How to Paint a Cloud above Clouds in Acrylic

Clouds are very beautiful to me.  I really enjoy looking at them espeically during twilight or earily evening.  They then to take on a more remarkable beauty of colors.  For example, lavender, pink, orange, yellow just to name a few.  In this art blog I want to discuss my approach at painting a clouds above clouds. 

 
The first step is to do a thumbnail drawing of what you plan on painting.  After a very small thumbnail is completed with its over all values of at least 4 then it is time to move forward to doing an underpainting from the thumbnail drawing. 

Here as you can see from the photo above is the underpainting of a cloud.  An underpainting is done in a monochromatic color scheme like the one above in the photo.  For this underpainting I used yellow ochre to place down my composition and values.  I also used a #2 bright brush to apply the paint.

Next I added color to the underpainting.  For the darkest values of color I mixed in phthalocyanine blue, permanent red and a little amount of gray.  For the middle value tone of color I mixed in medium yellow, yellow ochre and orange.  Now for the highest value for the clouds I mixed medium yellow, titanium white and a very small amount of yellow ochre. 

I used the same brush from my underpainting a #2 bright brush which has short bristles unlike a flat brush which has longer bristles.  I mixed in two values of blue for the sky to give it a more atmospheric depth of illusion.  For this final mix, I used for the darker value of blue titanium white with a very small amount of sky blue. 

Finally,  I mixed in for the lightest value of sky with titanium white, a small amount of sky blue and a trace of yellow ochre.  Like orange and red to name a few colors they are very saturated and can easily dominate or take over the color value and intesity.  The technique I used is that I used the tip and side of the bright brush to paint in my clouds.  Last for painting in the sky I used a #8 filbert brush. 

I hope this process post on painting a cloud above clouds in acrylic has been helpful and inspiring.  If you are pleased with this post feel free to comment below and perhaps share with me your approach or your personally feelings about this post.  Thank you very much.










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Painting of the Oneal Bridge and process explained

This is the second of three sites from the Shoals area in a series I entitle "Sites of the Shoals"  In this blog I want to share with you all my interest in the area I live.  The Shoals in an area of northwest Alabama where the Tennessee river flows through.  The River is the most dominate land feature of the area.  The Series I call Sites of the Shoals will show cast from an artist perspective on the man made structures in the area.  Oneal Bridge is named after Gov. Edward A. Oneal of Alabama whose family resided in Florence, Alabama  Oneal bridge was built back in 1939 and is also called the Tennessee River Bridge.  At one time before the late 1980's a walk way existed and ran right in the middle of the bridge. I believe that the good Lord has a special plan for the Shoals area that is being worked out from generation to generation to make a powerful impact in the world.  I am fortunate to be a native of this region.  I remember traveling home across the Oneal bridge with my first and later second born son.  It has an ultimate purpose like most bridges to connect two points of reference. It provides efficient access and safety for it's travelers.  

Here is an old photo of the Tennessee River Bridge being constructed back in the 1930's  

I draw this picture from a reference but altered the image of the bridge angle.  I made it in to a one point perspective design composition with the moon being it's center of emphasis.  I used a #2B graphite general's pencil drew in the detail of the features. 

Next I worked from the 5 values created from the thumbnail to produce a miniature blueprint painting study. This was done to see if what I had imagined from my mind was accurate or come close to reality. I used phthalocyannine blue,sky blue, grey, black and white master's touch acrylic paint.  Finally, I used these colors to mix into the 5 values you see for the water and sky. 

www.youtube.com/channel/UCGrfRMzKwKhCDUl6snWoljA

"Moonlight over Oneal Bridge" done in acrylic 16x20 stretched canvas by DWeaver Art © 2018

Available on www.fineartamerica.com and www.artpal.com

 Reference material source from www.bridgehunter.com www.timesdaily.com www.pinterest.com