The Ultimate Guide to Painting Skies in Watercolor: A 7-Day Challenge

1. Introduction: About the Class: Have you ever tried painting a sky with watercolors only to end up with harsh edges, muddy colors or clouds that just don't feel right? I know I have been there, too. When I first started, I too struggled creating those soft luminous blends that make sky feel alive. No matter how much I practiced, my clouds look stiff, my transitions felt patchy and my skies lack that effortless glow I admired in professional paintings. But over the years, I have refined my approach. From choosing the right supplies to mastering water control, brush techniques and color harmony, I was able to bring depth and movement to my skies. Now, I want to help you do the same. Hi, I'm Nelm Roy, a watercolor artist and a brand ambassador to a South Korean paint brand named Shinhan Art. With over four years of experience painting landscapes, I have developed a deep passion for capturing the beauty and mood of skies, whether it's a golden warmth of a sunrise, the stormy depth of gathering clouds or the soft tranquility of twilight. Through my in person workshops, I have helped students break free from the frustration of muddy washes and overworked clouds. And in this class, I'm bringing that experience to you. Skies are more than just a backdrop. They are the soul of a landscape. A well painted sky can transform an ordinary scene into an evocative masterpiece, but achieving that perfect balance of softness, movement, and color harmony takes more than just copying a reference. It requires an understanding of paint consistency, water control, and brush techniques. This seven day structured watercolor challenge is designed to help you master the art of painting skies methodically. Each lesson builds on the last, taking you step by step through color theory and palette selection, mastering water to paint ratio, and brush strokes and techniques. We will reinforce these techniques through seven stunning sky compositions, starting with simple gradient washes and gradually progressing to more complex atmospheric skies. Each lesson is broken down into clear achievable steps, making this class ideal for both beginners and intermediate artists looking to refine their watercolor skills. By the end of this challenge, you won't just have a collection of seven bread taking skies, but you will also have a strong foundation in water control, brush work, and blending techniques that you can apply to any watercolor painting. More than that, you will cultivate a consistent painting habit, allowing you to break free from daily stress and finding joy in creative expression. Are you ready to transform your watercolor skies? If you're nodding along, then join me in this class, and let's get started. 2. Supplies Required: Okay, so let's quickly go through the list of supplies that we are going to need for this class. So let's talk about the most important material which we are going to need for our class. That is our paper. For this class, I'm going to use the paper from Saunders Waterford, watercolor or equireal Series paper. It's a cold pressed grain fine paper, which is denoted by the letter CIP and not. The color of the paper is white, black, natural, and the size of the paper is ten inch into seven inch. But here, for this class, I have not used this same full size paper. Instead, I have cut my paper into square size of 18 centimeter into 16 centimeter. It is not a perfect square, but it is almost a square. But you could choose to go for any size of the paper. If you will to, you can go for a perfect square of 16 centimeter or 18 centimeter or more. That is totally up to you. Along with this, I would recommend you to keep some scrap piece of paper handy with you for color swatches or practicing some quick techniques. Now let's focus on the most crucial aspect of your watercolor paper. That is to always check the label of your paper to ensure that it states the word 100% cotton. Now, this detail is often overlooked by the beginners, and it is one of the biggest mistake that the beginners commit. This paper that I'm using here is an artist grade, which is also an archival grade, acid free and tumble rolled paper, making it my absolute favorite for painting watercolor landscape. No, it is not necessary to use this same particular brand of paper that I'm using here. Feel free to explore other high quality, 100% cotton watercolor papers that are available in the market. Moving on to our next essential supply, that is our watercolor paints for this class, and as always, I will be using Shinhan arts, PWC Extra fine watercolors. Now, these are professional grade paints. When you choose professional grade paints, the properties of each color such as light fastness, transparency and their pigment information will be mentioned on the labels of your tubes or pants. When choosing colors, always refer to the pigment information on the tubes or pans rather than relying on their generic color. At this class, I will be using watercolor tubes, but if you have pans, instead, feel free to use those. To squeeze out my colors, I will be using this polycarbonate palette from Shinhan art. You can already see the colors laid out on my palette, but I have included an additional lesson on how to properly set up your palette. I have explained the process in detail while keeping it comprehensive and easy to follow. Don't worry about the specific colors used throughout the class. Before each class project, I will walk you through the exact colors needed. For the most part, I have kept the color palette consistently similar across all projects with just a few colors additional where necessary. Next, you will need a spraying bottle, absolute lifesaver during the summer months when the paper is drying up too quickly, I absolutely keep this handy with me. Now we will also need a non absorbent acrylic sheet board or any other non absorbent surface to tape down your paper on fo sites if you are using loose sheets like me. However, if you're working with glued paper blocks or sketchbooks, this non absorbent surface will not be necessary. Now to tape down the paper, you will need masking tape. I am here using half an inch masking tape, but feel free to use whatever size you have available with you. Next, we will need two jars of clean water, one as a constant source of clean water, and the other for rinsing your brushes. Lastly, we will also need some basic sketching supplies, a pencil. The pencil that I'm using here is a mechanical pencil. Feel free to use whatever you have got a ruler and an eraser. Now let's talk about another most important supply that is our brush. Throughout the class, you will see me primarily using the four natural hair brushes to create a skies. The most commonly used ones are my silver Atalia series mop round and hake brushes. This hake brush is made from goat hair bristles, and I love using it for laying down flat washes. I will also be using the two round brushes. One is a synthetic ultra round brush with an elongated tip, and the other is a silver black velvet round brush of size number six. Both the brushes are of size number six brush. In addition to this, I will also use liner brushes. One is a Princeton heritage synthetic soft brush, and the other is a mini liner brush from Hi Mia. For special effects, you will also see me using this specialty brush, the Princeton velvet at series comb brush, which is great for creating grassy meadows. An alternative to this would be a fan brush which would give you similar results. Last but not the least, you will need some tissue paper or a paper towel to dab your brushes, dry or clean. And with that, we have wrapped up our supply section. So gather your materials and join me in the next lesson. 3. Color Theory: Revisiting Basics: In this lesson, let's dive into color theory. I have my three primary colors, red, yellow, and blue, and I have created a color wheel. I'll arrange these primaries on the wheel in a way that forms a triad. The first color that I'm placing on the color wheel is the color red. This particular red is made from pigment PR 209, which is transparent and leans towards the warm side. Now, let me briefly explain the concept of temperature bias. Reds that lean towards orange are considered warm reds, while those that lean towards purple are cool reds. Example, cool reds include quina CridonRd, crimson lake, et cetera. However, these names are generic, and the actual temperature of a color depends on the specific pigment used. Determining whether a color is warm or cool is a relative process, and it can vary depending on the context or the colors that are next to each other. Time to place our next primary color, which is our yellow. Now, the same concept applies to yellows as well. The yellow which I will be using here is Indian yellow, made from pigment PY 189, which is a warm yellow. It leans towards orange, giving rich glowing warmth. Think of the color of the sun radiating warmth. This exactly feels the same, isn't it? On the other hand, a yellow that leans towards green is considered to be a cool yellow. As mentioned at the beginning of this lesson, color temperature is really very relative and I will discuss this in more detail later in this lesson. Now let's move on to the next segment, mixing our primaries to create secondary colors. Here, I'm mixing my red and yellow in equal proportions to form my secondary color, which is orange, which I will place right in between red and yellow on the color wheel. Here, I'm mixing my reds and yellows to create orange, but I notice that I have too much red on the tip of my brush. To balance it out, I'll have to add more yellow to achieve that perfect brilliant orange. Getting the right mix is all about adjusting the proportions to reach the desired vibrancy. I next, I will mix this secondary color, which is our orange with our red to create a reddish orange, a red orange, which is a tertiary color. When you mix a primary with a secondary, always remember you form a tertiary color, and in this case, our red orange is a tertiary color. Similarly, when you mix your orange with your yellow, you form yellow orange, which is, again, a tertiary color that sits right between your orange and yellow. At this point, we have created our secondary and tertiary colors which are all quite warm. However, the brightness and warmth of your orange will totally depend on the temperature of the red and yellow that you use. If one of these primaries is a cool color, then the resulting orange will be more muted rather than being a very bright and vibrant orange. Okay, so I have filled my color veil with all the remaining secondary and tertiary colors. Now let me quickly explain the process to you. When you mix yellow and blue, you get green, which is a secondary color. Mixing green with yellow creates yellow green, while mixing green with blue results in blue green. Now, when you mix blue and red, you form purple, but here is a slight catch. Both blue and red that I have used here are warm blue biased towards purple and red bias towards orange. As a result, the secondary color that is produced is a muted purple. Now, here is an interesting fact. If the blue is biased towards purple, meaning it's a warm blue and the red, which is biased towards purple, which is a cool red, you form the brightest purple. Because both your primaries are biased towards purple. Now, when you mix purple with blue, you get a blue violet, a tertiary color that tends to be quite dull because a purple itself is dull. Similarly, when mixing purple with red, it gives you a red violet, which is another tertiary color, and this color will also be very dull color. Now here's something to remember. On the color wheel, the three primary colors, red, blue, and yellow will always form a treadic relationship, meaning they are evenly spaced around the wheel. Let me show you through the guided lines with the help of this pen. So whenever you are placing your primaries in the color wheel, always remember that they will form this exact triadic relationship, and everything else will fall into place. If you so notice, even your secondary colors, that is your orange, green and purple also maintains a triadic relationship. Now if you're wondering why your primaries are in a triadic relationship, it is because in a color viel, they are spaced equally apart, and this even spacing ensures that each primary color is balanced and distinct without sharing any direct hues with the others. Similarly, your secondary colors such as your purple, orange and green form a triadic relationship because they are created by mixing primaries and are equally spaced from each other on the color. Okay, now that you have a clear understanding of how primary colors are positioned on the color wheel, their relationships, and how secondary and tertiary colors are formed, let's move on to another key concept that is complimentary colors and their interactions. Now, what are complimentary colors? Complementary colors are those colors which are positioned opposite to each other directly on the color wheel. For example, red and green and orange and blue. When mixed together, they neutralize each other, resulting in muted earthy tones such as grays, browns, or even near blacks. For example, primary blue and secondary orange are complimentary, but by mixing them in varying amounts, we can create different shades of brown or gray. To illustrate this better, let me quickly show you the color mixes. For example, if we take red, its complimentary color is green, which sits opposite to red on the color wheel. When mixed together, they create a desaturated color resulting in burnt sienna or burnt timber, depending on the ratio of red to green. Now to demonstrate this, I will first reactivate my yellow. I'll do it nicely and thoroughly and then add in blue to create my green mix. I will speed up the process of mixing my yellows and blues to form my green. Keep adjusting the ratios of yellows and blues until you have your appropriate green. Once my green is ready, I will now rinse my brush and add in my red. As soon as I introduce red with just a tinge of green, you will notice how the red loses its brightness and becomes more desaturated. Now, when you keep increasing the amount of greens into your desaturated red, you get a mixture which shifts completely towards your burnt umber tone. You see how that redness of the red has changed into the completely brown tones, right? So this is the beauty of using or mixing your complimentary colors to form desaturated colors. And by varying the proportions, you can get a wide range of your neutral tones or your desaturated colors. Similarly, when you mix your violet and your yellow, you create neutral tones of grays and blacks depending on the proportions you mix. This principle applies to each and every color on the color wheel. When mixed with this complimentary colored, it results in a desaturated color. Another important concept to remember here is that when you mix all your three primary colors, that is your red, yellow, and your blue, it produces black or gray. Now, depending on the amount or the proportions that you are using to form your black or gray, it can produce a wide range. Now, I have already red on my palette, so I'll mix in some of that blue. Next, I'll rinse in my brush and add in yellow. Now, when you mix in yellow into this mixture, if blue is dominant, mixing it with yellow will first create green. Then when you add more red, you can adjust the balance to reach a stage of your reddish brown, and then keep adding in more blues to reach a neutral gray. Now you can try adding in a little bit of yellow and then balance it out again with a little bit of blue to reach your jet black. Or if you want to make it more towards aligning towards Paine's gray, then you mix just tinge of blue, and you have your Pain's gray like mixture. With this, I conclude the color theory lesson. I hope it has given you some clarity on the importance of understanding and mixing colors. There is so much more to explore in color theory, but I have kept this lesson within the scope of this class, providing you with a broad overview to get started. Key takeaway is to keep experimenting. The more you mix and observe colors, the better you will understand their interactions. In the next lesson, we will take this understanding a step further by exploring analogous split complementary and harmonious color palette through a series of exercises. 4. Analogous Color Palette : All right. In this lesson, we will explore the differences between analogous, split complementary and harmonious color palettes through examples. Let's start by breaking down analogous colors. As discussed in the earlier lesson, analogous colors consist of three to five colors that sit directly next to each other on the color wheel. This combination creates a soft, blended and cohesive with minimal contrast. It is often used to evoke feelings of calm serenity, making it perfect for misty forests, dreamy sunsets, or monochrome landscapes. Now, this was an example of a warm analogous color palette to create a cool, analogous palette. You can use the colors between yellow and blue to create that cooling effect or between blue and red offering more tranquil and soothing feeling. So any colors which are directly next to each other will give you this calm and soothing feeling or which are visually pleasing to your eyes. By understanding the placement of the colors on the color wheel, you can layer them effectively in your landscapes, ensuring that the final composition is always harmonious and visually pleasing. Okay, now let's jump into our class exercise and see how we can create a warm analogous color sky. Will be using three colors, red, orange and yellow. However, since you already know that mixing red and yellow creates orange, you can choose to work with just red and yellow omitting orange altogether. I'm starting by squeezing out yellow, specifically a transparent yellow made from pigment PY 83. Next would be my orange, but as mentioned earlier, you don't necessarily need to have an orange paint, since you can mix red and yellow to create for this exercise, I won't be using a premixed orange. Instead, I will create it directly on the paper. Since we are working on a smaller surface, this approach works well. However, if you're painting on a larger surface, you may want to premix a uniform pool of orange beforehand or simply use a ready made orange for your convenience. Now I will squeeze out red onto my palette. By mixing red and yellow, I can create various shades of orange by adjusting the intensity by varying the proportions of each color. Let's get started. For the sky, I will be using the wet on wet technique, which involves first wetting the paper before applying the colors. To begin, first, I'll create a rough outline of the setting sun, a simple semi arc at the center. Then using my soft goat hair mob brush, I'll evenly spread clean water across the entire paper surface, ensuring uniform coverage. Make sure to do this step a good number of times to ensure that your paper surface remains wet for a longer period of time. This method allows the colors to flow, blend smoothly and create a soft transition. As I layer clean water to pre wet the paper surface, I will carefully wet around the sun, ensuring that no paint bleeds into the area where I want to preserve the whites of the paper. This approach is known as negative painting a technique where you paint around a subject rather than directly painting it, allowing the untouched areas to stand out naturally. Here is an important tip. For covering our current paper size, this size number 20 more brush is ideal. However, if you use a smaller round brush like a size six, which has a smaller belly, it won't hold enough paint and water. This means you will spend more time filling the surface, and by the time you reach the center halfway through, your paper may start drying out too soon. This is one of the most common mistakes every beginners make. Never use an undersized brush for creating larger washes for your skis. This is one of the biggest mistake that every beginner make. To avoid this, always choose your brush size according to the size of the paper that you are using. For painting skis, I highly recommend using a mop brush with a rounded belly and a sharp preferably size number 20, or alternatively medium sized, half an inch or 1 " flat brush. Theise brushes allow you to layer colors quickly and uniformly, ensuring a smooth and seamless blend. With the help of my wet brush, I'm preparing my red mixture, but you can see that there is too much of red at the tip of my brush, making the color overly intense. Utilize a high tinting red, I'll mix in some yellow to achieve a more balanced reddish orange. I begin by applying this reddish orange mix at the bottom half of the sky, carefully painting around the sun to preserve its glow. While applying the color, I'm using just the tip and the toe of my brush holding it at the center. This grip allows me to have some control over my strokes while still keeping my pressure very light, ensuring a soft and effortless blend. Using a clean, damp brush, I will now layer yellow in the mid section of the sky. This will allow it to blend seamlessly with the red while the paper is still wet, creating a bright, beautiful yellow orange transition in between. Notice how I use light gentle strokes, holding the brush at the mid section and gliding it effortlessly across the paper. Applying too much pressure at this stage can lift the underlying red layer, disrupting the smooth transition and making it difficult to achieve the desired yellow orange gradient. Keeping a light touch ensures a seamless natural blend. I if you now observe my blend between the yellows oranges, and the red isn't as smooth as I would like to fix this, I'll create a slightly diluted mixture of yellow and use a gentle to and fro motion with my brush, starting from the top of the paper and gradually working my way down towards the bottom. Notice that I'm using unidirectional strokes, ensuring that I don't lift my brush in between. Instead, I'm making complete edge to edge strokes, which helps in achieving a seamless even blend without creating unwanted streaks or patches. If you notice unwanted streaks or patchy transitions, you can always incorporate darker clouds to subtly blend and cover the imperfection while the paper is still wet. Watch how I use light gentle strokes with just the tip of my brush to create these wispy clouds in the transitioning areas. This helps in softening the blend while adding depth and movement to the sky. Remember, the success of these steps depends entirely on the wetness of your paper. If your paper has started to dry up, brush won't glide as smoothly as it does when the surface is still optimally wet. Timing here is the key to achieve soft natural looking clouds. If your reds accidentally bleed into the white areas of the sun, do not worry. I have an easy fix for this. Simply take the damp tip of your brush loaded with thick white wash and carefully cover any unwanted stains or blotches in the white areas. Quash is opaque, so it works really well for correcting mistakes and restoring the sun's bright glow. This quick fix helps maintain the crisp, luminous effect of the sun without affecting the overall harmony of the painting. This class exercise was a classic example of a warm analogous color palette. But if you wanted to explore cooler tones like blues and greens? Yes, that's also absolutely possible. When painting ocean scapes or seascapes, you can use any combination of blue, blue, green, green and yellow. When let correctly, following their natural placement on the color wheel, these colors will create a harmonious and visually pleasing representation of water. This is why understanding color theory and knowing how colors interact based on their position on the color wheel is so very important. In the next lesson, we will dive deeper into the split complementary color palette. 