Crazy Weather!

The weather in the pacific northwest can be crazy in April! It can be nice and sunny one minute and then suddenly the skies are dark and stormy. This is how it was one day when I was driving out in north Clark County. The clouds were gloriously striking! I don't know why but I really love looking at thunderheads. They are fun to paint also! I used mostly wet into wet watercolor and dabbed some areas with a tissue to get some harder edges in spots. I added white gouache to the darker blues while they were still wet to form some softer clouds. I also saw a flock of geese flying at the time so added them to the painting as well. The fun part of being an artist is the freedom to create the scene you want. I have no shortage of inspiration here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest! Happy painting!

I did promise some more sky paintings awhile ago so here's a new one I recently finished called "Storm in the Gorge". I did the sky first, using mainly wet into wet watercolor. I also did the water at the same time and the underpainting for the foreground. I added the hills while the sky was still damp, keeping the hills further away lighter and bluer (cool colors should be used for distant objects) and the closer objects warmer and darker). After the sky was dry I went back in and added some clouds. This painting will be on display at VOCA, 906 Harney St. Vancouver, WA for First Friday (Nov. 1) reception for the Clark County Open Studios Tour. For more information visit ccopenstudios.org

 

I have always loved horses. My parents raised Morgans and they were very beautiful and smart. I always loved Arabian horses best. To me they were the most beautiful, intelligent horse in the world. We moved away from the horse farm when I was  a kid and I didn't get another horse until my early teens, when I became the owner of "Trinket", a beautiful half Arabian mare. We shared many adventures together and I still think about her.
I started this watercolor painting with the sky. Using mainly the wet in wet style of painting ( I also had an underpainting underneath that I had done previously). After the stormy sky was finished I pictured a white horse running from the storm and sketched it in to paint. I wanted the mane and tail to flow and blend in with the sky and I think that came out quite well. I call this painting "Thunder Run".   

 

sky studies

This is an early evening sky on a stormy day. Or you could say it was a sunset on a stormy evening. I love the way the dark, dark clouds contrast with the bright, warm sunset below. One secret to painting skies is to make the top of the painting darker than the rest of the sky to create depth in your paintings. Sunsets always make me think of Antoine De Saint-Exupery's book "The Little Prince".

stormy sunset, 6x8 watercolor

sky studies

Here are three samples of skies I painted using watercolor. As I said earlier, there is so much variation in sky colors, clouds, shapes and weather that you could go on painting skies forever and never run out of ideas!

Stormy sky, 6x8 watercolor