The Cloud Paintings of Gokarna

Gokarna, situated along India’s western coast, in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, is all about its temples and beaches. To me, Gokarna recited poetry through its paintings in the sky. Ranging from an early morning shyness of the sun hiding behind the clouds, the heavy dark clouds preparing to weep, an outrageous dusky sky, and to the scampering clouds of the night sky, the spiritual coastal town proved to be nature’s canvas. 

"I loved weather, all weather, not just the good kind. I loved balmy days, fearsome storms, blizzards, and spring showers. And the colours! Everyday brought something to be admired: the soft feathery pattern of cirrus clouds, the deep, dark grays of thunderheads, the lacy gold and peach of early morning sunrise. The sky and its moods called to me."
- L. Jagi Lamplighter 

"So fine was the morning except for a streak of wind here and there that the sea and sky looked one fabric, as if sails were stuck high up in the sky, or clouds have dropped down into the sea."
- Virginia Woolf

"The overcast skies had the colour of deadened stones, and seemed closer than usually, as though they were phlegmatically observing my every movement with their apathetic emptily blue-less eyes;each tiny drop oh hazy rain drifting around reflected transparent molten steel, the pavement looked like it was about into disconsolate tears; even the air itself was gray, so ultimately and ubiquitous that colour was everywhere around me. Gray.. "
- Simona Panova 

"When we look up, it widens our horizons. We see what a little speck we are in the universe, so insignificant, and we all take ourselves so seriously, but in the sky there are no boundaries. No differences of caste or religion or race."
 - Julia Gregson 

"I know that I shall meet my fate somewhere among the clouds above; those that I fight I do not hate, those that I guard I do not love." - W. B. Yeats

"Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add colour to my sunset sky."
- Rabindranath Tagore
"The first stab of love is like a sunset, a blaze of colour - oranges, pearly pinks, vibrant purples.."
- Anna Godbersen

"He stepped outside and looked up at the stars swimming in schools through the wind-driven clouds"
- John Steinbeck

"Be like a star and shine, whether people care or do not care; the clouds are temporary, but your beauty is permanent."

- M. F. Moonzajer