5. Split Complementary Color Palette: In this lesson, we are going to explore the split complimentary color palette. This palette consists of one base color and two colors adjacent to its complimentary color on the color wheel. Now, why do we use this color combination? This is because using this color combination, it creates a contrast without being too harsh, balancing the warm and cool colors. For example, if I consider yellow orange in my color wheel as the base color, the exact complimentary color is blue violet in the color wheel. But instead of choosing this complimentary color, we choose two colors adjacent to the complimentary color, forming a triadic relationship. Now you can either choose the direct adjacent colors of the complimentary hue or experiment with the neighboring shades within the same color family for a slightly different effect. Here, instead of selecting purple as my adjacent color, I chose red violet along with blue. This subtle shift adds variety while maintaining harmony within the split complimentary color scheme. This gives us the contrast without really creating any muddy mixtures and giving us the bright colors as we need. So let's understand this better by painting this sky. I'll begin by outlining our setting sun just above the horizon line. To create that perfect semicircle or an arc, I'm using my washtape role as a guide. It's a very quick and effective trick to get that perfect setting sun outline. Once the outline is ready, we will now move on to the wet on wet technique. As explained earlier, this technique involves applying wet paint onto our wet paper surface. Key here is to choose our reds and blues wisely to create that perfect contrast while minimizing muddy colors. Instead of using a warm red, I'm switching to alizarin crimson, a cool red, which is biased towards purple. Understanding the bias of colors is crucial. We know that mixing a cool red with a warm blue creates a vibrant purple because both are biased towards purple. However, in this case, I'm using a cool blue, which will result in a desaturated secondary colors rather than a bright mix. This is an important concept to grasp. Choosing colors with incompatible biases can lead to dull or muddy results. But do not worry. I'll show you how to work around this challenge and still create a visually appealing sky without compromising the composition. I'm squeezing my colors out straight from the tube. I have already squeezed out my Azarin crimson. Now I'm adding my cool blue, that is my peacock blue onto my palette. You can try doing this exercise using both your cool blue and warm blue colors separately to compare the differences in the results. Before we begin wetting our paper, let's first prepare our yellow orange mix. If you have a ready made yellow orange in your palette, that is whether in your pants or tube watercolor, feel free to use it. Otherwise, you can easily create the mix by combining a warm red with a warm yellow like how I am doing here. I am here trying to adjust the proportions of my reds and yellows to get that yellow orange mix. Once you have obtained the color similar to your yellow orange, we are now ready to get started with the wet on wet process. So for the wet on wet, I'm going to switch to my silver black velvet size number 12 brush. Now using the same round brush, I'm going to wet the paper with back and forth horizontal strokes, ensuring the surface is evenly covered with clean water. The key here is to avoid puddles. We don't want any pools of water standing on a paper. Want it nice and uniform and consistent. For more efficient flat wash, you can use one in soft natural hair flat brush for making it easier to spread the water smoothly. Time to layer are yellow orange starting from the base of the horizon line. Hold the brush at a top angled position and use light pressure, even as you press down slightly to engage the tip toe, and belly of the brush. Notice how I have gripped the brush. I have held the brush at the center of the handle for better control. Move in gentle back and forth horizontal motion, allowing the paint to spread smoothly onto this wet paper surface. Now using just the tip of my clean damp brush, I'll dip it in water and begin lightening the yellow orange as I move upwards. With gentle sweeping back and forth motions, I'll bring some of that softened colour downward. The brush should glide smoothly over the paper surface without disturbing the underlying wash. Here, you must be cautious not to have too much of water in your paint brush or else it's all going to become too watery and difficult to control. Next, I load the tip of my mop brush with serine crimson. Here it is important to mind the tonal values using a medium to light tonal value in transitioning layers helps avoid muddiness. However, I think I went a little overboard with the tonal strength of my alzarin crimson. To fix this, I'll use the clean damp tip of my mop brush to lift up some of the excess pigment and softly blend the remaining color into the sky. Here at this stage, pay attention to the water content in your brush. Too much of water will make the transitions messy and difficult to control. A slightly damp brush helps achieve a smooth blend without unwanted blooms and not to forget the amount of pressure that you are exerting on the tip of your brush will depend if you are lifting the colors or you are putting on the colors on the paper. While my paper is still wet, I'll add in my blue directly above my Allison Crimson and stop midway around here and blend the colors to and fro. The tip of my brush has too much of blue, so I'm going to rinse it off, damp it dry, and reload it with a light tonal value of my cool blue mix. Now, using this lighter tonal value of blue mix, I'm going to blend the purple transitioning from midway to upwards, making sure not to bring the blues down into the yellow, orange transition layer. This would help us to avoid that muddy layers. To create a seamless transition between the blues, purples, and yellow orange, od a light tonal value of Alyzarin crimson and begin blending from purple transitioning area moving upward and stopping midway. Then I'll pick up another litnal value of Alizarin crimson and carefully blend it into the yellow, orange layer. While blending upwards, I'll keep my strokes confined within the purple transitioning zone and not extend into the blue, as pulling the colors downward would create unwanted muddy mixtures, which is the main objective of this project. Now, if you would like to add clouds similar to how we have done in our analogous project, we will use purple for a subtle effect. Here I'm going to mix my blue and my lyserin crimson to create my purple. Switching to a smaller sized round soft brush, I'm going to create light strokes using just the tip and toe of the brush. The brush that I'm using here is silver black velvet, size number six brush. Remember to keep your strokes soft and delicate, allowing the brush to glide smoothly over the paper. Avoid using excess water as overly wet brush strokes can cause the paint to spread uncontrollably leading unwanted blooms on the paper. This, we have successfully completed our split complimentary color palette lesson. Through this exercise, you can see how important it is to choose colors strategically based on color theory and their affinity towards the underlying hues. By making smart color choices, we avoided muddy mixtures while still achieving high contrast in the sky using our cool blue, cool red and yellow orange. I highly recommend repeating this exercise using our warm blue, cool red, and a yellow orange or experimenting with a different set of split complimentary colors practicing this will greatly enhance your understanding of color selection for skies and help you create vibrant, yet harmonious compositions with confidence. 6. Harmonious Color Palette: Now, let's talk about harmonious color palette. A harmonious color palette is any combination of colors that feels visually balanced and pleasing. This can include analogous, complimentary, triadic or split complimentary color schemes. As long as the colors work well together, it will create a visually balanced painting. Understand this better, let's do an exercise. I'll paint the same sky, but this time using a harmonious color palette, and before that, I'm going to change the water in my water jars. I'm starting with yellow orange as my base color, working wet on dry. Personally, I don't prefer wet on dry for skies because the paper dries too quickly. This means you constantly have to come back and rework watery layers to keep the surface wet, which can be quite troublesome, especially on larger papers. You can see how time consuming this process is by going over these areas again and again, keeping the paper wet. To counter this, I will quickly wet the top section of the g going wet on wet and blend it to my base layer of yellow orange. Near the bottom edge of the paper, I will now add med tonal values of orange using to and fro horizontal motion with my brush. As I move upwards, the values will gradually become lighter while still maintaining the vibrant orange base of the sky. Next, I will now begin mixing my cool reds with blue to create a purple. To start, I will apply a medium tonal value of purple rather than an intense tone. This allows for better control over the depth of the sky. I needed, we can always deepen the purple later in the process by layering more intense tones. Now I'm going to add some slanted strokes of purple using very light pressure to create sense of movement in the sky. I'll keep the strokes asymmetrical and avoid taking them too far into the yellow areas. This is because purple and yellow are complimentary colors and can create muddy mixes if there isn't a transitioning color in between. Next, I will introduce light tonal values of blue, layering them directly over my purples. Since my paper is starting to dry, I'll use a slightly watery mix to help the colors blend smoothly. You will notice that this layering creates the effect of a stormy sunset sky. Now, I will be adding a transitioning color that is my opera pink, a cool pink that mixes beautifully to create bright purples and coral oranges. Now, I will start adding my transitioning color. That is my opera pink, a cool pink that mixes beautifully to create bright purples and coral oranges. Now, if you do not have opera pink, do not worry. You can always search your watercolor kitty for other cool pinks with a red pigment, like quinacrdon Magenda or bright rose. However, Avoid pinks or reds that contain violet pigments as they can result in muddy mixes when layered with yellows or oranges. This is an important tip to keep in mind. Always choose your transitioning colors based on the affinity of the colors you have already selected. Thoughtful color selection will ensure that your sky remains harmonious and vibrant instead of becoming dull or muddy. Here you can see that the bottom part of the sky has started to dry, which is preventing the layers from blending smoothly. To fix this, I'll go over the bottom area again with a light tonal value of orange, blending the layers uniformly. Now, if you want the sky to have a seamless gradient, mix in some opera pink and use quick light horizontal strokes. Start at the center, move upwards, and then bring your brush all the way down to the bottom. This technique will help you achieve a smooth gradient wash. Now, if you want to introduce a contrast, then start at the top and apply a medium tonal value of blue. Stop right here at the center, rinse your brush and load it with opera pink, and then again, begin layering opera pink from the center of the transition, moving upwards and stopping midway again. Reload the opera pink and repeat the process, start at the center where you left off and move downwards, and then back again upwards, maintaining a smooth gradient. Throughout this process, use consistent light pressure, ensuring that you don't pause in between. The key is to use straight horizontal strokes covering the width of the paper in one smooth motion. The movement of the sky feels lost, we can bring it back by adding some directional clouds. And for that, I'm going to use my blues and mix it with my opera pink. I'm going to squeeze out some of my opera pink and mix it with my blue to create a beautiful, bright pinkish purple. I will give it a good mix, and using just the tip and toe of my brush, I will start adding some horizontal clouds with a mix of short and long broken strokes. Observe how lightly I have held my brush and I'm keeping the strokes very light and loose. Here at this point, I'll introduce a large diagonal cloud starting from the left, moving invers towards the right. Notice how lightly I'm doing this step. My brush is gliding smoothly on the paper with that creamy mix. This is a critical point. If you start with a paint mix that is too watery, you may introduce blooms in the sky, and blooms can be quite tricky to fix, especially when working with multiple colors in a sky like this. Towards the right side, we will use swirling inverted C strokes, keeping the movement light and free to add variation to the clouds. And that's all for this lesson. I hope you were able to follow along closely and understood the importance of these techniques. Practice is the key. Make sure you try out the exercises yourself because only when you paint, you will get a crystal clear understanding of the critical points we just covered. If you weren't satisfied with your first attempt, don't worry. Redo these exercises as many times as needed. The more you practice, the better control you will develop over your brush work, water control, and paper wetness, all essential skills for painting expressive and atmospheric ski. With this, we have covered all the essential color theory basics. You need to create your own stunning skyscapes. Now let's jump into our next lesson. 7. Brush Type & Water Control: For this exercise, grab your most frequently used brushes. Here I'm using couple of brushes, a tissue paper, and a jar of clean water. From this collection of brushes, I mostly work with silver atelia series. So I'll be picking my silver atelier squirrel blend mob brush of size 00. This is a hybrid brush made up of squirrel and soft synthetic fibers that mimic natural hair. Now I'll dip the brush in water. Notice how the bristles swell up and the tip fills with water. It's extremely watery. When I lay it down on dry paper, it forms a blob of water. Can you see that? As I drag it down, you can see a watery line forming. This is a classic example of a watery brush. Imagine if your brush was loaded with this kind of thin, watery paint mix while painting skies. If this is something you have been doing, what I'm about to show you next will be eye opening. Let me demonstrate. Here I am forming a watery paint puddle. Just observe it's very dilute. You can see here how watery that paint mixture is formed. If I apply this on dry 100% cotton paper, it will still work to some extent because the paper absorbs the excess moisture. But let's see what happens in a wet on wet technique with the same watery paint mix. First, I will wet my paper laying down a uniform coat of water. Now using this to and fro motion, I'm going to spread the water uniformly on the paper surface. Then I dip my brush in water, directly load it with the paint, and then we'll be dropping it onto the wet surface directly. Do you notice how the paint bleeds and spreads uncontrollably? It feels like you are moving too much of paint and water. This is one of the most common mistakes every beginners make. Look at the amount of watery paint your brush is holding. This lack of control over your brushes, water and paint holding capacity can lead to tricky situations in your watercolor paintings. Now let me demonstrate the correct water to paint ratio your brush should have when painting clouds or skies. Now, I'll give my brush a good rinse. Then I'll load it with clean water and lay it onto my paper to make it wet. I'll do this step evenly. Observe how I'm applying the water. I'm using the full body of the brush, the tip, toe, and the belly all at the same time. Notice the pressure I am exerting. I'm holding the brush near the edge of the handle, which gives me more room and freedom for expressive brush strokes. This allows me to cover a larger area smooth. Now, I'll let the paper rest for a moment to absorb some of that moisture. In the meantime, I'll prepare my paint mix. Since my paint is already watery, I'll grab a tissue towel and dab my brush to soak off all that excess water. This tape is important. It ensures that when I reload my brush with a watery paint, it absorbs the mixture properly without becoming oversaturated and swelling. Now I'll start layering the paint using a horizontal to and fro motion, applying the color with the tip toe and the mid belly of the brush while using very light pressure. Observe how I hold the brush. I'm gripping it at the edge of the handle rather than at the center. Holding it at the center would restrict expressive movement because you would naturally exert more pressure leading to a heavier application. Let me show you this process once again. This time, I'm loading only the tip and toe of the brush with paint. Then using just the tip and toe, I'm reapplying the color over the previous layer. This ensures that I'm not lifting off the paint from the underneath layer. The brush should glide effortlessly over the paper. You shouldn't feel any resistance when using a natural hair brush. If you do, it means there is too much pressure and not enough moisture in the bristles. Now let's repeat the same exercise using a synthetic brush and compare the results. For this, I will be using this synthetic brush from Brostro Aqua stroke size number 12. It is marketed as a watercolor brush, but I find the bristles quite stiff and have a strong spring back. Let's see how it performs. I'll start by dipping the brush in water, giving it a nice rinse, and then I will load it with water and start applying on my paper. I'm trying to use the full body of the bristles to lay down the water, but I can feel some spring back and resistance from the paper. Since this is a synthetic brush, its water holding capacity is quite low compared to a natural or a blended natural hair brush. This means I have to go over the same area multiple times to lay the water evenly. As mentioned earlier, synthetic brushes don't hold as much water. So instead of completely drying it, I'll just lightly dab it on a tissue paper. Now, I load the brush with paint. Here, I notice that the paint is too thick, and if applied with a synthetic brush, it won't glide smoothly. So I'll add a drop of water with the tip of my brush, mix it well, and turn it into a creamy consistency. Here, I realized I forgot to hit the record button, silly me, so I'm going to repeat the process once again. I'll clean my brush, dab it lightly on a tissue paper to remove any residues that is left from that red. Then I dip it back into water and lightly dab again to absorb excuse moisture before loading the velvety paint mix. Now, using just the tip and the belly of the brush, I start applying the paint. Can you observe how the brush is leaving behind streaks or visible brush strokes? This happens because it is a pure synthetic brush, and synthetic brushes are usually very stiff and run out of paint and water very quickly. That's why in a single application, you don't get a clean uniform gradient blend. The brush strokes are clearly visible because even with slight pressure, the brush lays down and lifts off color abruptly. So if you're using a synthetic brush, make an informed choice. Look for a soft synthetic brush that is designed exclusively for watercolor, one that feels smooth and holds moisture well. Otherwise, you are likely to face these issues while painting. Now let's compare another synthetic brush this time from Princeton Heritage Series size number ten. The bristles of this brush feels feather soft, almost like natural hair, and it is not as stiff as the previous synthetic brush. There is a slight spring bag, but interestingly, it takes a bit of time to return to a shape, quite different from the usual synthetic stiffness. Did you see that? It has slightly bent out of its shape and it has not spring back, so let's perform this exercise using this brush. Let's get started with the exercise. Now, before soaking the brush in water, I want to test it spring back on paper. Wow, this feels really soft when I press it down, and it stays in place for a moment instead of instantly snapping back. Now, let's begin by dipping the brush in water and laying down a flat wash on the paper. Since it is still a synthetic brush, I still have to go back a couple of times to layer the water evenly. But compared to the previous brush, this one feels much more softer and distributes water more smoothly. Let's load the brush with the creamy paint mix and see how it performs. With just the tip dipped in a little water, I mix the paint further to create a creamier velvety consistency. Now, very soon, I'll start spreading it or applying it on paper. My brush is loaded up with the paint. Let's begin to apply it on a paper. And, oh, wow. I can instantly feel the difference between the two synthetic brushes. This brush is so much more softer and glides effortlessly on the paper without much resistance. You can still see some streaks, but compared to a previous synthetic brush, the result is so much more smoother, right? Even as I demonstrate this exercise, I can feel the difference firsthand, and that is why I highly recommend you to test out the stiffness and softness of all your brushes yourself. Most good brands make synthetic brushes at an affordable rate, and it is always helpful to have a few of the synthetic watercolor brushes alongside with your natural or blended watercolor brushes. Practical implementation of this exercise will help you choose the right brushes for your next watercolor painting. 