Storms

The skies opened up and poured water, releasing some tension from the sky if none of the heat or humidity. I sit at my desk most days which faces a window of trees, the sky more or less visible depending on the season and the lushness of the folliage. When the gray overcast caught my attention, I checked the weather and looked forward to the downfall predicted. I enjoy that kind of sudden, thundering but short-lived tempest.

All this reminded me of one of my very favorite pictures. It is a study by Turner at the Tate. This picture is from my time there last winter and I include here unmodified because the wall and the frame parallel my experience here at my desk where my peripheral vision is filled as I stare through the window at the shape shifting clouds.

I keep a postcard of this on my bookcase to the right of where I sit in front of my window and stare at it sometimes instead of my view. Some pictures do that. I shouldn't be too surprised as Turner is endlessly known for his skies, but I like the idea of lounging in these clouds as much as I enjoy imagining them from different locations around the world where I fantasize that I might live to step outside and see the skies come rolling in.