David Sawell (Member 61,767) painted Billows over Beechmont (2024) on a fine spring day in the Numinbah Valley, Queensland, Australia, looking out from a popular wedding venue located there.
 
‘Suddenly, a stiff breeze got up,’ he told us. ‘Yellow-eyed currawongs caught the wind on glossy charcoal wings, calling haunting cries. The winds stirred the scud and cloudy cauliflowers into a turbulent whipped cream. An icy rain lashed down, guests ran for cover, and umbrellas popped open.’

The culprit of the sudden showers was likely a Cumulus congestus cloud similar to the ones David rendered with his lively brushwork. These towering forms of Cumulus can release moderately heavy rain showers. But, luckily for the happy couple, the showers don’t tend to last long. ‘When the blanket of fog cleared,’ David remembered, ‘the spring sunshine came back out and warmed the landscape.’