Clouds drifted, painting the sky with white strokes.

Meaning: The clouds moved slowly across the sky, making it look like someone had painted white lines on it.

Choice of Words: Clouds are visible masses of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere. Drifted means to move slowly and smoothly in a particular direction. Painting means to cover a surface with paint. Sky is the expanse of air and space seen above the Earth. White is a color that is the lightest of all colors.

Alternative Expressions

The clouds were like painters, using the sky as their canvas.

Meaning: The clouds were like painters, using the sky as their canvas to make paintings. It's like when you draw with a crayon on a piece of paper and the crayon makes a line or mark on the paper.

Choice of Words: Clouds are puffy white things in the sky. Painters are people who make paintings. Canvas is the white cloth that painters use to make paintings on. So, the sentence means that the clouds were like painters, using the sky as their canvas to make paintings.

The sky was a giant canvas, and the clouds were the paintbrushes.

Meaning: The sky was like a giant canvas, and the clouds were like paintbrushes that were painting on the canvas. It's like when you draw with a crayon on a piece of paper and the crayon makes a line or mark on the paper.

Choice of Words: Sky is the blue thing above us. Canvas is the white cloth that painters use to make paintings on. Paintbrushes are the tools that painters use to put paint on the canvas. So, the sentence means that the sky was like a giant canvas, and the clouds were like paintbrushes that were painting on the canvas.

Related Expressions