Painting Clouds

 

Cloud Study I

9” x 12” watercolor

Photo for study

Taken in May, 2023

Five Mile Prairie

I love beautiful cloudy skies. We have been having wonderful formations lately, so I decided to learn to paint them. The trick, I was told, was to get soft and hard edges. Of course, you have to know where to place both. Next time, I will work on getting better grays. 

Today is Sisters, and I will be working on another still life. Stay tuned.

New Home, New Studio, New Painting

Late Afternoon on the Sound

12 x 9 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix

Miki Willa

It has been a while, but I am finally set up in my new home and new studio. We moved from Hawaii to the Pacific Northwest. Hawaii is beautiful, but this place is quite wonderful. The mountains, tall evergreens, Puget Sound, and my incredibly beautiful back yard all call to me. My studio is great with fantastic natural light, even on these gloomy days of June.

My first painting in my new studio is from a reference photo my husband took of a small ferry coming into port on Whidbey Island. I loved the way the cloud colors reflect on the water. I am adding this to my cloud series even though the sky is not the focal area.

More Clouds

White Plains

9 x 12 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix

Miki Willa

I forget who said to do 100 sky paintings, but I really believe in it. When I go back and look at my earliest attempts at clouds when I was doing watercolor, then again when I took up pastels, I can see huge differences. I used to think that daytime clouds were only white and pure gray. Living here for the past six years, I have really had time to study clouds and see all the different colors they reflect. Colors from the water, the land, and the sun. I am particularly pleased with sky holes in these clouds and the sculpturing. I also like the way they reflect on the water in places.

Beneath Kaua'i Skies

Beneath Kaua'i Skies

9 x 12 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix

Miki Willa

My husband took the reference photo for this painting while we were on Kaua'i. We were at Salt Pond Beach and right behind us was a vast sugar cane field. The cane was tall, but not quite ready for harvest. He climbed up an embankment to get the photo. I loved the idea of it and when I saw the clouds, I decided I had to paint it.

I know it breaks a few "rules", but it does what I want I want it to do. It celebrates the cane which is disappearing from the islands so fast. It also celebrates the wonderful clouds that so often a part of our sky scape here. I have long been fascinated by water, and clouds are just another form of water that I really appreciate.

I have not finished with the desert series, but decided I need a little break. I still have a few more I want to do over the next few weeks. Since we will be leaving the island in a short time, I still have a few memories to paint to take with me, so I will be painting more local sites and local flowers as well.

End of the Day

9 x 12 soft pastels on Canson Mi Teintes pink paper

Miki Willa

I did two very different projects today. I had another piece of the pink paper so wondered what it would do for a sunset. We have seen so many beautiful sunsets here. This one was on the North Shore. When we first moved to Hawaii, we would take drives around the island just to look at the water. Sometimes we sketched, but most of the time we took photographs. I am so glad we have all these reference photos. For a long time, I didn't try to paint sunrises or sunsets. I was sure I couldn't begin to express my feelings about them. I was also unsure about my ability to "get them right." For me, this one really captures the awe of seeing the sun setting slowly into the sea. I am really pleased about getting the highlights in the water. The horizon line is a bit skewed, but it works for me. It is really fun to have my paintings sit where I can look at them throughout the day. I was not sure about this at 6:30 this morning, but by 3:00, I really liked it.

On a completely different note, I also decided to do a quick sketch based on one of the 36 views of Mt. Fuji that Hokusai did. Tomorrow, I will do a post about his life and his art. Think of this as a teaser. I was limited to my school set of Crayola colored pencils, so I don't have the colors all right. I think I captured the feeling, however. He was a very interesting character. Come back tomorrow to learn more.

In the style of Hokusai

Crayola colored pencils in sketch book

Miki Willa

This is a very shameless advertisement. We are leaving Hawai'i, so we have a wonderful house for sale. I know someone out there is planning/desiring to move to Paradise. Please contact me and I will get you all the information.