8. Brush Control & Stroke Techniques: Before we begin with brush control, let's take a moment to understand the parts of a round or a mop brush and how the influence are painting. I have here my size and about 20 mop brush, a natural hairbrush. When your mop brush is damp, you will notice the pointed end of the bristles. This is the tip. Just below the tip would be the toe. Now here in this mop brush. When you bend it, it will retain its shape. This is the toe part of the brush because it's a natural hair brush. Now, just below the toe, you have a rounded portion near the ferrule, which is the belly of the brush. This belly is where the mop brushes hold a large amount of water and paint, making them ideal for broad fluid strokes. Below the belly is the heel, and then the ferrule, and then comes the handle which provides grip and control. Now, that was all about our mop brush. Now let's take a look at our ultra round brush from silver silk series. You will notice that this brush has an elongated tip and a more defined toe. However, unlike the mop brush, its belly is not rounded, meaning it won't hold as much as water or paint. Instead, this brush is more designed for precise and control strokes. Making it idle for fine details. It also has a ferrule and a short handle which allows for better maneuverability while working on integrit areas. Understanding the structure and function of your brushes will help you use them more effectively, allowing you to create a variety of strokes and textures in your watercolor paintings. Now let's move on to the holding positions of the brush and how the effect art strokes. Holding the brush closer to the fiule gives more control, and holding the brush at the center or at the edge of the handle results in more looser, more expressive strokes, allowing for a freer flow of paint. Let's practice this by wearing pressure and grip position while using just the tip toe, or the full body of the brush. When I hold the brush close to the fiule, I apply firm pressure and create control strokes. Here, I'm pressing down the tip very lightly, and you can see how the marks are varying from thick to thin. Now, when I press it down a little harder and create a more controlled pressure, you see the uniformity in the stroke. Now I'll change the position of the brush and hold it upright at the center of the handle. Now using just the tip, I'll try to make a straight line and see how I differ the pressure. When you use just the tip of the brush and apply very light pressure on it, you will see that the brush is literally dancing or gliding on the paper. Now when you exert a little bit more pressure with using the tip and the toe, you see you get much more controlled and thicker stroke. Now I will hold the brush closer to the edge of the handle and repeat the same exercise. I will be using the full tip and toe while creating this line and now using the full belly of the brush. You can see the stroke difference, right? When painting skies especially for gradenblends or clouds, I prefer to create loose expressive strokes by holding the brush closer to the edge of the handle. This allows me great freedom and flexibility, making it easier to move colors fluidly across the paper. By varying the pressure, I can control the way the colors blend and flow, achieving soft transitions. Similarly, when painting skies with slanting strokes, holding the brush at the edge of the handle keeps my wrist and fingers more flexible, helping me to create bold broad strokes with ease. Now let's explore the different strokes used to create the clouds. Using the tip and toe of the brush, press it down and lightly release the pressure to create soft organic shapes. Varying the pressure allows for thicker and thinner strokes, helping shape the cloud naturally. To form a cloud, start with thicker strokes at the top and gradually lighten the pressure as you create smaller strokes towards the bottom. Next, repeat the same stroke in reverse, holding the brush at different positions. Near the ferrule, you will exert more pressure, which can lift off the color when working on a wet background. At the edge of the handle, it allows for lighter and more fluid strokes. Now let's apply the strokes on a wet background. First, I will wet down the paper and lay our gradient wash or purple as the sky. This lesson is only going to be helpful when you practice it yourself. Collect references of your sky, observe the shapes of the clouds and try to mimic the exact same shape of the clouds using varying pressure and. Because there is no better way to learn than through experimentation and practice. By doing so, you will not only master the techniques, but will also begin to develop your own unique style. That's exactly how I learn to paint my skies through continuous practice, observation, and exploration. So embrace this process, experiment fearlessly and let your style evolve naturally. Let's get back to the point where we left. I have already created this gradient wash of my sky using my purple mix. You could go ahead and create any background wash for your sky that is totally up to you. Here, this is just for a reference purpose that I have used this color. Now I'm going to dab my brush on the tissue paper. But you can observe that my brush is still wet. It still has moisture in it, right? You can see those droplets of water. You brush this very wet and you load it with a creamy paint mix. Notice what happens when you apply it on your wet sky background. The colors start to blend and the clouds lose their shape. Can you notice in here how the shape of the clouds is blending in that wet background and not holding his shape? When I dab the brush on my tissue paper to remove that excess water, and I will reload it back with my paint mix, you will now see that the strokes of the clouds hold their shape on this wet background, creating a soft yet defined cloud shape. This exercise helps you to understand the water holding capacity of your brush and teaches you how to quickly adjust it during the painting process to achieve the desired effect that you are looking for. Here, I'll create and demonstrate some more shapes of the clouds on a dry background so that you can practice this by varying your brush pressure before applying the techniques in our class projects. First, to create the cumulus clouds, I'll hold the brush upright and use the tip and toe to paint the sky while preserving the negative space for white fluffy clouds. Next, for the floating clouds, I'll use the ski strokes which we practiced earlier. Adding darker tones at the bottom will create depth. But since we will be working on a wet background, the colors will blend automatically. You need not go and blend it yourself. For the next cloud, I will use the full belly of the brush applying varying pressure to create the direction and movement of the cloud. Observe my brush strokes out here. We are going to use this kind of clouds for our project number five. So practice this shape of the cloud by yourself. The next shape of the cloud that I'm creating is by swirling motion using just the tip and toe of the brush and wearing the pressure lightly. You can also paint an inverted C shaped cloud for a different effect. Lastly, I'll be using some slanting broken strokes to create a directional cloud for more dynamic compositions. So the cloud shapes may keep changing and may varying. So practice them according to the references that you collect and study the shape. 9. Type of Washes: In this lesson, we will explore the three different types of washes used in watercolors. First, let's take a look at the flat wash, what it is and how to achieve it. To proceed with this technique, first step is to prepare our paint mix. We'll have to mix a generous amount of water with our paint to create a smooth, uniform mixture. While I'm preparing this pool of paint, let's first understand what exactly is a flat wash. Flat wash is a technique where you apply a smooth, even layer of color across a surface without visible brush strokes, streaks, or tonal variations. The goal is to create a uniform wash of color. And hence, because of this reason, we need to have our uniform pool of paint mix ready before we go into creating our flat wash. Once a smooth, even consistent paint mix is ready, the next step is to choose a medium to large sized brush according to the size of your paper and start working wet on wet. To start working wet on wet, we will first apply a thin even layer of clean water to the paper before adding color to help the wash spread smoothly. I would recommend you to take your time and wet your paper because you do not want your paper to start drying in between your wash. Now I will be loading my brush with the smooth, consistent paint mix and then start working on it. When applying the paint, we will first begin at the top and use broad horizontal strokes, keeping our brush in contact with the paper. Observe how I'm utilizing the full body of the brush. I'm engaging the tip, belly, and toe to distribute the color evenly throughout the paper surface. As you work, ensure that there is wet bead of paint at the bottom edge of each stroke. This helps maintain a smooth transition and prevent streaks. Work quickly and slightly overlap each stroke to keep the wash even. Once the entire area is covered, allow it to dry completely without going over drying areas, as this can cause unwanted streaks or patches. By following the steps, you could achieve a flawless flat wash with no tonal variation. Now moving on next to our gradient wash. Now what is a gradient wash? A gradient wash in watercolors is a technique where color gradually transitions from dark to light or smoothly blends from one color to another. Unlike a flat wash, which maintains a uniform tone, a gradient wash creates a natural shift in color intensity, adding depth and dimension to a painting. You must be thinking, why is it necessary to know all these techniques before you paint the skies? Because they are essential for painting realistic skies as they help capture the natural variation in light and atmosphere. Most skies aren't a single flat color, are they? They shift from a deeper blue at the top to a lighter tone near the horizon, or maybe they blend in warm and cool tones during sunrise and sunset. This technique allows you to create a soft, seamless transition that mimics the way the light interacts with the sky, adding depth and realism to your landscape. Now I will load my wet brush with a slightly watery paint mix and begin applying color from the top, using the full body of the brush to spread the paint evenly across the wet paper surface. As I reach the center of the paper, I will gradually release the pressure from the belly of the brush and engage only with the tip and toe, gently moving the colour downward. Maintaining moisture in your brush is crucial here as it helps to create a smooth tonal transition from dark to light. There is another way to achieve this effect. Start with the same process applying color from the top. But when you reach halfway down the paper, pause, rinse your brush and dilute your paint mix with a drop of water to create a lighter tonal value. Then resume painting from where you left off, allowing the diluted mix to blend seamlessly into the previous layer. This method makes it easier to achieve a smooth transition, especially for beginners. If you don't get it right at the very first time, keep practicing. Gradual control over water and paint comes with practice. Can you see the beautiful transition of color we have achieved from dark to light blue just by varying the total value of a paint mix and pressure? This smooth blend creates a natural gradient. Now let's move on to the next part of our gradient wash where we are going to do the same process, but with three different colors. As already said before, a variegated gradient wash in watercolors is a technique where we use two or more colors gradually blend into each other while also transitioning in tonal values. Unlike a simple gradient which transitions from dark to light in a single color, a variegated wash allows multiple colors to flow together, creating soft organic blends. In this exercise, we will use ultramarine blue for the top and yellow for the base, and I'll show you how to avoid creating a greenish mix in the transition layer when blending these two colors. Since blue and yellow naturally mix to form green, we need to ensure that the transition between them remains smooth without unwanted color mixing. The key is to create a buffer layer by allowing a soft fade of blue before introducing yellow or introducing an intermediate color in between yellow and blue. So that it does not form that greenish color. To do this, I will first apply my yellow at the bottom, gradually lightening it as I move upwards. Before reaching the area where the blue begins, I'll introduce a thin band of clean water or a light neutral wash, allowing the space for the colors to blend without fully merging. Now I will start applying my ultramarine blue using a size 00 mop brush. This is a natural hair mop brush, but notice how the brush is dry, creating streaky strokes on the paper. The brush feels a little too small to cover the surface. To fix this. I'll add a drop of water to my paint mix, creating a more fluid consistency so the brush can glide smoothly over the paper. Let's try this again. This time, I noticed that the top part of the paper has started to dry already. To prevent harsh edges or streaky strokes, I will switch to a larger size, about 20 more brush which is more suitable for this paper size. I will begin with a light tonal value of blue in the area where I left off and blend it upwards, ensuring a smooth transition. This larger brush allows better control and even coverage, helping me to move the color without streaks. As I move downwards, I stop just before transitioning into the yellow then using a rinsed brush loaded with light tonal value of yellow, I gently work upwards, applying light pressure and using horizontal back and forth strokes to blend the yellow into the transition area without the overpowering blue. Next, I load the tip of my brush with a little watery mix of lavender and blue and start from the midway point, blending it into the transition area where yellow meets the blue. Using the belly of my brush, I gently push the colors back upwards at the same time towards the top while maintaining light blending strokes. Throughout this process, I'll make sure to keep the brush in contact with the paper without lifting it, ensuring the transition remains soft and seamless. The key here is to apply very light pressure so that the transitional area stays delicate, it does not create any harsh edges. Now, to avoid that greenish mixture, I have added a little bit of lavender into my blue so that the transitioning area becomes gray when mixed with yellow because lavender is a form of purple, and when mixed with your yellow, purple and yellow will form a grayish mix. You can either follow the previous method or introduce a third color to create a smoother transition between blue and yellow. If you observe sunrise or sunset skies, you will often notice a soft warm transition between the cooler and warmer tones. And to replicate this effect, I'll introduce a light tonal value of Alyzuen crimson halfway between the yellow and blend it upwards into the blue. The crimson acts as a buffer color, preventing direct mixing of yellow and blue, which would otherwise create green. To refine the transition, I will use a light tonal wash of naples yellow and blend it into the crimson layer, allowing the colors to merge softly. Once are paper rise, you can see the beautiful, soft and smooth transition of colors we have achieved in the variegated gradient wash. Blending is seamless, creating a natural shift between hues without any harsh edges. You can repeat this exercise using your cool and warm purples this time without introducing a third color in between. The challenge is to transition from purple to yellow while avoiding any muddy mixes. The key to achieving this is to always use light tonal washes at the transitioning layers, allowing the colors to mud gently without overpowering each other. I hope you practice this technique and master it, keep experimenting with different color combinations to build confidence in creating smooth, harmonious gradients. 10. Setting Up Palette: Before we dive into our class projects, I want to take a moment to address one of the most requested topics, how I set my palette. Many of my students have always asked me about this, and I couldn't miss this opportunity to share the thought process behind it. I am using a palette with 37 wells, but you can apply the same principle to set up your own palette, no matter how many wells it has. It doesn't have to be the exact palette that I'm using. I generally use a 35 well palette from my favorite branch in an arts polycarbonate palette I also have an eight in well insert for it, but I won't be using that many colors for this class. Instead, I'll set up my palette in a way that allows me to paint any subject I wish. Do you remember our lesson on color theory and the color wheel? We have learned that with just the primary colors, we can create an endless variety of mixes. However, there is a catch. Each primary color has a temperature bias like we have already gone through over it, meaning it leans either towards warm or cool. This bias directly affects the vibrancy of color mixes. For example, if we mix a warm red with a cool yellow, each biased towards different underlying hues, the resulting mix can turn muddy or saturated. This is where the split complimentary color veal comes in handy. It helps addresses this issue by ensuring that we both have warm and cool versions of the primary. He may split complementary color veal, where you can see that each primary color is divided into its respective warm and cool hues. Let's take a closer look. Red is split into two hues, one warm and one cool, followed by yellow, which is also divided into one, warm and cool version, and blue also follows the same principle with a warm and a cool variation. Now the reason behind this setup is simple. It allows us to create the most brightest and most vibrant color mixes by pairing primaries that share the same temperature bias. For example, a cool red bias towards purple when mixed with a warm blue, which is also biased towards purple will result in a bright and vivid purple. A warm red bias towards orange mixed with a warm yellow, also bias towards orange will give the bright orange. Similarly, a cool yellow bias towards green mixed with a cool blue will also create brilliant green because both are biased towards green. This exact concept is what we will apply when setting up our color palette. Now, in my palette, if you observe, I have included both the warm and cool versions of reds, yellows, and my blues, which are my core primary colors. In addition to that, I have also included some warm and cool greens, a few pastel blues, warm and cool purples, and then browns and blacks for added. Now for your own palette, you don't need to include all these extra colors. You can just start with six primaries, one warm and cool version of each primary and build from there based on your preferences. I have created a swatch palette for your reference, which you can find in projects and resources section. There you will see the exact warm and cool colors I have selected for this class. Let me walk you through my palette. First, I have my warm red, which is permanent red, cool red, Allison crimson, followed by opera, a color I use frequently. Many consider it neutral, but I personally feel it leans towards warm. Next, I have my warm yellows and oranges, along with the pale, warm variations, naples yellow, and Jean Brilliant number two, followed by a cool lemon yellow. Moving on to my greens, I have a warm greenish yellow, warm sub green, warm, hocus green, and finally, a cool green. Next, I have my warm ultramarine blue, which is granulating, along with another warm blue that is not granulating. Then I have my cool peacock blue, followed by a dark, warm indigo. I have also included a cool pastel blue, which is one of my favorites. Moving on to my purples, I have a cool purple and a warm violet, along with pastel hue of lavender. I have included few other pastel colors that I love using for floas. These are personal favorites and not essential to have in your palette. However, we will be using lilac in our class projects. For earth tones, I have my muted yellow ocher, followed by burnt sienna, which is a very bright and beautiful warm brown, cooler, burned tumber, then followed by brown red, which is a very bright and beautiful reddish brown color. This is an optional color. Then next, I have my blacks. I have my neutral tint, which is warm and paint screen, which is cool. Still have a few empty wells, which I may fill later based on the needs of my composition. Now that you understand how I set up my palette, you can see that it is all about starting with a basic limited palette and gradually adding colors that suit your personal painting style. Over time, you'll develop your own preferences and build a palette that truly works for you. Now I'm going to quickly grab my spray bottle and reactivate my paints so that they are ready for our class projects. 