Monday, August 19, 2013

Cloudy skies

I have been having lots of fun photographing and painting skies this summer.  We went to a family reunion a few weeks ago that was held in a rural agricultural park.  They use it as a gymkhana grounds so there were lots of pastures, fences and barns to house the horses (and feed them).  We parked our camper by the empty barn facing this pasture.  It was simply lovely - the big blue sky, fluffy clouds, sweet-smelling grasses and wildflowers, and the gentle mooing of the cows just over the ridge.  It was a perfect little spot and a beautiful reminder of how graceful the country can be.
For these clouds, I painted the sky with a wash of cerulean blue, and then blotted the clouds out with dry paper towels wadded up.  The downside of this technique is that you can end up with clouds all the exact same shape and size. So I scrubbed out some other shapes with a wet brush.  I like the effect.  The flowers are purple vetch which is the iconic prairie wild flower.
Do you have a favourite technique for creating clouds?

5 comments:

denthe said...

Love the bright colours in this!

Carin Winkelman said...

Looks so idyllic. A spot to go for a picnic. As for clouds, I find them extremely difficult to master. I do a lot of blotting too, usually with tissues.

Shilpa Nagaonkar said...

Beautiful painting!
nagaonkarshilpa.blogspot.in

Alex said...

Such a sweet sketch :) So calm!

GlorV1 said...

I like your work. Well done. The colors are awesome. Thanks.
gloria