Cloud Spotting. Sky Art by Petra Thalmeier
All weather teams and services – both national and international - put a focus on the huge variety of clouds that ply our sky. But what exactly are clouds? The sky is full of water, but its particles are too small to see. As they go up higher in the sky, the air gets cooler. Humidity then condenses around microscopic particles of dust, sea salt or smoke. Millions and millions of these tiny water droplets remain suspended in the air and form visible clouds. Some cloud types are closer to the surface of the earth, some stay midways, others mount and heap up in great heights. They capture the observer’s attention and raise his awareness of the endless diversity, the fleeting beauty and the dreamlike fragility of the amazing world of clouds: Uniform grey ones, that almost block out the sun. Puffy ones, looking like pieces of floating cotton. White filaments spreading horizontally like narrow silky bands. Fleeting wispy clouds that flow and dissipate every few minutes… All these stunning views and amazing optical effects make a cloud spotter see the sky above us daily with new eyes.
Petra Thalmeier, who has made herself a name with colorful mountain paintings, recently started to consider the floating beauty of clouds a challenging subject. Already in several of her huge mountain paintings, she lowered the horizon to give more room to depict sky shapes. In her latest depiction of clouds there is no land, no horizon, nothing to indicate scale or orientation. Clouds become a stunning subject of their own. Some of the clouds she bans on her large canvasses are stationary, capturing light and atmospheric effects in a striking way. Other variations depend on the speed and direction of the wind pushing through their formations. Sometimes, a sunlit aperture will break the monotony of a flat layer or huge mountainous portions reflect a light that seems to come from out of nowhere. …. Each painting thus encapsulates a single moment that never repeats itself. It is most often details Petra Thalmeier is especially interested in, making us, too, take a look at clouds in a fresh, unaccustomed and inspiring way.
Ingrid Ostheeren
Cloud Settings 3
Cloud Settings 2
Cloud Settings 1
Cloud Settings 4
Nocturnal Interactions
Floatation, Diptych
Triptych Cloud Weavings
Simple Image Gallery Extended