11. Day 1: Color Palette: Before we get started with our Day one project, let's quickly take a look at the colors that we are going to need while creating this project. The first color that I'll be watching out is my blue gray. Now, based on the brands that you are using, the name may vary. But overall, this is a very pretty cool sky blue color. And you can easily mix this and form your own sky blue by using your cool blue shade. Here it is PB 15 is 23 and the pigment PW six, which is nothing but essentially your white pigment. So when you mix your cool blue shade, along with your whiteqh, you get this color. The next color that I'm going to swatch out is my opera pink color. It is a very bright neon pink which I love using for my skies, and it has a pigment of BR one. Now, this is a pigment which is present in this opera from Shinhan art, but if you do not have this opera pink color, you can go ahead and use any other cool reds, which has red pigment in it. And when mixed with yellow, it gives a bright color. Now, you need to test it out. For example, I know for sure because I have been using this color that when I mix my naples yellow and little bit of yellow orange along with my opera pink, it results into a very bright coral orange and coral pink based on the wearing proportions that I use. So I know this for sure, but you need to test it out for yourself with the colors that you have if you are getting this color. Mostly if the pinks have a violet pigment in the resultant color when you mix with your yellow will definitely not be this color, but will be a very muted color. The next color that I am swatching out is my lilac. Now, you can easily mix your lilac by mixing your mineral violet, which has a pigment of PV 23 or likewise here, you need a violet pigment in it, and when you mix it with whiteqh, you can get this same color. Now, based on the brands that you're using, it might vary slightly. But you can go ahead and give it a try. The next color is my burnt umber or burnt sienna. You can either use any one of these. I have used your burnt sienna because when you add in a little bit of neutral tint or ivory black or paints gray into it, you can easily turn it into a darker shade of brown. Oh, yes, another color that we would need is sap green. Now sap green is easy to form. Take any of your green and mix a little bit of yellow in it, you would get your sap green. So these are the final colors that you would be needing for our day one project. So get your colors ready, and let's jump into our project. 12. Day 1: A Gradient Morning Sunrise: Let's begin our first project. I will be using a square paper cutout, measuring 18 centimeter into 16 centimeter. It's just two centimeter away from being a perfect square, but feel free to use any size that you are comfortable with. The next step is to tape down the paper on all four sides. You can choose to create thin or thick borders. I personally prefer thin and clean edges, so I'll be taping down the paper on all four sides. Once that's done, we will move on to the sketching part. When I tape down my paper, I always make sure that I run down my fingers once I tape it down to ensure that there are no gaps in between. Since the primary focus of this class is the sky, about two thirds of the paper will be dedicated to it, while the remaining third will serve as a foreground. I'll keep the foreground elements minimal to ensure the focus stays on the sky. So now let's begin our sketching part. To start with it, Alphas draw a straight horizon line and mark the midpoint. Once I look at the midpoint at the center of the paper, I'll just use a dot to mark it out. Next, I'll outline the hillock. Now to outline the hillock, I'll position it 3.5 centimeter away from the midpoint on the left and maintain the same distance on the right. Then I'll sketch the rock formations lightly. I will also add few pencil lines on the rock to indicate those shadow areas. Sketching them lightly will help us guide later when we contour them with darker colors. Once you are done with this, we will be done with sketching. A Okay, now it's time to move on to the wet on wet technique. I'll start applying the water onto my paper surface, but I think it will be wiser to switch to my broader hake brush to evenly and smoothly apply water across the surface. This will also speed up the process compared to repeatedly laying water with that smaller mop brush. Choosing the right brush size is essential when working with watercolors as it directly relates to your paper size. A brush that's too broad can flood the paper, while one that's too small may cause the surface to dry too quickly leading to frustration. Take your time to wet your paper, applying two or three even layers to ensure that every corner is thoroughly covered. Be mindful not to create any pools or puddles. There shouldn't be excess water standing on the surface. Once the paper is evenly damp, I'll let it rest for a few seconds. Meanwhile, I'll start mixing my colors. I'm picking up my naples yellow, adding a drop of opera. Observe the mixture on my palette. It's not too watery, but has a creamy consistency. I'll begin with a light tonal value using just the tip of my brush and with gentle pressure. Holding the brush near its edge, I'll glide smoothly across the paper to create soft transitions. Now carefully using just the tip of my brush, I'll pull the colors down along the sides of the rock, making sure not to let the paint flow into it. I'm retaining the white space near the horizon, for now with the same light strokes, I'll spread the color gently stopping about halfway down the paper. Next, I'll mix a light tonal value of opera pink and layer it over the naples yellow. I'll start at the top of the rock using very light sweeping strokes while making sure not to completely cover the yellow. I Now, I'll introduce a little lilac to the bottom third of the paper and blend it into the opera pink. Look at the amount of lilac that I have loaded my brush with. I have just used the tip of my brush to load the opera, and I'm directly applying it on the paper. I'm going halfway through it because after this, I'll be blending it with my mixture of opera. The mix is a very light tonal value of opera. I'm just going to give it a nice blend using sweeping to and fro motion. Layering with the light watery values here will ensure that the surface stays wet for a longer time. Before proceeding with the top part of the sky, I will re wet the area down to the halfway mark because it's quite hot and my paper is drying up at the top. At the center, since our yellows have faded out, I'll go back in with a medium value of naples yellow. Mixed with a little bit of opera and gently blend it into the pink layer using very light pressure and using just the tip and toe movement of the brush. Notice how I am working with just the tip and toe of my brush for a soft transition. To refine the blending further, I'll take a damp tip of my silver atelier squirrel mop and lighten the transition area. Now I'm quickly mixing my blue gray or sky blue color to a medium tonal value. Let me show you here. Observe the mixture. It's creamy, neither too thick nor too watery. Adding in some more of that pigment to make it to medium tonal value. Tip and release it as I move downward, ensuring an even and gentle application. I'll continue with smooth strokes without lifting my brush from the paper, maintaining uniform coverage. As I approach the yellow layer, I'll lighten my pressure working with just the tip and toe to softly pull the color down, keeping that area light. Now, with my brush tip loaded with a light tonal value of my yellow, I start to move upwards in one continuous motion, blending seamlessly into the blue. Can you see how smooth and perfect the transition is turning out to be? Now I feel I can go a tone darker for the blue. I'll begin at the top with the same medium tonal value of blue, applying pressure at first and gradually lightening it as I move downwards to create a natural gradient. As I approach the transitioning yellow, I'll use just the tip of my brush and move the color downward with very light strokes, as you can see here. The paper is wet, the colors will seamlessly blend, creating a soft and natural transition. Look at that beautiful variegated gradient wash we have created. We have our blues, yellows, pinks seamlessly blending without any unwanted green tones. The key was using very light tonal values as we approach the transitioning areas. Additionally, the mixture of opera and naples yellow, when blended with a light tonal value of blue, created a subtle gray in between, giving the sky a more natural and harmonious look. Now we will let the sky dry completely. In the meantime, we'll begin working on the bottom foreground. For the foreground, I'll start with a light underlayer using naples yellow mixed with a touch of opera pink, applying it with a light, watery wash. Since our paper is dry, we are working with wet on dry technique, but I'm keeping the mix slightly watery for a smooth base. We are avoiding a wet on wet approach here because the sky is still drying. If we were to introduce too much moisture now, it could seep into the drying sky causing unwanted feathering and blooms as the wet net spreads into those semi dry areas. We will work quickly while the foreground is still wet. I'm mixing a medium tonal value of burnt sienna and applying it near the horizon in a single stroke using my size number 00 mop brush. I leave a small gap and then start applying the color again from the bottom using horizontal strokes. I'm letting the underlayers remain visible because burnt sienna is naturally transparent, and when used in a light tonal value, it allows the previous layers to subtly show through adding depth and warmth to the foreground. Now to enhance the depth at the bottom edge of the paper, I'll mix a darker green tone using my burnt umber with sap green and apply it in a fanned out direction. Observe my brush strokes over here using just the tip and the toe of the brush and pushing the colors inwards from outwards. To create a more pronounced effect of this grassy texture, I'll soak up all that excess moisture and fan out the tip of my brush to create those delicate grass strokes. If you have a fan brush or a comb brush, you can use it for this step to achieve a similar effect. Observe how I'm spreading out the tip of my damp dry brush on my palette. Since it's a natural hair brush, I can shape the bristles to my preference. Using this freed out tip, I'll now add smaller broken dabs around this area to indicate grass growth. Now I'll deepen the foreground by adding some more darker tones of grass near the bottom edge of the paper, enhancing the depth. Here, the paper is still wet enough for me to do this, so the grass will look very soft and blended. Next, near the base of the rock, I'll use just the tip of my brush to paint a fine horizontal green line. From here, I'll start building up foliage patterns on both the sides of the rock. I the grasses are looking a little faded out, so I'll add in some more darker tones of my brown using a very controlled wet on dry technique using the damp tip of my brush. Here, my paper is still wet enough for me to do this step, and the grass will still look blended. If your paper has dried out completely, do not do this step right here. Next, it's time to paint the rock. I'm going to use the same mixture of my naples yellow mixed with opera pink to do the underlayer of the rock first. I'm going ahead with wet on dry technique with very light tonal value of this yellow and pink mixture. Now, I'll quickly switch to my size six ultra round synthetic brush and mix a rich medium tonal value of burnt sienna. Oh, oops. My brush is too watery. I'll squeeze out the excess moisture from the belly of the brush, making it just damp. Next, I'll go and fix any bleeds outlining the entire area with this light mix of sienna. I'm not reloading my brush with more paint, just using what's already there for a subtle controlled application. Now I'll introduce some darker tones using burned tamber and start layering from the top. This part where I lay darker tones or burnt tumber wasn't recorded. I simply use the deeper browns to highlight the shadow areas now using the damp tip of my brush, lightly loaded with burnt sienna, I'm gently pulling the colors downwards to blend them while ensuring the lighter yellow underlayers are visible. To add even more depth, I'll introduce darker tones of brown, almost looking similar to that of Cipia. Mix in a little bit more of neutral tint into your burnt sienna and you would get a similar mix. I'm using the pointed tip of my brush, creating these fine lines and subtle marks running across this surface of the rock. Copy the steps just I'm doing here, and we would be done creating this rock structure. I just noticed that the background foliage near to the horizon has faded out a bit. To enhance it, I'll go in with a medium tonal value of sap green mixed with my burnt sienna. For better control, observe how I'm gripping the brush closer to its ferrule. Now with dabbing strokes, from the tip of my brush, I'll create foliage in varying shapes and sizes to add more natural and realistic feel. I will continue using these dabbing strokes until I have completed the foliage patterns along the entire horizon line. This will ensure a balanced and cohesive look, adding depth and texture to the background. I With this, we are officially done with our painting, but I'm not really very happy with these two splatters that I have got over here, and I'm thinking of covering it up using few birds in flight. So it will not only hide the splatters, but will also bring a sense of movement and direction to the painting. I'll switch to my detailing liner brush and load it with this neutral tint. Carefully paint small bird silvitts with it using just the tip, as you can observe here. I think I'll be adding one more small bird out here, something like this, and I'm not going to go overboard adding too many birds over here. I'll just leave it at that. Now I will wait for my painting to dry out completely, then we will be peeling off our masking tapes. My paper is almost completely dry as I had left it overnight to dry. Now I'll be peeling off my masking tapes. Do it at an angle of 45 degrees so that you do not risk the chance of ripping off the painted edges. I'm loving those clean, crisp edges that we have got for our painting. Now the final one. I hope we have gotten a clean edge over here, yes, and that's it. I'm really very happy with how this project has turned out. We have achieved a very beautiful gradient sky with smooth transitions. I hope you give it a try. I'll see you again tomorrow with another exciting project until then bye. 13. Take A Moment To Practice: Now before moving on to Day two, take a moment to visit the projects and resources section of the class. Scroll to the end and you will find an additional reference for day one. This extra exercises will help you refine your blending skills, practice gradient washers with more colors, and build confidence before tackling Tday's lesson. Give it a try and you will notice a big difference in your control and transition. I have also included some reference images here on the screen. Feel free to hit the pause button and practice whichever speaks to you. Remember, practice is the key. The more you experiment with blending and gradnt washes, the more confident and effortless your skies will become. So take your time, enjoy the process, and keep painting. 14. Day 2: Color Palette: Welcome to day two, and today's color palette is going to be inspired from Australian spring. First, I'll watch out the sky color. I'll be using here my thalo blue, a warm blue, which is a non granulating blue. The thalo blue that I'm using here is a warm blue, but instead of this thalo blue, you could also go ahead and use your ultramarine blue, which will have the same pigment PB 29. Next, I'll watch out my yellow ochre, which has a pigment PY 42. It is a muted warm yellow that is commonly found in a basic 12 color palette perfect for adding warm and earthy tones. Along with that, I will be using a cool lemon yellow with pigment PY 81 to bring brightness and contrast and to create those florals in the meadows. For the greens, I'll be using sap green, which can be easily mixed by using a cool blue with a cool yellow in the ratio of one is to two, giving us this rich, perfect green. Moving on to the fence, I'll use burnt umber with the pigment PBR seven. To create those warm early browns. For darker details, I'll be using neutral tint, or you could also go ahead and use your paints gray or ivory black. Okay, now that we have our colors watched and sorted already, let's dive into our second project. On the screen, you will see a quick color recap for your convenience. This will help you double check your palette before we start painting. 15. Day 2 : Australian Spring - The Sky: Hello, hello. Welcome to Day two. Before we begin painting, I'll quickly tape down my paper with masking tape to secure it. Now let's move on to sketching. I'll start lightly by sketching the horizon line and the rolling meadows. Since the sky is our main focal point, we'll allocate two thirds of the paper to it. As always, I highly recommend watching the entire lesson first before painting along. This will help you to get a clear understanding of the steps ahead of you. I'll also sketch out the fence to mark its position, ensuring we have a guide when we paint later. Once you're done with this basic sketch, we will move on to painting a sky. For the sky, I'll be using wet on wet technique, which means applying wet paint over weight paper. I'll first load my silver atelier mop size brush number eight with clean water and apply an even coat over the entire sky area. I recommend doing this step two to three times, allowing the paper to absorb the moisture gradually. Next, I'll wipe down any excess water pulling on my masking tape with the tissue. This step prevents back flows when we start applying our paint. I'll go over my paper once again with smooth horizontal strokes with clean water to ensure that my paper stays wet for a longer period of time. I will repeat the process of wiping down the excess water pulling on my masking tape with the tissue. Now, let's get started with our painting. I have switched to my size 00 mop brush. This brush I'm using from silver atelar series, and I lightly wiped it down on my tissue paper to remove excess moisture. I'm loading my brush with allow blue, which is a warm blue, and it is also non granulating. Observe how I'm holding my brush close to the edge of the handle, allowing for a free fluid application. Notice how I leave areas of white paper untouched while painting the blue around them. This is called negative painting, and this will help define our clouds naturally. Observe how I'm wearing the pressure on the brush, sometimes using the tip for finer strokes and the belly for broader applications. Now, with the same brush loaded with my thalo blue, I'll paint a few horizontal strokes across the sky. Then I'll rinse my brush, dab it on a tissue, damp it dry, and begin fading the blue as I approach the horizon line, creating a smooth gradient blend. Next, I'll come back and repeat the step this time, using a damp brush to move the paint that's already on the paper. With gentle back and forth strokes, I'll blend the transition seamlessly. Now, I'll clean my brush and use the toe of the brush to lift off some of the blue paint in random pattern. This will help define the cloud shapes. Here you can observe that with the damp tip of my brush, I'm gently pushing the paint away with the belly of the brush to create the soft cloud edges. Now, once the white spaces for the clouds are established, I'll use my damp brush to lightly wet those areas. This helps keep the edges soft and airy. In between, I'll load just the tip of my brush with a bit of blue paint to refine the cloud's edges where needed, adding depth and movement. With the same tip, I'll blend near the horizon line again, ensuring a seamless gradient transition. To create a small chunk of the cloud here at the top, I'll use my damp brush tip to lift some more paint from the sky. Each time that I lift, I'll clean my brush on a tissue. To avoid re depositing the color, you can also use a dry tissue to gently dab the area to create a fluffy and airy looking shape of the cloud. Now let's add depth to our clouds by introducing some subtle shadows there. I'll create a light tonal mix using my paints gray or neutral tint and then swatch it on this scrap paper first. The mix should be very light, almost a transparent wash. Before applying, I'll dab off the excess paint from my brush onto a tissue paper. Now using the tip and toe of my brush, I'll gently lay down soft strokes at the bottom of the clouds where shadows naturally form. Notice how light and airy my strokes are. I'm not covering the entire cloud. I'm just enhancing its volume by creating this depth. I will repeat this process for the other clouds, making sure to start at the bottom and then fade the pigment as per the direction of the cloud, leaving some areas for the natural glow. To ensure a smooth transition, I'll use a damp brush and softly drag away the paint away from the shadowed areas. This will blend the tone seamlessly creating soft billowy cloud formation. I will fix this cloud by gently blending it upwards and creating this soft Bilawy cloud. Here, I felt the shadows are too much onto the white area, so I'll just dab the brush clean and damp it and then take out some of those areas using the same shape and creating the same brush strokes. I will soften the top small chunk of the cloud by going over the white areas using my damp brush and pushing the blues away and then dabbing it on my tissue paper, I'll gently create that pattern of fluffy airy cloud. Now, using the lifting technique with the damp tip and belly of my brush, I'll gently lift colors near the approaching horizon to create smaller floating clouds. This step will work only if your paper is still wet, allowing for smooth and soft edges. If your paper has dried, it is best to avoid this step to prevent harsh and unwanted marks. This is the reason why you should wet your paper thoroughly before you begin painting. A well prepared surface stays wet for a longer time, giving you more time to work on soft blends, seamless gradients, and delicate cloud formations. Since my paper is still wet, I'll use a damp tissue paper to create the fluffy edges of the clouds here again. Using just dabbing motion of my tissue paper, I'll go ahead and create these soft, airy marks or directions of the clouds. Here, I was not happy with the shape of the cloud. So using a little damp tissue paper, I'll dab it lightly, and you can see that it has created that weird mark. So using a damp brush, I'll go over the area and then gently dab the tissue again slightly over here. Now, since the paper is still a little wet enough, it will create a smooth edge after it dries. I can feel that my paper has started to dry, so I'll stop overworking the clouds and leave it to dry completely. We will then move on to our foreground. 