Lately, I have been looking up.

Not simply at the beauty of the sky, but at what is happening within it—the movement of air, the building of clouds, changes in pressure and temperature, light shifting across the landscape, and the immense forces that shape our weather. I have begun keeping regular weather observations and making small drawings and paintings from what I see. These field studies have become a new way of paying attention.

As a painter, I have always been drawn to atmosphere. Fog, changing light, distant rain, the weight of a cloud bank moving over the water—these things have always found their way into my work. But I am becoming increasingly curious about what lies beneath the visual experience. I want to understand the weather not only as something beautiful to paint, but as a living system in motion.

That curiosity has led me into the study of meteorology, including cloud formation, wind shear, pressure systems, radar and the structure of severe storms. I am learning to look at the sky with two perspectives at once: as an artist and as a student of weather.

And then came an extraordinary invitation.

I have been invited to join a storm-chasing expedition on the Great Plains during tornado season.

The idea of it is thrilling.

I am imagining standing in that enormous landscape with my sketchbook, watching a storm develop in real time—the changing light, the structure of the clouds, the movement of the wind, the strange colors and silence that can precede something powerful. I want to observe, draw, photograph and paint, while learning from the meteorologists and storm chasers who have spent years studying these storms.

This is not about chasing danger. For me, it is about witnessing something I have only ever experienced through photographs, radar images and distant reports—and bringing the experience back into the studio.

I don't yet know exactly what this work will become. Perhaps that is part of the excitement.

I am beginning with observation. Small studies. Clouds. Wind. Pressure. Light. Notes in the margins of paintings. A deeper awareness of the atmosphere around me.

And somewhere ahead is the possibility of following a storm across the Plains, sketchbook in hand, and seeing where the experience takes the work.

For an artist, sometimes the most interesting direction is the one you haven't painted before.

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Into the Storm, A New Field of Study