Painting on Mi Teintes

Private Haven

7 x 10 soft pastels on Canson Mi Teintes pink paper

Miki Willa

I thought we had another sheet of Colourfix, but we have run out. We can't get it in the islands, so that means I have to make an order. It also means I have to paint on what is available and that is Canson Mi Teintes. I have a love/hate relationship with this paper. I love all the colors, I hate the texture - even the smooth side. I have to work harder to get coverage, except with my Sennies. They will cover any surface, I think. Then, of course, at 4:30 this morning, I selected the pink sheet. That was an adventure that I think worked with this painting. I had just read on Gurney's Journey that using a warm undertone was great for cooler colors like green and blue. It also worked to really warm up my sand. Casey Klahn says you should try as many surfaces as you can, so I guess I will be playing with pink Mi Teintes this week.

In Hawaii, there are not supposed to be any private beaches. This beach is tucked behind chain fencing near a beach park. All the signs say No Trespassing!! Of course, my friend and I squeezed through a narrow place near the gate and got great views of a perfect beach. I still have not learned who owns it and how they get away with keeping it private. We were all set to do some plein air painting that day, but decided to take photos of this beach and find a more public place to do our painting that day.

The photo below is for Julie at Virtual Voyage. She put up some dynamite cloud photos this morning. I took this one on the way home from work. Fortunately, I caught a red light. I have been known to take pictures while driving on the freeway. Never a good thing, but sometimes it is the only way to get the picture.

Strange Cloud Photo

I left the house without any paper to paint on this morning. I decided to share this photo with you instead. This was taken from my driveway one morning last summer. Tom and I were amazed at the patterns made by the clouds. If anyone knows what kind of clouds these are, please let me know.

More Clouds

Majesty

7 x 10 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix

Miki Willa

I am constantly inspired by the clouds here. I live on a ridge that gives me great cloud views all the time. This is another in the cloud series I started a while back. What fascinates me are all the colors in clouds. I used to see only white and grey. Then I would take a photo, and all that showed up were white and grey. Since I moved here, I have really looked at clouds and see the deep purples, yellows, peaches, and blues as well. I am not talking just about sunsets and sunrises. At first, I was afraid to use any of these colors in daytime clouds. I was sure no one would believe them. Now, I just want to share what I see when I look at them.

One of the things I have noticed lately is that when I force myself to paint because I am trying to paint every day, I don't always have a good outcome. It is when I have strong feelings about a subject that things fall together. When I am not totally centered on following the rules, even though it is not how I see it, my paintings end up looking much better to me. Maybe I should have a stack of my cloud photos set aside for those days that nothing else inspires me. Clouds will always make me happy. Clouds and mountains.

White Plains Day

White Plains Day

12 x 15 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Pastel Board

Miki Willa

My husband took a photo at White Plains Beach on Oahu last August that I used for the reference. The clouds were so amazing that day. The clouds here are so interesting. I read somewhere that you should not try to paint strange clouds because no one would believe them. It also said that cloud forms do not have flat bottoms. They do here. In the painting, they are not as flat as they appear in this photo or the reference photo. I used what I learned about cool and warm colors to create more dynamic clouds.

What's next?

West Maui Hills 2

9 x 12 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix

Miki Willa

I have painted this scene three times, and I like this one the best. The clouds were very difficult as they really formed an X over the hills. Of course, when you paint clouds in an X formation, no one thinks they look real. I am much happier with the depth in this one, too. I as much freer about color than I usually am. This brings me to what I will do next week.

After doing a week of cloud studies, I find that I really need to do much more work on value and hue. I think I will focus on light values this week and follow up with darks the following week. I am sure the mid-tones will be very present in both, since that seems to be what I use most often. Keeping lights light is a current challenge that I would like to overcome.

Last Cane Field

Last Cane Field

12 x 15 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Pastel board

Miki Willa

I chose this cloud picture because of the drama in the clouds that seem to arise from behind the hill on the right. I also loved the freshly plowed field of our good old red dirt and the stand of unharvested sugar cane in the distance on the right. This is a scene found along the road connecting leeward Oahu and the North Shore. Until recently, all that could be seen was never ending fields of pineapples and sugar cane. It is very different now.

