THE WET-ON-WET TECHNIQUE FOR PAINTING A BEAUTIFUL AND REALISTIC WATERCOLOUR SKY

            When beginning your sojourn into the wonderful world of watercolour painting, there are a number of important things one must keep in mind.  Firstly, watercolours are not proclaimed as the "most difficult paint medium" for no good reason.  To say the least, painting in watercolours is not only challenging, but quite frustrating, and in many ways, very difficult.  Thus, for anyone beginning in this medium, it is important, as you start out, to take your time, and build upon your skills as you grow as an artist.  Below is a step-by-step technique for creating a beautiful and realistic watercolour sky, that will give any painting depth, and most of all perspective. 

            Before you begin, it is a good idea to use low-tack masking tape to affix your watercolour paper to your working surface.  Working on a inverted binder, or any surface that has an incline of no more or no less that 15% is perfect!  Also taping down your page, will give your finished work a beautiful white border.

 

At the top of your page, using a damp (almost soaked to be exact) round brush, drop in some water, from the top of the page, into the middle of the page, in shapes that you would consider in your own mind "cloud-like"

Once this is done, mix up a semi-strong mixture of blue - you can use any type of blue paint that strikes the mood of the sky you intend to paint

 

 

Load your round brush with a heavy saturation of blue paint, and looking carefully for the water you put onto the page, drop-in the paint - as you will see the paint will flow effortlessly (almost doing the work for you) into the area which you have moistened

 

 

Once the blue paint has dried, you can complete the same steps using some Lemon Yellow, and Light Red, to give your sky a hazy, sunny effect

 

 

Once these colours have dried, at the top of your page, using a damp brush drop in some Paynes Gray to give the impression of dark and misty clouds - be careful not to overdo it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the above steps completed CONGRATULATIONS you have painted your first watercolour sky using the wet-on-wet technique of dropping in colour.

            TIP!! -- Always keep in mind that if you are using a blow dryer to dry your paints, this will decrease the intensity and saturation of your colours.  The heat of the dryer will actually remove the pigment from the paint.  But, if your are intent upon producing a subtle and soft coloured sky - blow dry away!!

 

GOOD LUCK AND KEEP WATERCOLOURING!!

 

                                                            Dana Fragomeni