Cloud Studies

Clouds 1
{approx. 5" x 9" (12.7 x 22.9 cm) – oil on gessoed paper}

Hello,

After a dark and cold winter, spring is here and I am now drawn back into painting landscapes. To start the season out I have decided to tackle clouds, so in the next few weeks I will be posting a series of cloud sketches here.

The goal with this series is to learn to get comfortable with the different shapes and forms of clouds. I am inspired by what Carlson suggests in his book on Landscape painting.

I recommend that he [the student] make repeated and "tight" studies of the many skies that attract him. Even if these studies are mere maps, he will learn, while doing them, much that will be useful in his future pictures. pg. 107.

So this is what I am trying with this series, I have a stack of 70+ photos with clouds/skies and I am going to go through this stack and make a painting from each one. Some of the photos are not great, but I am going to try to make something out of each photo and learn along the way.

Clouds 2
{approx. 5" x 9" (12.7 x 22.9 cm) – oil on gessoed paper}

I am also using a limited paint palette with these sketches, the same I use when I am outdoors painting, it consists of: alizern crimson, cad. red, burnt sienna, cad yellow pale, sap green, winsor green, cobalt blue, ultramarine blue, ivory black, and titatium white.