Painting Clouds in Watercolor - Learn How To Paint
Clouds, Watercolor Study, 9” x 12”
The secret to painting clouds in watercolor is all about letting go and being as free as possible with your brushwork. Keeping things simple will take your work much farther.
I've provided the process below to get things started as you will learn these basic steps:
Applying mindfulness to painting clouds in the moment, “letting go” in order to capture the spirit of a cloud
Creating washes as an undertone to a cloud composition
Using a subtractive technique for creating lighter sections in your painting
Adding shadow effects for contrast and developing form in clouds
Start by applying a cool wash…
1. Start by Applying a Cool Wash
Start by applying light, loose washes of water with a flat brush, on any size paper (taped on all sides to a board). Make sure the water absorbs well into the paper with no puddles on the surface. With the same brush, apply some loose washes of ultramarine blue.
It's important to be aware of your breathing throughout the entire process to help relax the body. Any tension will potentially show in your work.
2. Lifting Technique
Using a paper towel scrunched up, lift off some of the paint in various places on the paper. Experiment with different shapes for clouds. With a small number 6 round brush, you can lightly soften the edges of the clouds to heighten the feeling of depth in the sky.
3. Add Warmth
To add warmth to the clouds, mix together some cadmium yellow with a little cadmium red for a light orange with the same 6-round size brush. Be sure there’s enough water in the mixture to maintain a light value that isn’t too overpowering.
For a variation of warm tones, you can add some more red to the orange and apply a few patches over the orange. It’s important to apply the paint fairly quickly so the colors blend together. By rinsing off your brush, you can add some water to lighten sections of the warm tones in places.
4. Create Shadows
Next, you can add some raw sienna with the ultramarine blue to grey it down and apply it randomly under the clouds for contrast. (Note: you may need to rewet the bare surface to create a softer effect before applying the blue-grey tone.)
For darker shadows in some clouds, just be sure to add less water to your mixture of ultramarine blue and raw sienna. For warmth in the shadows, add alizarin crimson to the mixture and apply where needed.
5. Dry Brush Technique
To create some texture in your clouds, be sure your painting is dry enough, and then add some darker tones, warm or cool grey under the lighter clouds with a little water. This dry brush technique will contrast nicely with the softer, warmer clouds.
6. Finale with Highlights
As a last step, you can create white highlights in the clouds using titanium white gouache. You can add a little water to the white for a semi-opaque look or use white straight from the tube. This will add a little texture to the clouds as well. This technique is most effective if the highlights are applied toward the center of the clouds, enhancing their forms more effectively.
Contact me for lessons or with questions
To learn more about this cloud-creating technique and others, consider a group class or private lesson. In person especially, I am able to go into more depth with applying mindfulness techniques that will benefit your creative practice.
Private lessons are available for beginner, intermediate, and experienced painters.
Please contact me about your process, technique, and objectives. I'm happy to answer your questions.
