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Caroline Dally

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Posted
Trying to paint stormy clouds with some very white ones that I saw. This ended up looking like a gap in the clouds. I’ve overworked this now I think, finally trying to show blue sky in the distance. How do I make clouds look either in front or behind?  And how do I make really white clouds?  The ones I saw were in front of the black clouds and a stark contrast.  I feel the second image looks better in real life than my photo makes it look  

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by Caroline Dally

IMG_6882

Paul (Dixie) Dean

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You have overworked the first one I think. If you look at clouds you will notice that most of the time the tops are white of lighter than the bottom which in shadow. If you want to experiment using your overworked one , wet some of the dark area and dab the black off to lighten the tops a little. Whilst I would not recommend doing this on a normal basis it does give you the opportunity to see the difference. Light against dark is not easy to achieve if it’s already painted , nor is it easy to explain I would recommend playing around with just a page of clouds to get the feel . Sorry it’s not a direct answer in how to do it  Don’t forget that there are sometimes other colours in the clouds , purple, pinks and yellows etc all help with the visual effect. Most importantly have fun trying it our.

Alan Bickley

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You’ve already said it! Contrast is the key here. Remember that all colours are relative to the colour that they’re placed against! Aerial perspective comes into play with clouds… smaller and less intense in colour as they recede back to the horizon. For a good storm colour, try mixing a spot of Light Red with Ultramarine, avoid black. Finally, clouds aren’t white! A grey or off white cloud set against a dark background will show as white. I like the top painting, albeit slightly overworked - this is a promising start!

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by Alan Bickley

Caroline Dally

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Trying to paint stormy clouds with some very white ones that I saw. This ended up looking like a gap in the clouds. I’ve overworked this now I think, finally trying to show blue sky in the distance. How do I make clouds look either in front or behind?  And how do I make really white clouds?  The ones I saw were in front of the black clouds and a stark contrast.  I feel the second image looks better in real life than my photo makes it look  
Caroline Dally on 04/08/2021 09:30:44
Thanks. In fact the second painting is the first painting where I used a wet natural sponge to take out some of the colour.  Part of my problem is getting the right shape for clouds. I’ll have another go!

Alan Bickley

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Well there’s plenty of clouds on offer to look at! Just take your watercolours outside or even paint inside by a window. Try painting a sky a day and you’ll soon get the feel for their shapes and colours etc.  Clouds don’t come in standard uniform shapes and sizes, I find that some have more interesting shapes to paint than others, but the only way is to keep practicing. Take on board what’s been suggested here and let’s see the results.

Sylvia Evans

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Lots of great advice here.  I would emphasise the NOT using black or Payne’s grey . They are complete killers.  Try mixing your darks , pick up some of the colours you have in your painting and use some lovely browns,deep violets and indigo blues.   We think shadows are black, they are not. I sometimes ( when it’s not raining) look hard into a hedgerow and try to work out in my head how I would make those lovely velvety darks. It’s the same with clouds. 

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Alan Bickley

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This has been cut and pasted from my quote! Pointless and unacceptable.

This post has been removed as it violates our forum rules and guidelines.

This post has been removed as it violates our forum rules and guidelines.

This post has been removed as it violates our forum rules and guidelines.