Sky’s The Limit

My newest paintings are on exhibition at Tiffany Peay Jewelry.

Following up on my recent landscape canvases, I have been looking higher above the horizon and have found that the sky’s the limit so that’s what I call the show!

Did you know that all weather, including the clouds we see, happen in the lowest 5 miles/9 kilometers of our vast atmosphere? In addition, the water vapor in the sky that is responsible for clouds makes up at most 3% of air. So while I find the appearance of clouds, those feather canyons of Joni Mitchell’s song, to be endlessly marvelous, I am only looking at a small fraction of the lowest part of the air bubble in which we live and thrive.

The appearance of sky, like the impressions Claude Monet chased throughout his great oeuvre, can convey the feeling of vast scale and form in a painting, even while the subject is nothing but air. Form without object, immensity without a beginning or end from which to take a measurement. So it is a subject inherently rich in interpretative possibility.

In New England, our coastal climate gives us weather patterns that change frequently. As we say, “If you don’t like the weather, just wait a few minutes.” When observing the sky, there isn’t any waiting. It’s is a constant buffet flowing before my eyes, evolving as I watch it go by. I pick and choose what I wish, replacing and reforming as more compelling pieces float into view. (Note for another post: Can we consider a cloud in a state of being??)

The ingredients are deceptively simple: mostly invisible gases (Nitrogen, Oxygen, Argon, CO2) with a little water vapor. Sunlight reflecting off the water vapor and droplets gives our eyes an array of color from nearly white to purply bruise. Add filtering near sundown, and the orange, red and pink flames across the clouds result in Disney fantasy light shows.

I hope you have a chance to see the show. It is up through December. Check out my Instagram feed for more of the paintings @fogland.studio.pete