On Friday, I checked various Internet weather stations for the next day’s forecast. The consensus was about 20% rain. I don’t totally understand this bit of information but I can reason that either it will rain for 20% of the day or that there is an 80% chance that thee won’t be any rain. In any case, I prepared myself to go to the centre to paint on Saturday morning.
When I woke up, I could see clouds and some stars and there was no visible precipitation. So I drove to the centre, parked my car and walked about 100 metres to the place that I had thought about painting. I am participating in an exhibit about the Via Giulia in Rome so the site was perfect.
After about 1 hour, it started to sprinkle so I ran back to my car to get an umbrella. When I returned, I tried to paint with one hand holding the umbrella while I painted but it was quite futile. In a short time, the rain stopped and I was ready to get back into painting.
The low, fast-moving clouds cause an incredible variation to the light of the sky. One minute you can see a beautiful limpid celeste colour between the heavy ultramarine-violet clouds highlighted in pinkish and yellow white. Then everything becomes grey-violet and dark and a beam of intense sunlight strikes the objects in view creating a contrast that causes the sky to become darker than the buildings. Spectacular.
The problem is trying to paint it while it happens. The experience is exciting and challenging but worth the effort because you witness the most varied kinds of light and colour. Painting and concentrating on the light develops the inner eye which continues to ‘imagine’ this powerful scene.
[whohit]-Trying to Control the Uncontrollable_EN-[/whohit]
