I love the effect that bundled rays of sunlight can have when shining through clouds, tree canopies, windows. The light is visible as beams going outward from the sun as the light source, often in slightly parallel or radiating patterns. Doing my research I learned that the scientific name for this phenomenon is “crepuscular rays” from the Latin word “crepusculum”, meaning “twilight” because these kinds of rays are often seen in the sky when the sun is going down.

The particles that make the light visible can be dust, atmospheric particulates, ice crystals and other things. It is just so fascinating to be able to see light like this, to have illuminated beams stand out against darker unlit areas in between.

I will play with this concept in my next art quilt for our “Light” theme.

3 thoughts on “Beams of Sunlight

  1. Oh wow, I knew the word crepuscular, as it relates to twilight. That, by the way, is when you are most apt to hit deer on the road.
    But in relation to rays of light this was new to me.

    1. Martha, this is one of the fun things about getting the prompt from someone else, I actually do some research and learn something!

Tell us what you think.