One Of The Most Effective Watercolor Practices - Painting Clouds

The obvious reason painting clouds is a valuable watercolor practice is because you will want to know how to paint clouds in your landscapes. But focusing in on skies can also accelerate your progress in other watercolor skills.

This practice gives you the opportunity to work on timing and color mixing without having to first complete a complex drawing. It also allows you to practice with values and soft vs. hard edges. This is why working on skies is such a beneficial exercise for watercolor artists. 

Improve Your Watercolors Quickly with This Practice

So how do you start? What are the top tips to a successful watercolor sky?

This is what I show you in today's video!  

I hope you take some time to watch my sky come together and give it a try yourself!

What Supplies Do You Need to Paint the Sky?

I am painting on Saunders Waterford Cold Press 140lb paper, and I have my surface tilted to 35 degrees.

I use a variety of brushes, but mainly stick to a large mop brush, a medium round brush and a smaller synthetic brush with a point. There are times during the process of painting the sky that I don't want much water on my brush. At these times, I use my synthetic brush that doesn't hold as much water. 

If you want more information about brushes, check out this guide about brushes. If you want to purchase some of the brushes I use, visit my Amazon Affiliate Link.

Here are the list of pigments on my palette:

• Burnt Sienna
• Cadmium Red
• Cadmium Yellow
• Medium Cerulean
• Blue Cobalt Blue
• Cobalt Teal Blue
• Cobalt Turquoise
• Lavender
• Neutral Tint
• Payne's Gray
• Quinacridone Gold
• Raw Sienna
• Raw Sienna Light
• Raw Umber
• Rose Madder Permanent
• Ultramarine Blue

Related Blogs

Take Control of Watercolor Timing to Paint Dynamic Scenes [Paint This Sky!]

Watercolor Sky Techniques For Better Results

Full-Length Demo: How to Paint Clouds in Watercolor