Cloud Dance is an oil painting series that challenges our ground-bound perspective, inviting the viewer to look straight up into the untamed world where the earth's grasp fades into the vast open sky
This is the exclusive domain of wild birds: a narrow, windy band at the very tops of trees, where branches reach like fingers towards the clouds. We, as ground dwellers, are accustomed to comfortable, horizontal views—looking out, not up. This series reorients the observer, shifting the familiar landscape profile to a bold, vertical exploration.
From below, we observe the underbelly silhouettes of three constant avian residents, hopping from branch to branch against a backdrop of blue sky and dancing clouds. Seasons may change, leaves may fall, but the birds endure.
The series is a visual metaphor for the fragility of existence. It suggests how mortal creatures rely on the tangible support of nature while existing at the precipice of the ethereal, beautiful, and dangerous void of the open sky beyond. Each painting is a moment suspended in this unique intersection of support and vulnerability.
In addition to the dozens of preliminary pencil sketches created in 2025, there will be 21 paintings in the series; 1 Study of the Concept 38” x 28” (unframed), 3 small pieces 10” x 8” (framed), 5 pieces 20” x 16” (framed), 6 medium pieces 30” x 30” (framed), and 6 large pieces 60” x 60” (gallery wrapped). The Study and the smaller 8 pieces are in progress now or complete and drying while awaiting frames. This grant will help me complete the project by providing the materials for the larger 12 pieces.