Lathkill Dale, Atelier Interactive Acrylics, (23x30cm)

Follow these great hints and tips from Rosemary Hale on how to paint skies using acrylic paints.

A sky’s mood and atmosphere will influence the colours and tones of the landscape below, and this should be taken into account when planning a picture. I link sky and landscape together with my choice of colours, tones or brushstrokes or, very likely, a combination of all three

The benefits of acrylics

Acrylic is such a versatile medium. When applied thickly, with a brush or palette knife, it is opaque with excellent covering power, enabling the artist to paint light over dark or vice versa. However, when thinned right down with water, acrylics become transparent, and layers of colour will show through.

Thick acrylic paint adheres to many types of surface (canvas, paper and mountboard, for example), whereas thinned down acrylics behave at their best when brushed onto good quality watercolour paper.

Different painting techniques will also apply and, here we will be looking thicker acrylic, which is either only slightly thinned with water or used straight from the tube.

Hard or soft edges?

It is important to give a sky the vaporous, atmospheric character that clouds possess and it is the edge of a cloud that most puts this across.

An unbroken hard edge against the sky colour will look like a cartoon, whereas a soft edged cloud immediately becomes more vaporous and believable.



These soft-edged clouds were painted onto dry sky colour.

Before the pale cloud colour was dry, it was brushed gently across the blue to fragment and soften its edge. This can be done with either the side of the brush or with a fingertip.



This hard-edged cloud looks too solid and basic.

The light source

Switching between hard and soft edges is particularly appropriate if you want to suggest strong directional light, and it’s important to take into account where it is coming from. For example, if the sun is shining from the left, have dominant edges on the left-hand side of billowing clouds for good effect.

These partly formed clouds look reasonable, but…



with the addition of white edges, they appear sunlit from the left.

If you're new to acrylics, don't stop here! Explore our other beginner-friendly guides to learn all you need to progress and develop your acrylic skills.

Planning and observation

Let’s see what can be observed about the sky from this photograph taken in Derbyshire’s Peak District. While it’s not wise to copy the photograph exactly, some or even all of these observations may be used as a guide to help create a readable and therefore effective sky. 

Some general observations:

• The light is coming from the left.
• There are lots of fluffy, white clouds that have a slightly diagonal drift, so they have shadows mostly on their bases.
• The cloud edges are ragged – wet colour dragged over dry colour will give this effect.
• In a few places the cloud edge is barely visible – blending colour wet into wet will show this effect.
• The cloud shadow colour is purple-grey, warm in some places, cool in others.
• Detail can only be seen on those clouds nearest to us.

Detailed observations

• The sky colour gradually changes from cobalt blue at the top to cerulean blue lower down.
• Its tone lightens towards the horizon.
• The largest clouds are at the top, becoming smaller in the distance.
• The distances between the layers also become less in the far distance, ending with a compressed bank of cloud just above the horizon. This is linear perspective in action and, if utilised in the painting, will help to give a good sense of depth.
• The clouds are lit at their tops