For centuries, artists have looked to the sky for inspiration. In the paintings of Constable and Turner - now hanging in the Tate in London - the English sky becomes a theatre of light, weather and imagination, endlessly studied and transformed into art.

In today’s instalment of Spring Journal, Mark Fiddes reflects on how differently the sky can appear depending on where one stands beneath it. A friend in London spends an afternoon among landscapes and clouds in a gallery, while in the Middle East the same horizon is watched for very different signs.

Written in Dubai as the present conflict unfolds, Spring Journal continues to move between distant places, memories, music and fragments of news. As in Louis MacNeice’s Autumn Journal, the poem registers how global events filter into everyday life — into conversation, culture and the restless imagination.

You can read the full sequence on our blog and Substack pages. If the project resonates with you, please share it and help spread the word