Just before a heavy thunderstorm, the sky sometimes turns an ominous and unmistakable shade of green. In areas prone to tornadoes, this color is the signal to take cover and if possible get into the basement, because a twister could strike at any moment. I have seen this color a few times during storms here in my urban Mid-Atlantic area but fortunately no tornado emerged. The green storm sky phenomenon isn't quite understood, but it seems to be the result of light refracting through many miles of thick clouds in just the right way. The reason I'm talking about the green sky is that I'm trying to replicate the color in my current painting, "Angel of the Storm." I'm also trying to reproduce other unusual colors you only see during thunderstorms, such as the pink and bluish-purple light of lightning reflections.

In my area we are moving into what I call "crossover weather," where the chilly, stable weather of winter changes to the tumultuous, humid summer atmosphere. By May I hope to experience many exciting thunderstorms. I have been admiring and sketching clouds for years, and now I finally get to use my visual observations in a painting. Unlike my usual rich colors against black, this one is full of pale greys and greens and pinks, which change to darker greys and blues and finally black as you get to the bottom of the painting. In the upper center is the Angel, a portrait of the client holding her wild pink harp.

This picture isn't a formal, static, reverent icon like the other ones I've done over the years. Since my client has been in the rock music broadcasting business for many years, I can allow myself to be inspired by a different and possibly more dynamic aesthetic. That will not be to everyone's taste, because I know that some of my viewers will only be satisfied with formal, high-toned art purged of references to what they consider the vulgar barbarism of popular culture. Fortunately, the "Angel of the Storm" is already bought, and it only has to please two people: me and the client. If other people like it, that's fine too. I am about two weeks from finishing it, and when I do, you'll see an image of it here. If all goes well, the client will receive the painting on April 28. I may borrow it back from her for an upcoming show later this year.

Because of this time-consuming project, I can only do a small amount of mathematics each day. I am patiently reading through the review of pre-calculus in the big Anton book, hoping that I remember my algebra and conic sections. There are thunderstorms predicted for later today.

Posted at 2:51 am | link