Why clouds are a good watercolor subject
Clouds are soft, irregular and forgiving, which makes them a good fit for watercolor. Wet washes blend naturally into cloud-like shapes, and the paper can provide white without any extra paint. Practicing skies helps with water control, which carries over to every other subject.
Materials
- Cold-press watercolor paper, stretched or heavy enough to stay flat
- A large round or flat brush for washes
- A medium round for shaping
- Blues such as ultramarine and cerulean, plus a warm tone like a light yellow ochre or a red-orange, and a gray or mixed neutral
- Tissue, a clean damp brush or a sponge for lifting
- Water and a mixing palette
Core techniques
Wet-in-wet
Wet the sky area evenly with clean water. While the paper has a soft sheen but no puddles, drop in pale blue, leaving unpainted gaps where clouds will be. The paint spreads into soft shapes. This is the most common method for soft, fluffy clouds. See wet-in-wet watercolor painting for the full method.
Lifting paint
Paint a smooth blue wash, then lift out clouds with a clean, damp brush, a folded tissue or a sponge. Lifting works best while the paint is still damp, and some pigments lift more easily than others. Staining pigments are harder to remove.
Negative painting
Paint around the cloud shape with blue so that the unpainted paper becomes the cloud. See negative space painting in watercolor. Soften one or more edges with a damp brush so the cloud doesn’t look cut out.
Dropping in shadow color
While the sky is damp, touch in a mix of gray, a little violet or a warm gray at the bottoms of clouds. The shadow shows depth. Use light, diluted mixes, since heavy shadows look dirty.
Step-by-step: a simple cumulus sky
- Lightly sketch the horizon. Do not draw the clouds in heavy pencil.
- Wet the whole sky with clean water.
- Brush a pale blue across the top, fading toward the horizon, leaving irregular white gaps.
- Soften the edges where the blue meets the gaps with a clean damp brush.
- While still damp, add gray-violet shadows along the underside of the clouds.
- Blot a few highlights with a tissue if the clouds are too heavy.
- Let it dry fully, then decide whether to add a few crisp edges with a small brush on dry paper.
Different types of clouds
- Cumulus: puffy shapes with flat bases. Use soft tops and slightly firmer bottoms.
- Stratus and overcast: broad, even gray layers. Use a uniform wet wash with gentle variation.
- Stormy clouds: darker, heavier values. Mix gray from blue and a warm brown or orange, and paint into a wet surface. Leave a few bright breaks.
- Wispy cirrus: thin streaks. Drag a nearly dry brush lightly (see dry brush painting techniques) or lift thin lines.
- Sunset skies: graded washes of yellow, orange and pink with blue-gray clouds dropped in.
Tips for natural-looking skies
- Make clouds larger and clearer near the top of the sky and smaller and flatter toward the horizon, which suggests perspective.
- Vary the sizes and spacing of clouds so they do not look repetitive.
- Keep the sky simple if the landscape below is busy.
- Work quickly and avoid fussing once the paper begins to dry, since back-runs (cauliflower blooms) form when water is added to partially dry paint.
Common mistakes
- Too much water causes puddles and blooms. Blot the brush before painting.
- Too dark a sky overwhelms the clouds. Paint lighter than you think and add depth later.
- Muddy shadows come from overmixing. Use fewer pigments and let them blend on the paper.
- Hard edges everywhere make clouds look stiff. Soften at least some edges.
Using clouds in larger paintings
A sky sets the mood for a scene. See watercolor techniques for painting water for reflecting the sky in a lake or sea, and plein air painting in watercolor for capturing skies from life. If you want to paint a big sky, large scale watercolor painting covers handling large washes.