16. Day 2: Australian Spring- The Foreground: Now that our sky has dried out completely, let's move on to the foreground near the horizon. First, I'll prepare a colour mix of lemon yellow and yellow ochre to create this very natural warm base using my wet brush. Now remember, here the brush should not be soaking wet. It should just be wet so that you can lay the colors on your dry paper. I'll start applying the color now. Pay close attention to my brush stroke here. I'll start here, but I'll drag the colors down so that all the watery paint is here at the base so that I do not run the risk of running these colors into my sky where it starts seeping in. I'll use directional angled brush strokes to give the field a sense of depth and movement. This creates a more dynamic and natural looking landscape rather than a flat and uniform wash. If you observe closely, we are already creating that beautiful contrast between the cool yellow of our foreground and the sky. Now using just the tip of my brush, I'm smoothing out the colors to keep the transition soft and natural. Using the damp tip of my brush, I will now mix a little of my sap green with a little lemon yellow and start layering angled strokes into this wet area. The surface is still damp, this will create a soft diffused effect perfect for a natural and organic look. Notice how I'm leaving certain gaps of that yellow in between the field and not covering it up entirely with my green. But a key thing to remember out here is keep your brush damp and not too wet. Using just the tip of the brush, I'll apply diagonal strokes, some shorter and some longer to mimic the texture of a grassy field. To my right along the outlined slope, I will use just the tip and toe of my brush and load it with the medium tonal value of my sap green lemon yellow mixture. This will help create a natural transition in the landscape while maintaining depth and variation. Using a light pressure, I'll allow the strokes to blend softly, keeping the area rich but not overly saturated. Now let's move on to the main foreground section using the wet on wet technique. First, I'm loading my brush with clean water and evenly spreading it across the area. As I approach the previously painted sections, I'll use just the tip of my brush to lightly cover the edges, ensuring that the water does not seep into those areas and causing unwanted bleed. Now, I'll load my brush with a mixture of yellow cre and lemon yellow and start applying. But before that, you must keep this in mind that my brush should be damp and not too watery. Towards the right, I will use longer converging strokes helping to guide the viewer's eye and add a sense of movement. This technique enhances the feeling of a swaying, grass field or the natural growth patterns in the landscape. Now, I'll load my brush with a creamy mix of sap green and gently apply the same converging strokes, making sure to leave some of that yellow underlay visible between the strokes. This will help create depth and natural variation in the grassy field. At this point, because we are working wet on wet, please ensure that you are exercising water control in your brush, as well as in your paint mix to give you this kind of soft blended defect. Next, using just the tip of my brush, I'll load with some more of that green and start adding slanted vertical strokes to suggest taller grasses. Here, my brush is damp but not too wet, and I'm working with a fanned out tip of my natural hair brush to create organic flowing grassy textures. To add even more depth, I'll mix in a little bit of my ultramarine blue or thalo blue into the green and create a darker shade and gently repeat the same strokes over the previous layer of grass. Wearing the stroke direction will help mimic the natural growth patterns of the wild grass. Be mindful of the pressure that you are exerting on the tip of your brush because if you press it too hard, you are going to lift the underlays. Finally, I'll use my special comb brush to enhance this effect further. Now, if you do not have comb brush with you, that's absolutely fine. You can go ahead and use your fan brush or flatten out the tip of your natural hair brush and create this brush pattern just like how we did it earlier. Since the background is still wet, it will allow us to create the soft, subtle grass patterns beautifully. But we need to speeden up this process because if the background starts drying out, we will not get the soft edges of the grass. Now I'm adding in some darker green strokes to enhance the depth and dimension of the field. Now, if you feel that your meadow has started to dry out quickly, here is a simple trick to remoistion the surface without disturbing your previous layers. Cover the entire painting, except for the foreground area that you are working on using a thick sheet or a boat to protect it. Then take a spray bottle and lightly miss the area two to three times from a distance. Be mindful not to spray too close, as too much water can cause unwanted blooms or disrupt the existing layer. The miss settle down for a few seconds and then start to paint again. Now I'm switching to a size two synthetic liner brush and loading it with a darker green mix to paint the tall grasses. Using long slanted strokes with a slight curve at the top, I'll create a natural flowing grass pattern. Keep your strokes swift and confident to maintain an organic feel. Now here, you must work quickly because you need to keep this on the wet background. If your paper starts drying, all these strokes will start standing out. Now we will start with the splattering technique. I'll quickly cover the sky with a sheet of paper and load my liner brush with a slight watery mix of lemon yellow. Now I will start to splatter gently to create the effect of wildflowers scattered throughout the meadow. Important tip here is this technique will work best only when the background is still wet as a splatter will bloom softly and blend naturally into the grassy field. If your background has dried already, don't worry. Use the misting technique, as we discussed earlier to lightly revet the area and then add the splattering yellow blooms to ensure that they blend seamlessly. Splatter the wild blooms until you are happy with the effect, but be mindful not to overdo it. A well balanced composition is key. Too many splatters can make the meadow look cluttered and lose its natural knowing when to stop is crucial. Step back, observe your painting, and if it feels lively, yet harmonious, it's time to move on. With the tip of my brush loaded with lemon yellow, I'll add a few delicate dots to enhance the wildflower effect, but we'll stop here and avoid overworking it. Now, with the tip of my brush loaded with sap green, I'll begin adding foliage at the intersections of the meadow using light dabbing strokes. This will help create depth and natural variation in the grassy texture. Here, importantly, make sure the brush dip is not too watery, as too much liquid can cause unwanted plumes or overly soft edges. Now, I'll start painting the fence in the foreground using my mix of burnt timber and neutral tint. I'll make the fence in such a way, making sure to position it so that it appears partially covered by the tall grasses growing beneath it. This will help it blend naturally into the scene rather than looking like it's floating. Next, with my line of brush loaded with green, I'll quickly add some grassy patterns around and below the fence reinforcing the idea that the fence is nestled within the meadow. To add atmospheric perspective, I'll mix in a touch of blue into my green, creating a soft teal green tone, and I'll be using this mix to paint foliage at the furthest distance near the horizon, ensuring that the tones are lighter and cooler to give a sense of depth and distance. I'll also keep the foliage patterns small and more delicate as distant elements appear less detailed in perspective. Now if you want to deep diper into atmospheric perspective and understand how it enhances depth in landscapes, consider watching my Skillshare class atmospheric spring landscapes. In that class, I have broken down how colors, values, and detail shift with distance help you create more immersive and realistic landscapes. I have also explained these concepts in detail with step by step exercises. So be sure to check it out if you would like to refine your understanding. Here, I have switched to a detailing liner brush to create thin, delicate shrub. Since this shrub requires fine lines and precision, using a thinner brush dip helps maintain better control over my strokes. I'll carefully build up the shape with light and wispy stropes ensuring that the shrub looks natural and blends seamlessly into the landscape. Keeping a steady hand and using gentle pressure is the key, so go ahead and use the dabbing strokes to create foliage on the shrub. Once the foreground fence has completely dried, I'll use neutral tint to add a few thin lines that replicate the natural wood grain texture. I will now use the lifting technique with the damp tip of size two brush to create this natural texture on the fence. Using just the damp tip, you can lift off the colors that is wet now. I will wait for the entire painting to dry, and then we will peel off our tapes. Now it's time to peel off the masking tape, gently remove it at an angle of 45 degrees to avoid tearing the paper, peeling slowly and carefully ensures clean, crisp edges and prevents any damage to your artwork. And with that, we have successfully completed our day to project. I can't wait to see your creations. I'll see you again tomorrow. 17. Take A Moment To Practice : Here are some reference images for you to practice for day two. Focus solely on painting the fluffy glomus clouds, ignoring the foreground elements for now. You can find these images under the projects and resources section of the class. Feel free to download and use them as your preference. 18. Day 3: Color Palette: Hello, hello. Welcome to Day three. Let's quickly go over the colors and swatch them for our class project. Today we will be working with a harmonious color palette. The first color that we are going to swatch out is our naples yellow. If you don't have it, you can create your own by mixing white wash or white watercolor with a touch of yellow pigment, which is PY 35 to achieve similar looking color. Next, we will swatch out our opera. If you don't have those bright neon pink, you can alternatively use any other warmer pinks instead. Look for alternatives like pinacrdon magenta, bright rose, crimson lake or et cetera. Now, when your opera is mixed with yellow, it should be able to create coral oranges or coral pinks which are vibrant in nature. So make sure to check the label of your pinks. It should not consist of a violet pigment because it won't mix well with yellow. Instead of it, it should have a red base pigment to achieve those bright coral oranges or pinks. Watch as I mix nipples yellow with a drop of yellow deep and opera. This creates such a beautiful coral orange, and just by adjusting the ratio and adding more of that opera, the mix shifts towards more of pinker hue. We will be using these shades to paint our clouds. The next color that I'm going to swatch out is a pastel shade of lilac. Now, if you do not have this color, you can create one. But for this project, I'm going to use medium tonal values of lilac. Now you can mix it by using your mineral violet, which is a cool violet, along with a little bit of opera and your whiteqah. Mix and vary the proportions and see if you can get a similar looking lilac. Next color that I'm going to swatch out is my lavender. Now you can mix a cool blue with a warm violet and add white guash to achieve this soft hue of lavender. We will be using both of these colors to paint a sky. The next color that I'm swatching out is my mineral violet. It is a cool violet. The next color that I'm going to swatch out is my sap green. We have already discussed how to mix this color in day two in case if you don't have it. It's a beautiful warm green that will add depth to our painting, especially towards the midground near the horizon. The last color that I'm swatching out is my neutral tint, which I will use to create darker mixes and for painting the board's reflection in the water. You can use any other black, but make sure it is transparent to maintain the vibrancy of your layers. Hope you have your colors ready. Now let's dive into our project. 19. Day 3: Serene Sunset by the Lake- Part 1: I before we deep dive into a project, I'm taking a moment and cleaning up my palette to avoid any muddy mixtures. This is very crucial whenever you are painting skies to allow your skies to feel luminous and glowing. As for the next step, I'll tape down my paper on all four sides using masking tape. Now instead of masking tape, you could also use your washi tapes. Now, since the emphasis of this painting is on the sky and its reflection in the water, I will sketch out the horizon line placing it not at the perfect center, but instead I'll position it about 2 centimeters below the center to allow both the sky and its reflection to take the spotlight. Now, I will also sketch out a small boat towards the right side of my paper rather than placing it in the center. Now, you need not go ahead and sketch out the same element that is a boat. You could also go ahead and add a swan into the background. That's totally up to you. Now, remember the rules are perspective. The size of the boat or any other moving object that you decide to create here should be smaller in proportion as compared to the other foreground elements because this will help create a sense of depth and distance, making it clear that the boat is further away from the viewer's eye. And with that lock like object standing in the water as sketching is complete, now it's time to start painting the sky using a wet on wet wash. I'll repeat this because it is important. Take your time to evenly wet your paper, go over the surface with a wet brush two or three times, ensuring the water is uniformly applied with no puddles forming. This will help keep your paper wet for a longer, giving you more control over your washes. Observe how I'm using the full body of the brush, pressing it down upright to evenly spread the water across the surface. Make sure to cover the entire paper until you notice a uniform sheen. This indicates that the paper is evenly wet and ready for the next step. That is your paint application. Here is one hot tip for you guys. Now, if you are in a region where it is hot and dry and burning, consider using a humidifier near your workstation. This will help keep the paper moist and allow you more time to blend your color smoothly. Keeping your paper wet is an added advantage when you are painting skies. Now I'll quickly use a tissue paper to wipe off any excess water from the masking tape to prevent backflow. Next, I'm switching to my mop brush 00 from the silver atelio series. My mop brush is a natural hair mop brush, and I'm reactivating naples yellow mixing in a drop of yellow orange. Then I'll test the intensity on a scrap piece of paper. If I'm not happy with it, I'll adjust the intensity by mixing more of my naples yellow along with my yellow orange. Once I'm happy with how the intensity or the tonal value is looking, I'll test it on a scrap piece of paper, and if I'm happy with the tonal value, I'll start at the base of the horizon, using the full body of the brush, lightly pressing down to spread the paint. Then I'll adjust my grip holding the brush closer to the edge of the handle and start layering the color upwards to create a smooth blend. Observe how I'm using the tip and toe of the brush to softly blend the colors, gradually feeding the tonal values as I move upwards. Now I'll add a touch of warm or orange at the base of the horizon to enhance the glow of the setting sun. As I move upwards, I'll lightly blend it into the previous layers ensuring a smooth transition. At this stage, I'm working with just the tip of the brush, gently fading the colors to create a soft seamless blend. I'm doing this step quickly because it is incredibly hot today around 37 degrees Celsius, and my paper is already starting to dry out. I have used this spraying bottle to mist my paper on the top, and using this little damp wet brush, I'm going to go over those areas once again so that my paper is wet. I'm switching to a smaller sized mop brush to blend the areas near the horizon line, ensuring a smooth and uniform transition post misting the paper. Now, using the damp tip of my brush, I'm going to load it with my opera pink mixed in a little bit of my Allison and crimson here. But if you do not have Allison and crimson, that's fine. You could mix in a little bit of your reds in here. To create a blushing bright orange, I'll mix in a little bit more of my yellow orange and prepared the color mixed to a creamy consistency. Now I'll load the brush and I notice that my brush tip is holding too much of water, so I'll dab off the excess water using my tissue paper, pressing just the belly, I'll load back the tip of my brush and start to create the thin broken horizontal strokes to form smaller floating clouds near the horizon. This smaller delicate strokes will help add depth and softness to the sky. Now it's time to switch to a smaller soft synthetic brush of size number four. I'll prepare a paint mix for the clouds using lilac, copira pink, and a little bit of mineral violet. I'm mixing the colors here and I'll adjust the intensity according to my preference. Once I'm happy with the intensity and the look of the color, I'll now load the tip of my brush with the paint, holding the brush at the center and engaging only the tip. I'm going to create soft delicate strokes to create these little cloud formations over here. These purple tones will be laid over the orange clouds to add depth and contrast. Observe how with light pressure near the transitioning areas, I'm forming smaller organic cloud shapes, allowing them to blend softly into the sky. Now I'm feeling my paper is drying up. So before layering the top with paint, I'll rewet the area using my size 00 mop brush, but only up to the transition area. Now, I don't want to risk my bottom part of the sky to start drying, so I'll miss the entire sky area using my spray bottle and spraying it from a distance. Now using my synthetic size number four brush, I'll load the tip with my opera pink and yellow orange mixture. The brush should be here damp dry as the paper is already wet. We want to control the water content in both the brush and the paint mix. I'll use the tip of the brush to refine the smaller floating clouds as we previously painted in orange. And then with a clean damp brush, I'll load my purple mix and repeat the process of layering purple clouds over the orange ones while allowing the orange clouds to show through. Now, I'll load the tip of my size 00 mop brush with a mix of naples, yellow, yellow, orange, and opera pink and creating a medium tonal value of coral pink orange paint mix. I'll adjust the ratio of pinks and yellows until I achieve that perfect coral pink blend. Once I'm happy with the mix, I'll begin painting slanted directional strokes starting from the left edge of the paper. I'm here using just the tip of my brush, and I'll engage the toe with light pressure where needed to create subtle variations in the shape and texture of the clouds. Now I'll add these directional clouds in few other spots in the top part of the sky, ensuring that balance and direction in the composition. Now I'm going to layer the codal pink orange with a slightly deeper coral pink mix, placing it over the orange clouds using just the tip of my brush. This will add more dimension and depth to the sky. Since some of that yellows got covered, I'll bring back that glowing effect by adding a touch of more naples yellow to the clouds. To do this, I'll squeeze out the excess water from the belly of my brush and then use just the tip to softly blend the nipples yellow into the pink layers of the earlier layers of the clouds, ensuring a smooth transition and a luminous effect. Now I'm preparing a paint mix of lilac and lavender. The mix feels a little too watery, so I'll add in more paint to achieve that thick creamy consistency while maintaining a medium tonal value. Here, I want to go with soft and dreamy effect and will not overpower the sky with two dark tones. Before layering, I'll soak off all that excess water from the belly of my brush to ensure that the glide smoothly on the paper. Controlling water through the belly of the brush is the key to achieving soft blends. Observe my brush strokes. I'm following the direction of the previous clouds, gently filling in the white caps using very light pressure and soft movements to maintain that delicate feel of the sky. To avoid muddy mixtures where lavender and yellow might mix, I'll introduce my coral pink mix in those areas. This will help maintain harmony in the colour transitions while preserving the soft glow of the sky. This is an important tip that you must remember. For the top part of the sky, I'll gently fill in the white caps with a bit of lavender and blend it smoothly to create a seamless airy effect. Here, near the horizon, my purple clouds have blended in too much. To bring them back, I'll load my brush with a lavender lilac mix, dab off the excess paint on a tissue, and then start layering the clouds back in, but the tones feel a bit too soft, so I'll add in a touch of mineral violet to the same mix to create a slightly more intense tone. After mixing it well, I'll dab my brush on tissue again to remove the excess moisture and then using very light pressure, I'll build up soft looking clouds keeping them airy and natural looking. I'm happy with how the sky has been turning out so far, so I'll stop here and let it dry completely before moving on to the next step. 20. Day 3: Serene Sunset by the lake Part 2: All right, let's move on to the reflection part. I will be using the wet on wet technique just like how we did it for the sky. I'll start by wetting the paper, but be mindful. Avoid taking a soaking wet brush too close to the horizon line. If too much of water is there in the tip of the brush, the water will start seeping into the drying sky area, and this is going to ruin the sky which you want to avoid. So take your time with this step and ensure smooth and controlled application of water. With my slightly damp tip, I'm going to glide over the yellow edge and then run my brush over to the bottom of the paper. Now, here, at this point, I'm measuring the reflection of the directional cloud in the