Clouds and more clouds...

Cloud studies again... 

My biggest frustration with my students is that time flies when we are together. 

I always hope they'll get  to the goal in each class, which turns out a little difficult when time is short. Then I think back when I started painting some time ago and I remember how diffuse it was for me at that time and the long it took until I started feeling something when working. I tell them to be patient, that they should know that it takes time and work to understand and make progress little by little. 

My conclusion is that I can only hope to awaken their interest, to make them come back each time, to persevere and get more curious every day. I also hope that they will follow my advice one day; when I tell them to go home to work on it. Only their own interest can make them persever and be a independent painter. I'm only here to help them get started, after that the explorations must get personal.

After a session like this, I hope they will start to pay attention to how the sky looks, hopefully each day. 

When we look with care we register what we see, in our minds. Look as if you are drawing and you will be able to use the information you so manage to keep in your brain next time you work on that subject. If you have time, make a quick study of it and you will store it like your property in your mind. 

In Paris the clouds are seldom very attractive, not much volume or colors in them. There are effect of course, and sometimes we are lucky to observe a beautiful sunset spreading its orange and pink light on the clouds and buildings. But they are rarely "coton like" clouds against a contrasting blue sky. I mostly admire that kind on vacation in the regions of south-east France or Bretagne, or places like Mauritius, where the atmospheric reactions are multiplied by the ocean. I would say that the sky is like a treasure above us!...