Where Do Clouds Come From?

Before the Storm (1), 2015.

”The air up there in the clouds is very pure and fine, bracing and delicious.
And why shouldn’t it be?—it is the same the angels breathe.”

Mark Twain, Roughing It, 1872, Chapter 22

Clouds consist of very small water droplets and ice crystals. They are formed through condensation, a process where water molecules in the air cannot remain vapor any longer but cluster into droplets. This happens when the air either cools down or has to absorb more water vapor. As long as the droplets are light and small enough, they will stay in the atmosphere as clouds. When they get bigger and heavier, they will eventually fall from the sky as precipitation.

Why Does the Sky Have so Many More Colors Than Blue?

Tatanka, 2015.”Light rays will tell you the story.
There is another alphabet
Whispering from every leaf,
Singing from every river,
Shimmering from every sky.”

Dejan Stojanović, Forgotten Home

During twilight, meaning the periods between dawn and sunrise as well as between sunset and dusk, the sun is not at its zenith but near the horizon. Therefore, the sun’s light has to travel much further through the atmosphere because of the curvature of the earth. The longer light travels, the more light with longer wavelengths gets scattered, causing yellow and reddish hues to dominate over the blue. This is why the sky is sometimes colorful and spectacular during these times of the day.

Why Is the Sky often Blue?

Sunny Skies, 2015.“… and I’d look up into the sky – up – up – up – into that lovely blue sky
that looks as if there was no end to its blueness.”

Anne in L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, 1908, Chapter 7

We owe seeing anything at all to the sun. Even though we usually do not consciously see this, sunlight has a visible spectrum between—and not including—ultraviolet and infrared. Rainbows show us this visible spectrum with colors ranging from short-wavelength violet and blue over green, yellow, and orange to red with longer wavelengths.

When sunlight enters the earth’s atmosphere, it is scattered by very small molecules present in the air. This scattering is stronger for light with a shorter wavelength, causing a greater proportion of short-wavelength colors like blue to be scattered than other colors with a longer wavelength. Additionally, the human eye responds most to the colors blue, green, and red. Combining this with the scattering effect explains why the sky appears blue to us during the day. And remember, blue skies are ideal for sky gazing.

Artist Booklet Published on ISSUU

Write it. Shoot it. Publish it.
Crochet it, sauté it, whatever.
MAKE.

Joss Whedon, 2009

I have put together some information about my fine-art-photographer-self and added some of my Skies-photographs. Together with details about Emerging Visions at Agora Gallery, this all went into a little booklet I have now uploaded on the electronic publishing platform ISSUU. You can access it directly on ISSUU, or–through their app–on your mobile device. Feel free to read, download, and share!

Skies in a Room

"Grey Horses" in a contemporary living room

„Design, just as art, has multiple definitions, there is no single definition.
Design can be art. Design can be aesthetics.

Design is so simple, that’s why it is so complicated.“
Paul Rand, 1996

What is art? What is design? These questions have been discussed widely. Nonetheless, most pictures will be hung on some wall, in someone’s home. And as I would like you to get a better idea of what a Skies by Gabriele Golissa™  photograph print could look in your home, I have added a selection of images showing some Skies in a Room on my website. The images result from an ongoing effort to cooperate with interior designers, architects, construction companies, photographers, and so on. Another interesting journey. So take a look right here!