Cloud studies

“I’ve looked at clouds..”

Here is a collection of cloud studies. This is me experimenting with “wet on wet” watercolour technique, from my desk. Click the image to see it bigger.

(1) Scene with boat (8″x11″)
(2) Clouds and sea (15″x11″)
(3)Shetland (12″x10″)
(4) Walk on the cliffs (9″x6″)
(5) A calm day (9″x6″)
(7) Headlands (9″x6″)
(8) Clouds and rocks (9″x6″)
(9) Westminster (9″x12″)
(10) The North Sea (7″x5″)
(11) “..clearing from the West later” (7″x5″)
(12) Clouds in the sea (7″ x5″) [NFS*]
(13) Headlands (8″x6″)
(14) Mist over the city (7″x5″) [NFS*]

This wet-on-wet technique is a learning curve. For one thing, it makes my desk where I’m working all wet. I’m not yet sure how I’m going to translate this technique into a method I can use on location. I’m working on it. It’s certainly fun to see how the watercolour flows. The technique is a bit unpredictable, like tie-dying, or sourdough baking or surfing. One has to learn to guide rather than control.

I’m learning this wet-on-wet technique from the talented watercolour artist Matthew White in a video I’ve been watching.

4 thoughts on “Cloud studies”

Billy Mann says:

January 31, 2021 at 10:28 am

I’d love to see a cloud painting from up there, in the cloud.

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1. Jane says:
  
  January 31, 2021 at 1:51 pm
  
  Hello Billy! I hope you’re keeping well. Numbers 11 and 14 are the views from my window, more or less: the hazy city. This tower block is 39 stories, and we are only half way up, we don’t reach the clouds. Unless they settle over the whole city. I don’t know if there are any buildings here which ever go through the clouds. The Shard perhaps – sometimes its top is lost in the mist. I would like an opportunity to try drawing clouds from above!
  
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  1. Billy Mann says:
    
    January 31, 2021 at 1:59 pm
    
    Thanks, Jane. We are keeping well and missing that moment when your holiday plane enters the clouds and you imagine stepping out for a walk on cotton wool.
    
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    1. Jane says:
      
      January 31, 2021 at 2:05 pm
      
      Ah yes. The feature of clouds, when looking at them or trying to paint them, is that the look solid, but aren’t solid.
      There’s a surprising amount of brown and red colour in clouds too. All my pictures shown here start by painting the clouds light brown. They aren’t white. This is what I’m learning. Painting them brown gives scope for colour variation and depth. They end up looking white by contrast with what’s painted around them. It’s all very interesting. Learning in lockdown……
      
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