Project 365 day 209: Cloudwatching

It's been a day of high wind and spectacular clouds. They have been processing along the valley at something approaching a gallop, or, to mix metaphors, sailing by like tall ships fully rigged. Sometimes clouds at different levels progress at different speeds, or even in slightly different directions. I've kept rushing outside to watch them. It was a good day for drying laundry.

J has enjoyed the clouds too. She has two Velux windows in her bedroom, which we call her sky space, referencing artist James Turrell's carefully constructed and proportioned spaces with openings through which to contemplate the sky's colours and light. Today she asked me to photograph the constantly changing blue and white patterns, with the idea of making an abstract collage. It's been great fun lying on her bed cloud watching with her, but the photos would be better if it was less difficult to clean the Velux windows. I'm not sure when we will get round to the collage. 

We have visited two of Turrell's four sky spaces in the UK. We climbed Cat Cairn above Kielder Water in Northumberland on a winter afternoon and sat alone and silent in the squat stone tower as the circle of sky above us slowly deepened in colour and intensity. The Deer Shelter at the Yorkshire sculpture park is a semi-subterranean space with a rectangular aperture to the sky, and was busy with visitors of all ages on a sunny Saturday. I was pleased and impressed to find an innate hush in the space which eclipsed any bustle of people arriving and leaving; many stayed for some time, quiet and contemplative, and most spoke only in whispers. 

I didn't have the opportunity to go out in search of a bridge today, but this is almost as wide as my little compact camera can go.