skies have this funny thing: they are familiar, we don't really bother to them. My friend Michele was telling me once that i could imagine earth as a ball of a couple of meters in diameter, and then i could think of painting it all over; well, the depth, or thickness of all the stufff we call "atmosphere" would be less than that of the paint.

So, it's full of water, some more concentrated in things we call clouds; when the wind moves them, the show begins. If there is light some special effects are guaranteed.

The pictures you see are mostly normal skies, but i discovered that if you take a low-res photo (don't ask me details: i just know i can put like 160 images in 32 megs) and tell photoshop to apply automatic levels, VAVAVOUMA! the whole thing changes, it becomes a fucking dramatic sky :-)
The trick works better on these aparently even surfaces, the ones you don't perceive as signs, but as something rather flat; if you do it with other images, rich of details, you just correct the levels. No invisible surprises.

Try. Look above. See if light, wind and water are drawing anything interesting and if so, snap it! Do it! Don'y worry if it seems a banal subject, do it. Consider this: that interesting drawing is unique, it will change or vanish fast, and it will never repeat itself again. It's yours. All those superb naturalistic paintings of the past are artists interpretations of skies; i doubt they could actually paint that fast. Perhaps a sketch, to keep in mind the main form, but all the coloring must have been possible only recalling past visions and choosing how to imitate them.

We can do this with the pride of finding a mushroom; we can be proud to be lucky, nothing more: we didn't make the mushroom, nor the forest. We just knew when and where to look.

Have a nice visit above my head.