands.
Cloud Appreciation Society member, Tim Burgess, suggested this song by Mary Chapin Carpenter.
Pauline Bailly is a painter from Normandy, France who likes to paint Lady-Clouds, called “Les Femmes-Nuages” in French. She describes her work below:
My Cloudy Women are the link between reality and dreams. It is an ambiguity between two worlds, with a strong emphasis on introspection in a style sprinkled with surrealism, where onirism takes over and supplants all rationality.
The cloud is like a connection between the character’s states of mind and the world around us. Like an extension of the emotions, these cumulus clouds, for the most part, are a window onto thought. They are like dream vapors, melancholy clouds, like a veil of poetry rooted in the midst of landscapes, terrestrial or celestial settings.
These women are like guardians of their own universe, but also of those of others. The spectators can project their own stories and dreams into my paintings. A bridge is created, in a spirit of sharing hope and softness.
To find or buy my artworks, you can visit my website www.paulinebaillyart.com
Buy on Artmajeur https://www.artmajeur.com/pauline-bailly-1
Or contact me directly at pauline-bailly@outlook.fr
Social media @Les_Femmes_Nuages on instagram / Pauline Bailly – Peintures on Facebook
George Preoteasa, Member 41,445, sent in his timelapse video of the recent annular eclipse. He told us, “I was in Mexican Hat, Utah, which was on the centerline. It’s hard to capture the feeling in a movie or pictures, given that you have to use a solar filter most of the time, so you have to make a composite. But I tried”.
From the Earth Movie Theatre, this is a composition by Steve Thomas whose guitar floats with us over the coast of Peru and Chile. 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.
Ann Kraus, member 48,329, sent us this painting of the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean outside Halifax.
Gerdienke Ubels, Member 21,012 sent us this short Q&A about the clouds over Weimar, 24th August 1881.
Q: What was the weather like in Weimar, 24 August 1881?
A: There were grey clouds coming in.
Q: How do we know that?
A: Franz Lizst put them into music and noted the date: ‘Nuages Gris’, Weimar 24 August 1881 (listen to how they roll in)
Phil Behnke told us about surfing the Morning Glory cloud as a glider pilot and shared with us this video of cloud surfing by fellow pilot and professional photographer Al Sim.
This is a recent painting by Kate Edge, Member 30,633, of Foel Cwm Cerwyn in the Preseli Hills, a range of hills in North Pembrokeshire, West Wales. She told us that on the day it was painted the Cirrus clouds were wonderful.