water. Before diving in with the paint, I like to practice my strokes roughly getting a feel for the movement and placement. Now using my same size number 00 mob brush from Silvertlo series, I'm remixing my sky colors, adjusting them to match the clouds that we painted in the sky above. Since it's reflection, we are going to be working with riply horizontal strokes to indicate that reflection of the clouds in Notice how I'm using just the tip and toe of my brush, applying medium to light pressure to create those subtle ripples. Watch my brush strokes carefully. It's all about the gentle controlled movements to capture the natural flow of reflections in the water. So over here, I have started layering opera pink over that coral orange to add depth and contrast in the clouds, carefully mimicking the colors of the begin with a few gentle horizontal strokes before moving back to those directional clouds in the reflection. Next, I'll load the tip of my damp brush with that naples yellow and use slight delicate strokes to softly blend it into the pinks. It is the same step by step process we followed for the sky, maintaining the harmony between the sky and its reflection. As I paint, I can already feel a sense of calm and serenity washing over me. I think that's the magic of a well balanced color palette. It creates an effortless flow, making the painting process as peaceful as a scene itself. For the rest of the reflection, I'll softly blend the yellow spinks and a touch of orange when needed, keeping my strokes very gentle and fluid. Then I'll introduce diagonal strokes of my lavender lilac mix, starting with broader strokes at the bottom and gradually releasing the pressure as I move upwards. This creates those beautiful slanted strokes that follow the direction of the clouds, enhancing the perspective and realism of the reflection. I can feel the bottom edge of the paper drying up, so I need to work quickly to blend the lilac lavender mixture into the pinks while there is still enough moisture for a smooth transition. I'm using a medium tonal value of lavender mix to ensure that when it blends with the yellows or oranges, it does not create a muddy mix. Keeping the colors vibrant and harmonious is key here, so I'm being mindful of how much pigment I'm adding and adjusting as needed. As I get closer to the horizon, I'm making sure my brush is loaded with pinks to avoid muddy mixtures when the lilac is mixing with yellow. Here is a mistake I made that you should avoid. I thought my sky was still wet here, so I attempted to adjust it near the horizon, but it formed an odd patch over here, creating that very muddy mix over there. To fix this, I'll let it dry completely and shift my focus to painting a few gentle ripples in the water using the tip of my size for synthetic brush. Next, with a light tonal value of my mineral violet, not too watery, I'll carefully paint short and long horizontal strokes to suggest movement in the water. Then I'll add some darker tones of my mineral violet to indicate the boat's back flow in the water. The tip this size number four brush is not very pointy, and as a result, this backflow, which I'm creating has created very thick and blurred smudgy lines, which I'm not liking it. So please go ahead and ensure that you are using a finer point tip brush, preferably a smaller size brush of size number one or two. Next, I switch to a mini tiling liner brush loaded with paints gray or neutraltin to paint this log standing in water, but my brush tip is a bit too watery, so I'll dab off the excess paint and then use the dry brush tip to gently refine those feathered edges. That's it. My log has turned out to be too thick, so this tip is best done either once the paper is fully dry or by carefully controlling the water content in the brush. I think I'm really not happy with how the sky has turned out near the horizon due to that muddy patch that has formed. It's ugly. I don't like it. So I think I'm going to cover it up. I'll paint a distant mountain range with foliage at the intersection of the sky and the water body. And for that, I created this mix of my warm violet. So using this I number six synthetic brush and with this pointed tip, I'm just going to outline the horizon line and paint this distant mountain. The technique that I'm using here to create this distinct background mountain is wet on dry technique, meaning I'm laying wet paint over this dry paper surface. I'm just going to quickly blend in that range of mountain with the tip of my brush and make sure that the base of the mountain is going to be lighter. So just confine your medium tonal values of your purples into the top part of the mountain. I am now going to load just the tip of my brush with the paint mix and start shaping the mountain on the right, also. Then using just the belly of the brush, I am going to blend the colors near the horizon, ensuring a lighter tonal value as it fades into the distance. This helps create a sense of depth and atmospheric perspective into our painting. Next, I'll mix my sap green into my violet mix to create a muted green perfect for this distant foliage. Using my size number six silver black velvet brush, I'll be carefully adding foliage near the patchy area to just cover it up. If you don't have this patchy area in your sky, feel free to skip this step and add just the distant mountain range. But if you would like to add this foliage, go ahead and add it. I'll be here using dabbing strokes with just the tip of my brush to build up that foliage, keeping the strokes all light and natural. Going to vary the size of the foliage, keeping some tall and other short to mimic the natural growth pattern. This variation adds realism and depth to the scene. Now, instead of running the foliage along the entire length of the horizon, I'll let it gradually taper off towards the left near the horizon. This ensures that both the mountain and the foliage remain distinct, allowing each element to serve its purpose without overwhelming the composition. I have here sped up the process since it's repetitive. The key here is to maintain variation in size and shape while keeping the strokes loose and organic. Now it's time to paint our boat and its reflection. I'm mixing a medium tonal value of neutral tint for this tip. But here, I chose the wrong brush size, which made this final stage more difficult than it needed to be. To avoid this, I would highly recommend using a size number two or three round brush with a fine pointed tip. This will give you better control over the details and the water content, ensuring clean and precise strokes. Now, I'm going to use the damp dry and spread out tip of my round brush to create some vertical strokes over the existing boat reflection. Observe here the brush tip was not loaded with any paint. It was just the damp dry brush using which we are just softly blending the reflection. I'll add some shorter horizontal lines to subtly suggest movement in the water. No need to stress here. This isn't the main focal point. We are just adding our suggestions of movement and depth rather than overdfining it. I'll add those four thin lines using the pointed tip of my brush. Here, exercise water control. You do not need too much watery brush content or switch to a smaller size synthetic brush to do this final detailing. Here, I have switched to a small mini detailing liner brush to create small human like figurines for hint of life and scale. However, if you prefer a simpler look, you can skip the details and leave the boat as it is. Either way it works depending on the mood you want to convey. When I was rinsing my brush, I accidentally splattered a drop of water on the port's reflection, and I messed it up. And to fix this, I had dabbed off the paint using a tissue paper. And now to cover up that spot, I'm going to add few more poles in the water, keeping linear perspective in mind. I'll paint shorter poles near the boat where that spot appeared to be gradually make them longer as they approach the bottom edge of the paper. This not only fixes up the mistake but also enhances the depth and composition of this painting. Sometimes small accidents lead to better creative decisions, isn't it? I'm creating these additional poles, and along with it, I'm also creating the reflection of the poles in the water using just the zigzag motion of my brush. With that, our painting is finally complete, even though there were quite a few unexpected accidents along the way, but I'm really happy with how it all came together in the end. Once your paper has dried out completely, it's time to peel off the masking tapes, the most satisfying part of the painting process. And with that, we have successfully completed our day three project. I hope you enjoyed the process even with its challenges. 21. Day 4: Color Palette: Hello, and welcome to day four. To begin with color swatching. I'll start by mixing my ultramarine with my thal blue for my sky. You can choose any warm, non staining blue for this project. I will be working with a medium tonal value of this blue for our sky. Next with my rinsed brush, I'm going to swatch out a light tonal value of a mixture of neutral tint and indigo. This same mixture we are going to use to create those darker clouds near the horizon, as you can see in that final painting. So this is the light tonal value mixture. Next, I'll be watching out my yellow ochre with the pigment PY 42, which is a muted and eddy yellow. We will be using this color for our meadows. Now, following that is yellowish green, a beautiful granulating warm yellow green from Shinhan art again. In case if you do not have this color available with you, do not worry. You can easily prepare this similar color by mixing your warm yellows with your greens and wedding the proportions of yellow and greens like two is to one ratio, more of yellows and less of green, you would get a color similar to this greenish yellow. Next color that I'm going to swatch out is my sap green. Now, you should already know mixing this color because we have commonly used this color in our previous projects. Now we will make a darker shade of green by mixing my sap green with either ultramarine blue or your neutral tint or indigo. When you mix these darker tones with your green, you would get a darker shade of green, which we will be using to create the grasses in the foreground. And then last color that I'm going to swatch out is my burnt sienna. It's a very bright and warm brown that I'm going to use to paint the roof of that monument. Here is a quick colour recap for you on the screen. Hope you have your colors ready. Now, let's dive into our project. 22. Day 4: Delicate Cirrus Clouds Part 1: All right, time to get started with our day four. First things first, let's tap down a paper on all four sites using masking tape. Now that our paper is secured, let's move on to creating a basic sketch. We will leave two thirds of the paper for the sky and draw our horizon line first. Next, I'll use a ruler and sketch the building structure right at the center of the paper. Since it will be further into the background, be mindful about its size to maintain the proper perspective. As always, I would recommend watching the entire lesson first before painting along. This way, you will have a clear idea of what's coming next and be better prepared as you paint along. Watch along as I create this sketch. I might make a few adjustments here and there until I'm happy with the final look. So observe the sketching process first, then pause the screen on the completed version before starting your own sketch. Okay, now that our sketch is ready, let's begin painting. First, we will start with the sky. To ensure the paper stays wet for a longer period of time, I'm going to thoroughly wet the surface. Today we will be painting a delicate sky with streaky, serious clouds. I absolutely fell in love with these clouds when I spotted them during my vacation to Australia, and I have always wanted to paint them. This class felt like the perfect opportunity to finally bring that vision to life. You can see that I'm wetting the paper two to three times to ensure it stays wet for a longer period of time, allowing me to work smoothly with wet on wet take your time while applying water to your paper. There is no need to rush. Observe how I'm carefully wetting the paper only around the building. If you're a beginner, you might find it helpful to mask the building before starting out, applying masking fluid or cut the masking tape to fit along the building's outline, preserving the negative space. For the sky, I'm going to be using two of my favorite mop brushes. One is size zero, zero, and the other is size 20, both are natural hair brushes. Now I'm loading the damp tip of my size number 20 mop brush with a mixture of my ultramarine blue. I'll be working with a medium tonal value creating a creamy consistency for smooth application. Preparing your paint mixture, test it out on a scrap piece of paper to check the tonal value before applying it to your painting. This will help you ensure that the color is just right for the effect you want to achieve. Next, I'll be taking my damp size number 80 mop brush and reapplying the water over the sky area. This ensures that the paper is fully saturated, allowing the paint to blend and flow smoothly, creating a soft seamless sky. Here I'll adjust the intensity of my paint mixture by adding two to three drops of indigo into my ultramarine blue mix, and then I'm going to load up my brush and start applying slanted strokes. Oops, there's a bit too much of water. I'll squeeze the belly of the brush on a tissue to remove that excess water, and using the tip and toe of my brush, and with control pressure, I'm going to create the slanted strokes, making sure to leave some wide spaces in between for natural airy effect of the clouds that we are going for. Now, I'm using my clean damp brush, and I'm going to lift off some of that paint to create wavy patterns in the white areas we left earlier. This helps enhance the softness of the serious clouds. I'll also use this technique to refine any feathering edges for more seamless look. Observe my brush strokes here. Observe how I'm using the damp dry tip of my brush to lift the color from the areas where I notice the feathering effect. This helps soften any harsh edges and maintains the delicate wispy look of the cdrus clouds. Next, I'll switch to my size 00 mop brush and reapply the intense tones of my Indigo plus ultramarine blue mix, adding depth and contrast to the sky wherever needed. Not to add depth to the sky near the horizon, I'm going to go ahead and prepare a light tonal value mix of burnt timber plus indigo. Once the mix is prepared, I'll begin painting the darker clouds with horizontal strokes and then gently stroke it upwards following the natural direction of the clouds. Here at the horizon. Now I'm going to rinse my brush, remove all that excess paint, and then reload the tip with light tonal value of this gray mix. I'll start applying it near the base of the horizon line using light gentle strokes, making sure to leave some wide spaces in between them for a natural airy now observe how I'm feeding out the gray mix using a damp dry brush, gently stroking it upwards to follow the natural rhythm of the streaky clouds. This helps create a seamless transition and keeps the clouds looking soft and airy while adding depth and contrast. Now I'll rinse my brush and dab it dry on my tissue paper. Using soft gentle strokes facing upwards, I'm going to blend the grays into the blues, creating a smooth, streaky transition in the sky. Now, with a clean, damp dry brush, I'm going to spread out the bristles and start at the white areas gently lifting of the paint to create white streaks in the sky. Each time that I lift the blues, I'll clean the tip of my brush on the tissue towel to prevent mudding the colours. I'll repeat this process until I have built enough direction and movement in the sky, capturing the delicate wispy nature of the cirrus clouds. At this point, I'm going to add a touch of purple towards the base of the horizon, but this is experimental. You do not need to do this in your painting. Avoid this step if your sky has already started to dry out as adding new colors on a semi dry surface may create unwanted edges instead of smooth blends, and you will see that I'm going to suffer in the next few minutes because of this. But I think I'm not liking that purple near the horizon line, so I decided to cover it up with a soft layer of my gray mix, shaping into horizontal clouds. And I'll quickly blend it into the drying sky using a damp dry frayed tip of the brush, making sure to only blend and not lift any paint. Too much pressure at this stage could unintentionally lift the underlying layers. So I'm keeping my brushw very light and soft and controlled. But my sky has started to dry already, and my paint would start from here. 23. Day 4: Delicate Cirrus Clouds Part 2: Okay, time to move on to the meadow foreground. For that, I'm preparing a medium tonal value of greenish yellow for this area. With my wet brush, I'll first apply clean water at the bottom part of the paper, making sure not to wet the area close to the horizon to avoid disturbing the sky as it is the sky is partially ruined. Now I'll start applying the greenish yellow mix from the dry area near the horizon and gradually blend it downward into the wet bottom section for a smooth transition. Now, I'll start mixing my greens into the remaining greenish yellow on my palette and add a bit of my blue mix to create a darker shade of green. Using the tip of my brush, I'll start dropping this darker green vertically at the bottom of the paper. Since the bottom is already wet, the paint will start spreading naturally, and we will blend it using our comb brush, driving the strokes upwards to create the grass like patterns. Now I have mixed a little of my indigo into my green mix to create more intense green tone, and then I'll start layering this deeper shade at the very base of the meadow, creating depth and dimension to the field. This would help create a natural sense of the grounding and contrast in the landscape. With the tip of my comb brush, I'll now create light horizontal strokes just below the horizon line, allowing the underlayer of greenish yellow to subtly show through. This will add texture and depth to the meadow. Now let's address the elephant in the room. Those dry bleads in the sky need fixing. I'll try to use the fluffy tip of my dry hag brush to see if I can smoothen them out, but the issue here is that the paper is drying unevenly, so I'll switch to my damp dry tip of my mop brush and try to lightly blend the edges, but this too is creating more patches, making the problem worse than fixing. Now you can see what's happening here. Time for plan C. I'll grab my size 80 mop brush, dampen it enough just to have tiny wet feeling on the tip, then spread out the bristles and load it with light tonal value of my blue mix. Now I'll gently start applying slanting strokes over the dry leaves, being very gentle to avoid disturbing the layers too much. This should help unify the sky while maintaining its softness. It's looking better, but I'm still not completely happy with it. Using the same tip of my brush, I'll now take a very light tonal value of my gray mix and start applying the same slanting strokes, but even more lightly this time. To refine it further, I'll add a bit more of that dark gray mix where needed and use the dam tip of my size 00 brush to smoothly blend the edges on both the right and the left side. This should work and help us to cover that sky. Now, if you're wondering why I just didn't miss the paper, here is why misting would have reactivated the entire sky, making it easier to fix the bottom area. But it would also mean redoing the top portion of the sky, including the delicate streaks of the cirrus clouds. This could have ended up being much more messier than what we are dealing with right now, so it is best to work selectively rather than risking overworking the entire sky. I hope your sky didn't turn out this way and that you watch the entire lesson first to know what to avoid in the first place. Fixing a sky like this depends a lot on the delicate brushstrokes you apply and the understanding of the wetness of your paper, which comes only with experience. For a big nerd, this might feel a little tricky, but now you know how to approach Remember, it's not impossible to fix a sky that didn't go as planned. With patience and with the right techniques, you can still bring it back to life. Time to fix my meadow. I'm a little apprehensive about missing it because my paper is behaving unpredictably in terms of retaining moisture and drying. So instead, I'll use a slightly damp tip to fix the bleeds near the horizon first. We will wet the bottom part later, but for now, let's focus on building the background foliage, using my greenish yellow mix, and then I'll add in some darker tones of greens at the base to bring in the shadows and depth, making the meadow look more natural and dimensional. I'm now preparing a mix of my greenish yellow with a medium tonal value, and using my size number six round brush, I'm first going to lay a thick band of green along the horizon line. Next, I'll start adding the foliage by using dabbing brush strokes at the top to create a natural and organic here, we are working on wet on dry technique, so make sure your sky is completely dry before starting this step. Otherwise, the colours could bleed into the sky and fixing that would become so much more harder and impossible. I'm going to repeat the same process of creating our foliage along the left side of the horizon line. Now, I'll add darker green tones at the base of the foliage to create depth and contrast along the entire horizon line. While doing this, I'll make sure to live bits of that underlayer of green speaking through, which helps maintain the dimension and the depth and prevents the foliage from looking flat. This layering technique will enhance the natural feel of the landscape. Time to rewet the foreground, we have here two options either carefully miss the foreground while covering the sky and horizon to avoid reactivating those areas or use a damp brush to gently layer a flat wash of water starting from the bottom and working midway below the horizon like I am doing here, making sure this will not disturb the foliage layers we just painted. With my damp mob brush of size 00, I'll load a light tonal value of greenish yellow and lightly spread it over the wet foreground. Since the base is still wet, this will reactivate the darker green, so be careful not to go into the lighter areas after covering the darker one. Ing some darker green tones, keeping them confined around the bottom of the meadow to enhance the depth and contrast. This is the same repetition of the process we used at the start of this lesson to create the grassy pattern using light upward strokes with just the tip of my brush to mimic the natural texture of the grass. This layering will help bring the foreground to life while keeping it visually connected to the rest of the landscape. Now with my comb brush, I'll push the darker tones upwards with light strokes from the tip of the brush just like how we did at the start of the lesson. I'll cover the sky and the horizon and use my round brush to splatter drops of water over the meadow. This will create a beautiful texture with soft blooms adding a very natural feel to the grassy effect. If you want to experiment, you could also sprinkle some salt on the wet surface. Next, we'll start painting the building with a light tonal wash of yellow ochre, keeping the tones soft to match the atmospheric perspective of the scene. Make sure your brush tip isn't too watery to prevent the paint from leaking into the sky. Dab off the excess water from the belly of the brush and just paint using the tip of the brush. If there is too much of water, the paint might spread uncontrollably, especially near the edges of the building. Keeping the brush damp and not dripping will give you better control over the shape and edges. On the left side of the building, I'll use a very light tonal value of neutral tint to add shadows, creating the depth that we need. And also, I'll start applying the shadow from the left and then use a clean, damp brush dip to softly blend it into the yellow ochre, ensuring a smooth transition between the light and shadow. Now, I'll start painting the roof using a mix of burnt sienna and a little crimson to give it a warm deton. Make sure to exercise water control here. Too much of water can cause the paint to bleed into unwanted areas while too little might create streaky uneven washes, work with a medium consistency to achieve a smooth and controlled application. Wait for the roof to dry out completely, then start adding the windows like we sketched, either by using the fine pointed tip of your brush loaded with neutral tint or use a waterproof micron fine liner pen for crisp precise lines. If your paper has dried out completely, carefully peel off the masking tapes at an angle to reveal those clean, crisp edges. And with that, our day four is complete. I hope you have learned something valuable from this exercise and enjoyed the process, as well. I'll see you again tomorrow for the next lesson. 