The Weather Diary
background, concept
bright, sunny morning
hot sun, strong shadows, intense heat
clouds move in, overcast, wind picks up, sudden change in temperature
cooling in the afternoon, medium winds, bright light
pleasant cool evening, clearing skies
overcast morning, humid
small breaks in cloudcover, very light wind
cloudcover thickens, hot, humid, sticky
thick nimbus clouds, windstill, hot, humid
hot, dense air, humid, cloudcover lightens slightly
cloudcover lightens, stratus clouds, still hot and humid
hot evening, sticky, early nightfall

The idea of working with 'weather' as a subject came to me on a trip in Arizona. The intense blue skies, hughe cloud formations, hail in mid-August and impressive thunderstorms made me realize the visual and emotional potential of weather. It changes our mood, makes us feel hot, cold, comfortable, uncomfortable. Weather can be awesome (it was in Arizona), depressing (living in rainy Hamburg can adversely affect your mood...) or just plain hot (back in Singapore).

After some research into the fascinating field of meteorology I started keeping my own weather log. Singapore's island climate with its rapid changes in weather proved to be a good location for this captivating excercise. I learned how to read weather maps, learned how to use the meteorological symbols, learned to distinguish between the various cloud formations, and more.

Then I took the idea of the weatherlog a step further. Instead of just recording the scientific, factual data (percentage of cloud cover, rainfall, wind direction,...) I wanted to capture weather changes from an artist's perspective, expressed in colour, using my emotions. I started to keep a very different weather log - instead of observing the sky and taking temperature readings I just stood there, 'feeling' the weather with my body, my mind and my mood. I then tried to think of a colour, hone in on just the right hue and tone. I recorded the colour as a stripe. When it looked as if the weather was changing I went outside again and took another 'reading', recorded another colour, added another stripe, and so on.

This excercise gave birth to the "Weather Diary ". Each canvas is the recording of one day's weather, from about 7:30 am (when the sun rises in Singapore) until about 7:30 pm (when the Sun sets).

Then I had another thought: why stop after sunset? Subsequently, I stayed up all night, making the same recordings. Then end result is a one-week weather diary, 7 days, 7 nights. However, the canvases are not displayed side by side. I used the stretcher as a three-dimensional object - the 'day' paintings on the front side, the 'night' paintings on the reverse. The painting is not hung against a wall but suspended in the middle of the room so both day and night-sides can be seen.

My weather diaries are a continuing project. I've taken weather readings on a trip to Europe in December/January 2000/2001 and found that the colours change dramatically. I'll also make recordings on another upcoming trip to Utah, Canada and Europe. New 'diaries' will be added to the site.

 

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