Painting Clouds Used to Be a Big Challenge for Me, Now I Even Wrote an Article About it

"Clouds on Blue"
8"x10, Oil on board
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How on Earth Do You Paint Clouds?

I used to find clouds very challenging and intimidating to paint.

Then, one day, in 2013, I jumped right in, during a painting workshop, I asked the teacher - Kim Casebeer, a very talented plein air painter - to help me paint clouds, she gave me one of the million photos she took of Kansas skies and lands and advised me to start from that.

I started, I made mistakes, I corrected them, and I only asked her for advice a few times, but knowing I had her available if I got stuck made me braver, and I broke the ice with painting clouds.

Well, technically, I had painted clouds before, but with effort and doubtful results.
Look at me now: skyscapes are among my favorite subject!
Between sunsets, sunrises, and cloudy skies, that's a big part of my body of work.

This is the reference photo for the painting above. I took it at the
soccer stadium while waiting for the Crew game to start.

Some of the Things I Learned 

I understood a few simple rules when painting clouds:

1. You've got to keep in mind where the sunlight is coming from. Clouds are thick, they have volume, so the sunlight creates areas that are extremely bright and others that are quite dark, even in "white" clouds.

2. Clouds are full of subtle color changes. What may seem like a gray cloud at first has actually blues, greens, purples, and pinks in it.

3. The best way to know how clouds look is to watch them live, right in the sky, and observe their coloration and how they change continuously. Then it's easier to paint from a photo because you know your subject.

4, It's ok to be a little creative with colors. In this painting I added more pink in the cloud than what you can see in the photo, but I remember that a little later in the game, when this particular cloud was gone, the sunset was setting behind me, ad the clouds in front of me got all kind of wonderful reflections, pick and more.

Am I good at painting clouds?  I don't know, but I am surely learning and enjoying the process. Most importantly, I am not scared of painting clouds anymore. It's still a challenge, but a fun one!

I Even Wrote an Article about Painting Skies!

After I learn something the hard way, I think of all the other beginner painters out there that might be struggling with the same thing, and maybe sharing what I have learned so far might help them to avoid some struggles and to accelerate their artistic process.
That's why I share several painting tips in my articles, including the one about skyscapes:  "10 Tips to Paint Clouds and Skies". Isn't it amazing how things change in a few years? :)


Thanks for stopping by!
Blessings,
R