24. Day 5: Color Palette: Okay, let's quickly go over the colors we will need for our Day five project. For this dramatic sky, I'll primarily be using five key colors to create depth and mood. Let's watch them out first to get a clear idea of how they interact with each other before we begin painting. The first color that I'm going to swatch out is naples yellow, a soft warm tone that sets the base for a glowing sky. Next will be my opera pink. But if you do not have opera, you can swatch out a warm magenda or any vibrant pink, but make sure that it is on the warmer side. When opera pink and naples yellow are combined together, they create a beautiful, soft orange hue. Following that, we will swatch out pastel cool lilac or lavender. If you're unsure how to mix this color, refer back to D three color palette, where we already learned how to create it. Next, we will soften mineral violet by mixing it with lilac to tone down its intense color saturation, creating a more muted and harmonous shade for our sky. Next comes my warm permanent violet, which we will use quite a bit to add richness and depth to both the sky and the foreground. So keep this color handy with you. We will also need a pastel sky blue to capture the soft fading light of a day coming to an end. If you do not have this color with you, refer back to day one color palette, where we discussed how to mix it. Lastly, we will also need neutral tint or our paints gray to create desaturated mixes or to add contrast wherever needed. So go ahead and spotch out the colors you have available and find the closest that matches to the ones that I have demonstrated. Once you have your colors ready, let's begin at day five. 25. Day 5 : A Dramatic Sunset With City Silhoutte Part 1: Welcome to Day five. Let's begin by taping down our paper on all four sides using my masking tape. Now that our paper is secured, we will start by drawing the horizon line. Most of the composition will be dedicated to the sky, while the area along the horizon line will feature a city silhouette. For this day five project, I didn't follow a specific reference. Instead, this piece is inspired by my observations and the beautiful sunsets I get to witness daily from my studio. Once our horizon line is sketched, we will dive straight into painting the sky using the wet on wet technique. As with the previous days, I will make sure my paper is evenly coated with a uniform layer of water. I'll repeat this process two to three times to ensure the paper stays wet for a longer period of time, allowing for smoother and seamless colour transitions. Now, I'll grab a tissue paper and gently wipe off any excess water on the masking tape. This prevents any backflow of water onto a painting once we start adding color to the sky. You might notice that the paper is now absorbing the moisture causing it to swell lightly in few areas. This is completely normal and it indicates that the surface is well prepared for the wet on wet technique. Now let's begin to start painting. Using my damp mop brush of size 00, I'll start preparing a mix of Naples yellow and Jean Brilliant number two. And with this pastel yellow blend, I'll start painting the sky using a variety of strokes. I'll first start from the left corner of the paper, observe how my brush glides across the paper and how I'm working with just the tip and toe of the brush, creating soft transitions as I vary the pressure. Here, observe how I'm using both the belly and tip of the brush to shape the clouds by wearing my strokes and gradually building their form, extending and refining their shapes naturally. This technique not only helps in creating soft organic clouds but also establishes a sense of directional movement in the sky, making the composition feel more dynamic and alive. Observe how I'm layering a medium tonal value of naples yellow over the previous wash repeating the same pattern of strokes. I have intentionally left some white spaces in the sky. These are crucial for creating depth and contrast later. As you layer the yellow, be mindful not to cover the entire sky. Now starting from the right, I'll begin adding a medium tonal value of opera pink mixed with a bit of yellow. I'm layering it in a way that allows the yellows to peek through the pinks, creating a soft glowing effect. Notice how I'm using staggered half horizontal strokes. This technique helps blend the colors seamlessly while maintaining a natural and atmospheric feel in the sky. Now I'll add some medium tonal values or mineral violet using a damp brush, layering it at the end of the directional yellow cloud. I'll gently dry my brush on a tissue, then load the tip with the same mix. Using this, I'll start to spread the color following the direction of the cloud, but not almost covering the yellow. I'm working quickly here because we can't afford to delay when layering this darker. The paper starts drying, vetting the sky at this stage can be tricky, especially since we are working with complimentary colors like yellow and violet. So keep observing my brush movements, and if possible, watch this entire is in first to get a clear idea of what's coming next and paint along. Using just the tip of my damp brush, I'm now painting some horizontal clouds above and along the horizon line with my mineral violet mix. Exercise water control at this step. Next, I'll clean my brush and prepare a blue gray lavender mix. Now, at this stage, I'm preparing a medium tonal value of this mix. Ensure that you always test out your color mixes on a scrap piece of paper before you start to paint the clouds. I'll begin adding this mix to the white spaces left on the right side of the sky. At this stage, I'm making sure not to let the blue touch the purple just yet. I'll start applying this blue lavender mix to the top left corner of the sky, as well. Notice that I'm using a light tonal value here to prevent any unwanted green issue when layering over the yellow. Observe my brush strokes here carefully. I'm engaging the entire brush by varying the pressure to create soft natural transitions. At this step, controlling the water content in your paint, as well as in your brush is crucial. If your brush is too watery or your paint mix is too watery, you will get unwanted bleeds when you start layering or creating these horizontal clouds. And if it is too dry, the paint won't glide smoothly across the surface. I'll now create a paint mix consisting of my permanent violet with a drop of indigo to create a darker. Make sure you are not going here too strong, use medium tonal values of this color and start applying this mix at the top left of the sky using inward strokes. But unfortunately, my camera ran out of battery so I couldn't film this part. Here I have dabbed off the excess water from my brush and I'm slightly going over the purples using just the tip to bring the intensity down. Here, I'll load my brush with lavender mix with a drop of indigo and begin creating smaller wispy clouds, ensuring that the yellows are still visible. Now, just below the warm, purple and indigo mix. I'll start laying my cool mineral violet and opera mix while carefully controlling the water content. Now using the same brush loaded with my pinks, I'll pick up the violet indigo mix and begin forming clouds on the right side. Notice how this technique creates a dual tone in clouds, adding depth and variation. At this stage, it is all about carefully building up the depth and movement in the sky with darker tones while ensuring they don't overpower the composition. The key is to let those lighter colors shine through, creating a luminous glowing effect that enhances the drama of the sunset. Now, I'll start to add some horizontal clouds here at the horizon. Fortunately, my paper is still wet, so I'll go ahead and add some horizontal streaks of clouds just above the horizon underneath the purples. Next, I'll return to the larger floating cloud at the top and deepen the tones beneath the purples to add more dimension and depth. I can do this seamlessly because my paper is still wet, allowing the colors to blend naturally. But if you notice that your paper has started to dry out, you can either skip this step or incorporate these darker tones earlier in the process to avoid any unwanted harsh edges. And with that, we have completed our sky. Now I'll let it dry completely before moving on to the cityscape Slout at our foreground. While waiting, I'll prepare a mix of warm violet with a lighter tonal value of neutral tint. Now that my sky is completely dry, I'll begin applying this paint mix to the foreground section using the wet on dry technique. I'll start by painting a flat wash over the entire section, ensuring smooth and even coverage. Once that's done, we will continue from here in the next part. 26. Day 5: A Dramatic Sunset City Silhoutte Part 2: Okay, now that our foreground is ready with a base color, it's time to start adding buildings in the background. Using my size six ultra round brush, I'll paint a mix of tall and short buildings along the horizon to depict the city skyline. I'll gently squeeze out the belly of my brush to control the water flow and start adding the buildings. At this stage, maintaining proper water control is crucial to prevent any unwanted paint bleeds. We want the background buildings to appear sleek and well defined. So ensuring the right paint consistency will help achieve that clean, crisp effect. The buildings in the background, I'm starting with a light tonal value of our paint mix, while for those slightly below the horizon, I will go ahead and use little darker tones to create depth. At this point, I wasn't entirely sure how I wanted my city skyline to look since I was working without any fixed reference. I debated between painting multiple layers of buildings with shimmering lights or keeping it just simple. Eventually, I felt a strong urge to go with a single line of buildings along the horizon and separate them from the foreground with a water body. In the next step, I will add that water body, so keep observing the process closely. Now, instead of using a round brush to paint these buildings, you could also use a smaller sized flat brush or an angle hitter brush. The square tip of the brushes makes it easier to create clean rectangular shapes, helping you to achieve sharp and well defined buildings with minimal effort. At this stage, I think it will be easier to switch to a mop brush to start applying the paint mix for the water body. The mop brush will help achieve a smooth even wash while allowing for subtle blending, creating a natural reflective effect in the water. Now I have loaded my mop brush with a light tonal mix of neutral tint and my warm violet, and I'm filling the lower section below the horizon line with it. To suggest a water body reflecting the opera hues of the sky, I'll add a touch of opera pink into this area. Then for the abstract foreground, I'll use a medium tonal value of neutral tint mixed with my violet, similar to how we painted the meadow in our earlier projects. Next, I'll cover the sky with a sheet of paper and add some water splatters to create texture, giving this painting a unique look. Now, instead of water splatters, you could also try adding in some salt crystals or rock salt into this area and create the texture. And with that, our painting is finally complete. Now we will let it dry completely before peeling off the masking tape to reveal those crisp, clean white borders. I'm absolutely loving how this piece has turned out. Do give it a try and applaud your work under the projects and resources section. I would love to see your take on it. I'll see you again for day six. 27. Day 6: Color Palette: Welcome to Day six. Let's quickly go over the colors we will need for art today's project. The first color that I'm watching is naples yellow. My naples yellow is from Shinhan art and is made from PY 35 a cool yellow pigment, and PW six, which is a white pigment. If you do not have this exact color, you can easily create it by mixing a cool yellow with a touch of white quash. Next is yellow orange, a beautiful warm, yellow orange color. You can easily mix a warm red with a warm yellow to achieve this color in case if you do not have this available with you. The next color that I am going to swatch out is my opera pink. Now opera pink is a very bright and beautiful warm red. When mixed with naples yellow or yellow orange, it gives a very beautiful coral orange color. The next color that I'm going to spatch out is my blue gray, which is, again, a very beautiful mellow pestle color. Now the next color is my mineral violet, and the next is sap green, followed by burn timber and neutral tint. Most of these colors have already been used in previous projects, and I have also discussed how to mix them in case if you do not have the exact colors available with. Now, in case if you do not have your neutral tint, you can always go ahead and use your paints gray or ivory black to substitute this color. Now using our neutral tint and a little touch of indigo, along with mineral violet and blue gray, we will create a rich dark mix perfect for our stormy clouds. That's all for the colors. You can see a recap on the screen, so get your colors ready, and let's jump into our final project. 28. Day 6: A Stormy Day Part 1: All right, let's begin our day six. As always, I'm starting by taping down my paper to keep it flat and secure. Now for today's painting, I have combined two references. You can see them on the screen. For the first image that is on the top left, I'll be using the horizon line to establish the composition. However, for the color scheme, I'll be following the second reference, which is at the bottom left. Now, let's begin with wet on wet technique. I'll start by applying an even layer of water to the sky area. Be sure to layer the water gradually, allowing the paper to absorb moisture slowly. This ensures a smooth and even wet surface. Avoid flooding the paper with excess water as we don't want pools forming. Before moving on, I'm taking a tissue to gently wipe the edges of the masking tape. This prevents backflow and keeps our edges crisp. I'm slightly tilting my boat to make sure the water is evenly distributed across the paper. You can check this by observing the sheen. It should be uniform without any dry spots or excess pulling. Now that the surface is prepped, I'll mix my naples yellow with yellow orange and begin applying it at the base of the horizon line. This blend will create a soft glowing foundation for our sky, setting the stage for a warm atmospheric sunset. While laying the yellow, I leave a small white space on the right. This will help create the soft glowing effect we want to achieve in our sky. If I notice my colors drifting into that area, I'll use the damp dry tip of my brush to gently lift the paint and keep the glow intact. Now, using the damp tip of my brush, I have mixed opera pink into my yellow orange blend. Holding my brush upright, I'll carefully apply the pink mix with light controlled pressure. Pay close attention to how I use the tip of my brush. This will help maintain a delicate transition between the colors. Here I notice my paints are drifting into the white space, so I'll use the damp tip of my brush to gently lift them off, keeping that soft glow intact. Now, I'll mix my opera pink with naples yellow. My mixture is slightly watery here because the top of my paper is already starting to dry. This extra moisture will help keep the surface workable as I continue laying. Observe my brush strokes here. I'm using a mix of long and short diagonal strokes, keeping them slightly slanted. I'm also leaving white caps in between, which are movement and radiation to the sky. Now I'll prepare a mix of my lavender and blue gray adjusting it to a medium tonal value. The consistency is creamy, allowing for smooth application. I'll start layering its mix at the top of the sky using the same directional strokes as before. As I apply it over the pinks, I'm being mindful not to completely cover them, letting those warm tones subtly show through. I have also made sure to retain some white spaces on the right, which enhances the glow in the sky. I'm really loving how this is coming together. It's creating such a beautiful and luminous effect. My paper is drying up like biscuits today. It's extremely hot and dry, which is making it challenging to keep the surface moist. To counter this, I'll use my spray bottle to lightly miss the areas before applying my darker mixes for the stormy clouds. When spraying, I'm holding the bottle at a distance to ensure the mist evenly distributes across the paper rather than concentrating it in a single. Now, I'll let the paper rest for a moment while I prepare my darker cloud mix. For this, I'll combine my neutral tint with a touch of indigo for depth and tone it down with a little bit of pastel blue gray. Now, if you do not have pastel blue gray, you can achieve similar effect by adding a tiny drop of white. Once my darker mix is ready, I'll use the tip and toe of my brush to start layering the stormy clouds. Here I'm using a combination of C shaped and inverted C shaped strokes at the top of the sky to create natural cloud formations. Notice that my paint mix is not too watery, it is creamy. At this stage, a watery mix would lead uncontrollable bleeds, making it harder to achieve well defined cloud shapes before you start practicing these cloud shapes or begin this project, I would highly recommend practicing these cloud shapes beforehand. If you need a refresher, refer back to the lesson brush control and stroke techniques where I have already demonstrated a variety of strokes to help you master this step. Observe how I'm layering the darker clouds. I'm not covering the entire sky. Instead, I'm leaving some lighter areas in between allowing the sky to breathe and create that contrast. Later, we will introduce some purple tones in these lighter areas to suggest the origin of the thunder, adding drama and this technique not only enhances the stormy atmosphere but also helps create a beautiful glow within the clouds, making them feel more alive and dynamic. Now, I'll mix a little bit of opera into the darker mix to create a purple and begin layering this underneath the darker clouds. This adds depth and subtle color variation to make the clouds look more dynamic. I'm not following the reference exactly, but rather painting it in my own style, letting intuition guide the cloud shapes and the movement. To the cloud areas just above the horizon, I'm adding a creamy mixture of opera pink just beneath the darker clouds. This helps create a subtle warmth and contrast in the lower part of the sky. Now, at the top of the sky, where we left a lighter space, I'm dabbing the tip of my brush to softly add touches of opera pink. As I continue laying the same opera underneath the darker clouds, I notice the top part of the sky has started to dry. Can you see that harsh edge forming? We will fix that by using a spray bottle lightly misting both the top and bottom parts of the sky from a distance. This will gently reactivate the paint, allowing us to retouch the top area smoothly without disrupting the existing layers. We. Just above the horizon line, I'm just going to retouch with my coral orange and my naples yellow to brighten that areas because we have just misted it. So you can just go ahead and lay these colors in between the areas where you feel the colors have lightened out, just like how I'm doing here. The next few minutes are all about adding depth and drama to a sky. So keep a close watch on how my brush is moving across the paper. Watch the direction pressure, and the strokes I'm using to build up that atmosphere. At this stage, when you are going over those darker clouds, make sure that your brush is damp and not too wet with watery paint mixture. Maintaining proper water control in both your paint and brush is crucial. Too much of water can cause unwanted bleeds, while too little can