#2541 "Wolfe Island Convective Sunrise"

I was up early and painting by 7 am on the anniversary of 911. The skies were almost as blue as on that fateful and tragic September day, twenty years before. 

The International Plein Air Painters (IPAP)  was a direct response to the tragedy of 911. This was the second day of the Worldwide Paint Out when artists around the globe just get together to paint. Thank you to the Kingston School of Art (KSOA)  for organizing Paint the Town.  

The air mass remained unstable. Cumulus were billowing up when the air chilled by the increasingly, longer overnight periods, drifted over the cold land and onto the still warm waters of Lake Ontario. The convective bubbles mushroomed upward into the morning sunlight. The cloud towers were tilted to the east revealing the prevailing wind direction. Friction at ground level always reduces the wind a bit in the boundary layer while a but further aloft, the winds tilted the convective towers over in the direction they are blowing. These towers intercepted the sunrise light. Some rain showers wafted to the ground. 

Some strands of cirrostratus were also stretching eastward. These sheets of high, ice cloud revealed that there was a system developing to the west. Warm southerly breezes would replace the chilly conditions that had been experienced the previous night.

A couple of water boarders paddled by so I put them into the composition. The wind generators on Wolfe Island were turning with the breeze. Plein air painting can be inspirational just because of the little things. The harbour ducks kept me company as they mooched for something to eat. 

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