Wednesday, March 24

Don't Mess with the Weather Gods



It was a normal, beautiful sunny June day in Greece. The clear and incredibly blue sky a constant, the air clear, and very hot. I was on the tiny island of Schinoussa, setting out in the morning with my watercolors to find a fishing boat to paint. And there, on the beach was a perfect specimen. It's so much easier to draw a fishing boat when it is out of the water, instead of constantly bobbing around. Those angles are tough.

When I got to the sky, instead of the solid blue I'd been painting all month, I decided to create some nice puffy clouds. When I was finished, tired and quite happy with my painting, I headed home.

"Beached Blue Boat" watercolor by Amy Stark


As I walked, an odd thing occurred. Slowly clouds started to form and drift across the sky. By the time I arrived back at my room, the wind had picked up and the sky, now filled with clouds, was darkening. "It never rains in the summer", the Greeks always say. But as night came on, I sat on my balcony watching the rain pour down amidst a fantastic lightening show flashing over the island and the sea beyond. I had goosebumps, and not just from the drop in temperature. I felt that I personally had conjured up this rain storm by putting clouds into the clear sky of my painting. And you can't convince me otherwise.