Painting Skies and Clouds
I am a member of a wonderful “club” that is based in England. It is named the Cloud Appreciation Society. www.cloudappreciationsociety.net I guess I have had my “head in the clouds” so to speak, for as long as I can remember.
Keen observation of the skies is most important if you want to paint them well! I have a zillion memories and photos of skies over the years. In countless hours of looking carefully, doing this kind of observation, I have noticed how the clouds/sky come alive for me. I have found it is the feeling of the energy and movement, the air around it and how the quality of light changes everything constantly. It is not an easy job to capture these moments, but if you persist you will find your way. This is why it is crucial to do outdoor sketches of as many different skies as possible.
When starting a painting, the sky needs to be part of the composition, not an afterthought. I always take my time, if I have it, to move things around a little until I have the strongest composition . . . including the clouds. Just make sure whatever you move or change, it is something you see or know extremely well. The viewer, even though they may not be an artist, will know right away if it doesn’t look possible or correct. That’s why really weird scenes in photos often look really weird in paintings!!
So, the shapes of the clouds and placement need to work with what is below. Be balanced . . . here’s where you get to use your “artist’s license”! A large mass on the ground may mean we need to move the larger mass of the cloud formation to a place that compliments it. It’s still basically the same mass but altered to fit your idea.
When doing an outdoor sketch, you have to be more immediate, usually not a lot of time for layering . . . I just try to get the colors right and the values, as simply as possible . . . not worrying about details or even finishing it.
In the studio, where I have more control, I start with a soft warm wash, showing where the dark forms would be, which includes the cloud shapes, so I have worked out the pattern in advance. I use both sketches (for color) and photos for reference.
I often like to paint from the “back to front” so that I am overlapping things as I go, so I may put the blue, or whatever color the sky is, in first, painting around the cloud forms I have lightly sketched, then come in and lose the edges later. Soft and disappearing edges will make the clouds believable.
Just as in any landscape painting, you have to know exactly where the light is coming from and be careful to show it. That is why it doesn’t work to use two photos taken at different times. Depending on the time of day, the clouds can be lit from above or below or behind. Another important consideration is reflected light, which is that light which is lighting the other sides or planes of the clouds, including the shadow side.
Showing distance in the air can be difficult since clouds are elusive critters! The clouds that are closer tend to be larger (as in aerial perspective), darker, more in focus with sharper edges and stronger color and more distinct shapes, just like things on the ground. They also get softer and cooler (unless you are painting a sunrise or sunset), more abstract with less contrast as they disappear into the distance and merge into each other, hence, atmospheric perspective! Which means . . . you have to paint the air!
Also, just like painting other things, clouds need personality, and the more planes and colors they have, the more compelling they are. However, these many colors going from warm to cool, will be very close in value, or even the same value.
This is where doing some grey color exercises can come in handy if your repertoire could use some more understanding of grays! I tell my students to do gray exercises, then have them handy when working in the studio when you are not physically seeing the subject. Sometimes I find it helpful to mix up several basic grays ahead of time, then change them as I go along.
The best way to do a plein air sunset of sunrise is to sketch in all the surrounding elements before the show starts. You can put in some darks and shapes on the ground, and if you have a sense of the shapes of the clouds, sketch them. The idea being that you have done everything you can do ahead of time and then just focus on the colors. You will have to choose in the beginning what you want to capture, since you won’t be able to capture it all! Just limit yourself to one idea and carry it out, with only a few changes. You will have about 10 minutes max!
When painting a sunset or sunrise in the studio, I like to have some sketches and a couple photos. The sketches provide the immediate reaction (freshness) and color changes which can be lost if just using photos. I like to try and paint inside much like I would paint outside, except I would do more planning and preparation and there is more opportunity for layers. I might still build the colors from back to front, but not always, since every sky asks for something different. I usually premix some of the colors I am going to use . . . starting with the most saturated colors . . . but again, the subtleties really matter. You don’t have big color jumps in the sky, it just softly goes from one color to another, except for highlights. Here’s where it can look contrived if you are not careful.
For me, edges and soft changes between colors is what painting the sky is about. I would credit any progress I have made in painting skies to a better understanding of these subtleties. I would liken it to music and the spaces between the notes, or in writing . . . the thoughts between the lines! You need some resting places amidst the drama!
