Sky�s the Limit � Watercolour Workshop

I spent a fun day working with a new student called Allan yesterday.

Allan in full flow painting his seceon ever sky - which was fab - as was his first one!

We covered watercolour basics as Allan wanted a refresher after many years away from painting and so we chatted about paper weights and types, tube paints versus pan paints and the value of having a place to leave all your painting gear out so that you can go to it whenever you fee l like.

If you want to paint skies well I feel tube paints win hands down! Pans are just not going to allow you to load up your brush sufficiently or quickly enough!

Turns out that Allan is simply a brilliant draughtstman and can draw fantastic imagery from his mind and can cartoon like a pro!

Like so many of us though he was advised not to pursue art as a career as there was little money or security with it.

How times have changed!

A moody sky in the making where wet paper and tube paints are your friends... — A moody sky in the making where wet paper and tube paints are your friends…

Some of the skies that we did are shown below.

A wet into wet sky. 7x10 inches - using only 2 colours - French Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Umber - Artists quality of course! Don't waste your time with student grade paints. — A wet into wet sky. 7×10 inches - using only 2 colours - French Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Umber - Artists quality of course! Don’t waste your time with student grade paints.

I always wet my paper before painting a sky and the reasons are these:-

1 It opens up the cotton fibers of the paper and makes it accept your washes more readily.

2. It gives and instantly soft and amorphous look - perfect for skies!

3. It gives you more time to think and when paper is damp you can lift out mistakes much more easily.

Moody witching-hour sky - again painted in a brown and a blue - a simple line of trees completes the painting. Less is more!

Why not explore wet into wet technique further - try this link below to get you started:-

1 Wet into wet search- https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=wet+into+wet&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=fflb&gws_rd=cr&ei=jNoFU8bICaqJ7Abj6oGACQ

- or search on Youtube from this selection!

2 http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=wet+into+wet+sky&sm=3

LEARN TO PAINT SKIES!

For further details on how you can go forward with your watercolour with my Art Blossoms Painting Days please email me at eastwitching@hotmail.com or call 01443 791532. Courses are held here in my home studio in Pontypridd.