Challenge for March, Clouds

This month's challenge is to create artwork of clouds.

This is a small sky painting, worked with a palette knife.

" A Touch of Blue"
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This was a sunset over the Indian River Lagoon. A sunset can be beautiful, even when facing East.

 Lagoon Sunset

Carmen Beecher

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This is an exercise I often give my students because it's simple and a great way to have success in watercolor. It gives experience with masking fluid for the white reflections, washes and changes in value. We paint the sailboats last. Like the icing on the cake, they complete the picture. 

Sails and Clouds

Watercolor by Jean Thomas

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This oil is from a photo I took right in Palm Bay.  It was at a secluded little park right on the river with lots of trees and shade.  A great place to relax, read, enjoy the water, breeze and paint.   I used both brushes and a palette knife for this painting of a little outcrop of trees and those big, beautiful clouds.

Along the River

8x10 oil

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Clouds are fun in watercolor, and much less work than in other mediums. This painting depicts early morning in San Francisco Bay.

Mary Warnick


Titanic Cloud

Kathy Garvey

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This is 18 x 18 on cradled board, The Perfect Storm, oil

I started with a photo of a storm rolling in while the sun was shining and then let my imagination go wandering.  I love looking at this piece and some days find it relaxing while other times I see it as turbulent: The Perfect Storm. 

Cindy Michaud 

Pastel Sea, 10x8 Original Oil Daily Painting, Seascape by Carmen Beecher

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Despite the title of this painting, it is not a pastel, it's an oil. It's the scene that is pastel. Sometimes the sea and sky are soft colors, which makes for a peaceful painting. In fact, I believe I hear it calling me right now...I need to go down there and walk a while...

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking...

"Sea Fever" by John Masefield

posted by Carmen  

Another cloudy day

Carol posted a wonderful sky painting yesterday. Coincidentally that is what we did in group on Thursday, clouds and skies.  Carmen gave a demonstration explaining her techniques and use of color and tone.  She also told us about some other painters she had discovered on YouTube and how they went about their paintings.  It was really interesting and so much fun to watch. 
After the demo we set to work on creating our own paintings trying to use some of the tips Carmen gave us.  I think the best suggestion she had was to experiment.  Everyone approaches their canvas differently, depending on their style, what they see and want to convey.  Even though I had several photos with me I decided to put them aside and just paint my whole canvas blue and then put in some clouds.  I had no other plan.  I just wanted to lay down some paint, mix some colors, try different approaches and see what happened.
After awhile the clouds seem to take shape and lead me in a certain direction.  Some of the clouds wanted to stay light while other areas called to be darkened. Some of the canvas did not want to be clouds or sky at all but the ocean.  One little area demanded to be a piece of land!!  It really was a great exercise in mixing, setting a mood and letting go.
Donna Vines

Cloud Painting, Sky Painting, Daily Painting, Small Oil Painting, A Touch of Blue by Carol Schiff, 6x8 Original art

I love to paint the sky, but this is my first daily painting of ONLY sky.

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 It was really quite fun as I concentrate more on values than getting really accurate shape.  I like the texture  and will definitely do this little exercise again.

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It's nice to have a model that is always available and changes each time you paint it.

What are your favorite things to paint?  I started off with simple still life, went through a flower stage and now find I am doing more landscape than anything else.  My goals this year are many.  I want to paint more larger pieces, more figurative pieces and to add quality giclee' prints to my website.

I hope I can stay on track.  Do you have a plan for where you want to be 12 months from now? I would love to hear about it.

Keep painting and thank you for viewing my blog today.



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