Prairie Sky

Prairie Sky

5 x 9 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix

Miki Will

My goal for this painting was to show distance in the clouds. The cloud reference photo was taken from the car while driving with my daughter and son-in-law to Eastern Washington. We were passing through winter wheat country when I couldn't resist the wonderful clouds. On the return trip, I asked my son-in-law to pull over so I could get a photo of this barn out there all alone. I realized I had to put the two together some day. Today was the day. The only thing I may change is to lighten the sky near the horizon a bit more. I think that will enhance the illusion.

Tranquility

Tranquility

7 x 13 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix

Miki Willa

My friend Nancy paints the most exciting and vibrant skies. She uses colors I would never think to use. When I was looking at the reference photo for this painting, I wanted to see if I could get that kind of excitement. The colors in the photo are very subtle, so I had to push them. When I was done, I realized that I had kept my hands away from the daring colors that Nancy might have used, but I was pleased with the overall results. When I was done with the sky, I knew I had to put the waves in, but I was very hesitant. My experience with waves has not always been that positive. I thought about all the things Maggie Price said in her workshop, and all the wonderful waves my husband, Tom, has painted, and I plunged ahead. I had a very good reference photo, and I paid attention. I think I may actually learn to do waves after all.

During this season when we think about giving, here is something you can do that will help a great deal with little effort. Go to http://www.freerice.com and challenge your vocabulary knowledge while you help feed the world.

Buttermilk Sunset

Buttermilk Sunset

7 x 9 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colourfix

Miki Willa

When I was growing up, my father and I loved to drink buttermilk. I loved the patterns the milk made on the sides of the glass as the cool drink disappeared. We used to see the same pattern in the sky on high cloudy days. I haven't seen that kind of sky for many years. That is, until I moved to the islands. One late afternoon, on my way home, I rounded the corner of my street to be greeted by a wonderfully vivid buttermilk sky sunset. That, I had never seen before. I had my new camera with me and hurridly found the right setting before taking several shots as the sky faded. I decided to paint this as my second cloud study.

Clouds, clouds, clouds

Kaua'i Sunset

8 x 10 soft pastels on Canson

Miki Willa

I have decided to focus on sky paintings for a time. More specifically, I want to work on clouds. I have selected some photographs we have taken over the last couple of years in case we needed cloud references. Some are sunsets, like this one. This was taken from the beach at Barking Sands on the west end of Kaua'i, in August of this year. I kept taking pictures, waiting for the brilliant pinks and oranges that I knew would come. I gave up before that happened, but I was very happy with this shot, even though there are few pinks. While I was painting this, I wanted to get the feeling of the underside of the big cloud on the right. I also wanted to show the glow of the sun behind this group of clouds. I almost left off the small island on the horizon, but decided it made sense in the composition, so left it in.

To Blend of Not to Blend

Sunset

8 x 10 soft pastels

Art Spectrum Colorfix

At last, I have finished the 10 in 30 challenge! This is the last painting in the series. I will be uploading the whole series in WC later today. If you are interested, go here.

One of the biggest questions that came up during this challenge was the "blending" question. I have read several pastel books, listened to pastel artists talk about their work, and taken classes and workshops. Everyone seems to have a different idea about blending. Some blend only water. Some say it is okay to blend where you want a smooth look, especially in still lifes. Others say that blending completely dulls the painting by flattening out all the pigments. Is there really a right way?

I started out blending everything because it was the only way for me to get hard edges, or soft edges for that matter. I used my fingers for everything. I gradually stopped blending anything and tried to learn to love the textured finish. Now, I do selected blending.

Often, I blend the first or second layers in certain areas, then add textured strokes for details and highlights. I use my fingers still, but have added tissue in some instances. I have also done some sky blending by using NuPastels over the softer Ludwigs and Great Americans.

Today's painting is a mixture of both. I left the sky unblended for a dramatic effect. The reference photo was taken at sunset on the North Shore of Oahu at a place called Mokulaea. I was amazed that no one was sitting in these chairs. I did, right after I took the pictures.