cause harsh, unblendable edges. This step is critical to achieving the right balance of softness and definition in the stormy clouds. So take your time and be mindful of how much moisture is in your brush. But the damp dry tip of my brush, I'll gently smooth out any unwanted bleeds or lift off the exist paint to reveal the soft glow of the sky. Be gentle with this step, too much pressure can create harsh streaks while a light touch will seamlessly blend the colors for a natural glowing effect. Here at the lightest area at the top, I'm adding a touch of mineral valet, making sure to leave the center white. This will serve as a origin point of the thunder, so it's important to keep the center lighter as compared to the peripheral areas. Observe my brush is damp dry and not too damp. This ensures controlled application without unnecessarily bleeding. Now I'll prepare a creamy mix of my white wash and using my fine liner brush, I'll begin painting the thunder originating from the center of this area. With a pointed tip. I'll carefully create thin zigzag lines to capture the natural movement of the lightning. Next, using the dam tip of my mob brush, I'll softly blend in the white wash at the starting point into the center white area. This will create a beautiful glow effect, making the lightning appear more natural and ensuring it does not look like it's just emerged out of nowhere. To create the glow of the thunder as it emerges, I'll use the damp dry tip of my brush to dap softly over the zigzag lines, slightly blurring the edges. This subtle diffusion helps enhance the glowing effect of the lightning, making it feel more natural and atmospheric. Once a softened glow is in place, I'll go back with my fine liner brush to redefine the thunder, ensuring it remains striking and well balanced within the stormy sky. Once you are satisfied with thunder, it's time to take a short break before moving onto the foreground. In the meantime, our sky will also get dried up. 29. Day 6: A Stormy Day Part 2: Okay, let's get started with the reflection of the sky on the water body. I'll be using a controlled wet on wet technique beginning with a slightly watery mix of my naples yellow and yellow orange. I'll start at the center of the horizon and then carefully extend the wash below the horizon line. This will ensure that the watery paint does not seep into the sky, even if the sky is still dry. Here at the base of the horizon line, I have introduced some brighter tones of coral orange and pink while keeping the center of the water body in yellow. This has created the effect of glowing water now using the damp tip of my brush, I have just blended in, and I'll just go ahead and start layering with my naples yellow, all over again, blending the edges very nice and neatly. Now I'll load the tip of my brush with a touch of opera mixed with indigo and neutral tint. Using horizontal strokes, I'll start layering this darker mix at the corners while keeping the center glow intact, as you can see here. Notice how my brush is just damp, allowing me to create soft light strokes that blend seamlessly into the surrounding colors. I realized that the darker tones had faded out, so I'll go ahead and deepen them by adding more pigment near the left and the right corners of the water body while keeping the center glowing. Observe how my brush is damp dry and not overly loaded with watery paint mix. If you notice here, I'm using the toe and half belly of the brush to lay broader horizontal strokes to blend the colors effectively. I'm happy with how the water body looks, so let's move on to the foreground. I'll start with a mix of burnt ambo at a medium tonal value, applying the color using vertical dabbing strokes. We will be using a control wet on wet approach, starting with wet on dry first and then gradually switching to a watery paint mix to keep the paper moist for seamless blending. I'll start adding some sap green to the bottom edge of the foreground, gradually feeding it out as we approach the water body. I'll now switch to a liner or rigor synthetic brush of size number two and start creating varying sizes of grass shapes. You will need to work quickly here to ensure that your strokes blend beautifully into the grassy meadows for a natural and organic look. Mm hm. Next, I'll cover the sky with a paper or a boat to protect it and begin the splattering process to create some texture defects in the foreground. This will add sense of depth and spontaneity to the scene. Now, here I'm splattering some water droplets. If you want, you could go ahead and splatter some of your lemon yellow blooms into the foreground. That's totally up to you. Here my foreground has completely dried. I'll go ahead and add a fresh watery layer of saprene using short and long vertical dabbing strokes. H then I'll repeat the process with my line of brush gently pulling the colors from the wet foreground to create natural grass shapes. To add depth at the bottom part of the field, I'll adjust by adding medium tonal values of burnt timber and quickly introducing more grass like textures. Be sure to work fast or quick here. You don't want the foreground to dry completely. Then we will be going ahead and splattering some water to create fun texture defect that resembles spontaneous wild blooms in the foreground. With just a tip of my liner brush, I'll add a few tall feather like grasses resembling Kansas grasses, wearing their sizes for a natural look. Be sure to this step only after the water body has dried completely to avoid any unwanted bleeding or smudging. I'll repeat this process of adding tall grasses on both sides of the foreground to create balance and more natural look to the foreground. Now, just above the horizon, the thunder lines that we had created had almost faded out, so I'm just going ahead with a creamy wash mix loaded onto the tip of my fine liner brush and refining them again. He Once the thunder is defined, I'll begin adding its reflection on the water body, ensuring it appears soft and slightly diffused for a more realistic effect. I'm going to here exert a very light pressure when I'm creating this reflection of the thunder on the water body. To create a more realistic effect of the thunder, I'm going to use the dry brush technique. This involves lightly grazing the damp dry tip of my paint loaded brush over the dry paper surface and horizontal strokes. The key here is to keep the stroke subtle and delicate so that the reflection blends naturally into the water without overpowering the scene. With that, our painting is finally complete. I'll let the paper dry flat completely before peeling of the tapes, always the most satisfying part of the painting process. Now our paper is fully dry. It's time to remove the tapes from all the four sides and reveal those crisp, clean borders. I hope you enjoyed this process of creating this dramatic stormy day. Don't hesitate to share your projects and feedback about the class. I would love to see your work and hear from you. 30. Day 7: Color Palette: I can't believe we have reached the final day of our seven day challenge before we deep dive into painting. Let's quickly go over the colors we will need for our day seven project. The first color that I'm going to swatch out is a bright blue. I have prepared this color by mixing my blue gray with a little bit of my halo blue. We will be using this mix to paint the top part of a sky. Once we are into the project, I'll demonstrate to you how I have prepared this color by mixing my blue gray with my halo blue. The next color that I'm going to need is my naples yellow, which is a very pastel, cool yellow, followed by my Jean Brilliant number two. When you mix naples yellow, along with Jean Brilliant number two, you get a very beautiful pastel orange shade. We will be using this pastelnaples orange mixed with a touch of little opera to create those soft fluffy clouds that you can see in the final project. Combination adds a warm glowing effect, making the clouds appear more vibrant and atmospheric. The next color that I'm going to swatch out is my lavender. Now in the earlier projects, we have already seen how you can create this lavender mix in case if you do not have one. The next color that I'm swatching is mineral violet. Now by combining my mineral violet with lavender and blue mix, we'll create a soft pastel purple for adding depth and dimension to our clouds. For the foreground and midground, we will use sap green and yellow ochre. Additionally, when you mix sap green with a darker blue like indigo or thalo blue, you will get a dark green mix, which we will use to add depth to our landscape. Now, here you can see a color recap on the screen for reference, so get your colors ready, and let's begin our final painting for Day seven. 31. Day 7: Cotton Candy Clouds Part 1: I Hello, hello. Today marks the final day of our seven day challenge. As always, let's begin by taping down a paper on all sides. I'll start by sketching the horizon line, placing it slightly above the lower third of the paper, leaving about two thirds of the space for the sky. You will see the reference images displayed on the screen. I'll be using the first reference for sketching. I'll sketch in some distant bands along the horizon, along with a bit of foliage to add depth and interest to the composition. Once the sketch is ready, we will then move on to painting the sky using the wet on wet technique. Our sketch is now ready, we will move on to painting the sky using the wet on wet technique. As we have practiced in previous projects, we will start by laying down a smooth, even wash of clean water, ensuring that there are no puddles or standing water on our paper. I'm here using my soft bristle hairbrush from silver atelia series to evenly and thoroughly wet the paper. Ensure the surface stays wet for a longer period, repeat this process two to three times. If you're working in a warm or dry environment, consider wetting your paper three to four times before applying the paint. This will give you more time for creating smoother blends and working wet on wet. Next, I'll take a tissue paper and gently wipe along the edges of the masking tape. This tape is essential to prevent back flows when we start painting, ensuring clean and controlled washes. Now we are ready to begin. For the sky, I'll be keeping three of my favorite brushes handy. I'll start with my size 00 mop brush from silver atelier squirrel blend series. First, I'll wet the brush, dab it lightly on a tissue, and then start preparing a yellow color mix using my nipples yellow and Jean Brilliant number two. Before applying it to the painting, I'll swatch the mix on a scrap piece of paper to check the tonal value. This helps ensure the color is just right and I can adjust it if needed. Now that I'm happy with the mix, I'll begin. Notice that my brush isn't too watery, neither is my paint. It's just damp. I'll use the toe and tip of my brush to create soft inverted C shaped strokes. Pay close attention to my brush movements here and follow along as I create these cloud shapes. Since I'm working with a natural soft hair brush, I can easily manipulate the bristles to my advantage, allowing me to create those s shaped strokes effortlessly. The flexibility of this brush helps in forming those soft organic cloud shapes with minimal effort. Here I'm applying light pressure to create those cauliflower shaped clouds. Notice how I'm carefully spacing out the yellow areas, ensuring that they don't overlap too much on one another. This allows the whites of the paper to show through adding natural highlights and keeping the clouds airy and luminous. Next, I'll rinse my brush, dab it lightly on a tissue and start preparing my pink mix by combining opera pink with the previously used yellow mix. This will ensure that the pinks remain soft and mellow, blending harmoniously with the base layer rather than appearing too bright or overparing. Notice how I have held my brush and the tip is not too watery, using the same inverted sea strokes, I'll begin layering the pinks, partially overlapping the yellow areas. To keep the transition seamless, I'll use the damp dry tip of my brush to soften the edges of the pink clouds. Then I'll continue with the same gentle sea strokes to create lighter, more delicate clouds towards the left side of the sky. Notice how I'm leaving some space between the yellow and pink overlaps. This is the key to creating a glowing effect, making the clouds look naturally soft and puffy. Now, I'll prepare a medium tonal value mix using lavender, blue gray, and a touch of lilac. And to adjust the intensity of the blue, I'll add a pinch of talo blue, and for a richer purple tone, I'll add a mix of little opera. Now, this is going to be a little experimental colour mix that I'm preparing out here. This beautiful pastel blue, purple mix that we have created will add depth to a sky when we start layering it near to the horizon and at the base of the yellow pink clouds. I realize that the top part has begun to dry, so before applying the mix, I'll lightly miss the top part of the paper from a distance and give one spray at the bottom. Now I'll load my size 00 mob, gently squeeze out the excess water from its belly, and start applying this pastel blue, purple mix underneath the pink cloud layers, making sure the pink shapes remain distinctly visible. Observe my strokes carefully and follow along. As I approach the top edges of the yellow and the pink clouds, I'll flatten out the tip of my brush and gently overlap the mix with soft pressure. This will help blend the colors smoothly, creating soft and glowing transitions in between the clouds. Now, if you so observe closely, I'm using just the tip and toe of my brush to create sea strokes in between the color lays. This helps maintain a soft air effect while ensuring a natural transition between the colours. Now with my rinsed damp dry brush tip, I'll gently blend out the edges of those different color layers to smoothen out the transitions further. This tip helps soften any harsh edges and ensures that the clouds flow naturally into each other. Now I'm going to add few more yellow clouds on the left side. And for this, I have mixed my Jean brilliant number two with yellow orange creating this medium tonal value. At this stage, I'm almost shaping the mounts of the clouds using full circle C strokes to give them more form and volume. If applied color feels too intense or overpowering, I'll dab off the excess paint onto a tissue and then use the tip of my brush to gently soften and blend it in. This keeps the transition smooth while maintaining that natural glowing effect in the sky. I'll load the tip of my brush with this pink and blue mix that we prepared earlier, and I'll gently apply this color at the base of the yellow fluffy clouds using very light delicate strokes to build depth while keeping the transition soft. If you notice here, my brush is loaded more with pink purple mix rather than blue since we are working on clouds at the base of the yellow. This is important because adding too much of blue at this stage could result in an undesirable gray mix when blended with yellow. Now, I'll start adding that light purple mix to the center of the sky, covering up some of the white spaces while making sure not to cover them up completely. These subtle touches help balance the clouds while preserving the natural glow. When retouching the bottom near the horizon, be extra careful. It is best to load your brush with more of the blue purple mix rather than the lighter pinkish purple. This ensures a smooth transition into the atmospheric depth near the horizon. However, do this step only when your paper is still wet over here to avoid creating hard edges. Now using the flattened and damp dry tip of my brush, I'm just going to smoothen out those cloud shapes. Before moving on to the topmost part of the sky, I'll first go over the area with a wet brush to reintroduce the moisture. But here I'm being extra mindful about the water. I'm using a smaller mob brush to avoid excess water from seeping into painted cloud areas, which could cause unwanted blooms or back flows. Now I'll prepare a pastel yet intense blue mix by combining a little of halo blue, blue gray, and a drop of lavender. I'll keep this slightly watery so that the top part of the paper stays wet for longer, allowing us more time to work with smooth blend. Now that my brush is loaded, I'll start applying the paint mix, carefully defining the shape of the clouds using the negative painting method. This technique helps carve out the bright cloud forms by painting around them, adding contrast and depth to the sky. Now I'll rinse my brush, dab it on a tissue, and start lifting out those feathering edges to create soft airy effect. Notice a slight bluish tinge left behind after lifting. That's because thalo blue is a staining pigment, and I intentionally used it in this mix with blue gray to achieve this subtle glowing effect in the sky. Now here with my flattened dam dry tip of the brush, I'll gently lift off some of the blue and then quickly wipe off the excess paint onto a tissue to keep my brush clean and ready for the next step. I'll add a light pink mix into the lifted a ensuring that I add depth to the sky. While doing this, I make sure to preserve a little of that white edge around the cloud, which helps maintain the natural glow and depth in the sky. Using the slightly damp end of a soft tissue, I'll gently dab over the wet blue paint to create this fluffy airy edge for the clouds. This technique helps soften the transitions and enhances the natural glow, but make sure to do this very gently. Pressing too hard can create hard edges instead of soft feathered edges. Also, each time you lift the paint, switch to a clean part of the tissue to avoid re depositing the pigment back into the lifted areas. This ensures the lifted sections remain light and luminous. Here at the top part of the sky, my paper is still wet, so I'll add another layer of blue to debate its intensity and bring more contrast to the scene. By doing so, I can also enhance the cloud shapes, making their edges appear lighter and more defined. Once that's applied, I'll take a clean end of a soft tissue and dab lightly lift the paint of creating white wispy edges. I'll repeat this process from left to right, carefully shaping the clouds and adding beautiful airy effect. After this, we will let the sky dry completely before moving onto the foreground. Here at the very top, I also went in and lifted out some blue to shape the clouds further. This gives the illusion of those Bilowy cumulus clouds and even cumullimbus clouds making the sky feel more organic and natural. Now we will let our sky dry completely before moving onto the foreground. 32. Day 7: The Foreground Part 2: Our sky is completely dry, let's begin with the foreground. Here, for our foreground, I'll go with wet on dry technique using a slightly watery mix of yellow ochre. Make sure it is just little watery, not too watery. I'll begin at the center of the foreground and then gradually blend it downward towards the bottom of the paper. Now, with a damp tip, I'll softly blend the yellow ochre below the horizon line, ensuring a smooth transition. Be careful here. Make sure your brush is not too watery with the paint, because if your brush tip is too watery, the paint might start bleeding into the sky which we want to avoid at all cost. Now, I'll start preparing a greenish yellow mix by combining sap green with little of burnt sienna, creating a shade similar to that of olive green. This di tone will help bring a natural organic field to the grassy meadow. Now I'll load just the tip of my brush and flatten it out and begin applying vertical strokes to replicate the grassy texture in the foreground. Theise strokes will add movement and depth to the scene, and then I'll switch to horizontal strokes to blend the greens towards the bottom half of the paper, creating a smooth transition. Next, I'll cover the sky to be extra cautious while working with greens, ensuring that no unwanted splatters end up in the sky. Next, I'll repeat the same process to create grassy texture using the flattened tip of my brush, but this time with sap green for more vibrancy. Next, I'll switch to my comb brush to add more refined grassy details using darker values of sap green. I'll create longer vertical strokes at the bottom and keep them shorter towards the center, reinforcing perspective and depth in the landscape. Using my comb brush, I'll now splatter water droplets to introduce a loose organic texture, but I can notice that my paper has started to dry out, so I'll blend those water droplets back into the foreground using the tip of my comb brush. Here I'll use a little of yellow ochre while blending. To enhance the texture further, I'll quickly splatter some more water droplets achieving the soft natural effect that I wanted for the grassy foreground. Now I'll create a darker green mix to add foliage near the base of the horizon. For this, I'm mixing my sap green with a little bit of my indigo or ultramarine mix, which deepens the sap green and adds richness to the landscape. I'll be using my size six silver black velvet brush for this step. Here, I'm trying to create a creamy paint consistency and not too watery. Once the brush tip is loaded, I'll carefully lay down a light horizontal line of dark green at the base of the horizon. This will act as a foundation line for the foliage. Then once I'm done with adding this line, I'll start adding dabbing strokes of dark green gradually building up the texture of the trees and bushes here at the base of the horizon. The dabbing motion helps create a soft organic feel mimicing the natural shape of the distant foliage. Now, I'll vary the height and shape of the foliage to create a more natural organic feel in the landscape using the tip of my brush, I'll dab and tap to build up taller and shorter foliage, ensuring that the trees and bushes don't look all uniform. This variation adds depth and realism, making the scene feel more dynamic. Now, I'll repeat the same exact steps to create this foliage in between these two barns. Now I'll switch to size to synthetic round brush to start adding details to the barn. I'll begin by filling in the first burn with a darker mix of burned timber, ensuring the left side is in deeper tone to create a sense of light and shadow. As I move towards the right, I'll gradually fade the color to a lighter tone, achieving a natural gradual transition that suggests light falling from one side. I'll repeat the same exact process for the next barn, maintaining consistency in the lighting direction while ensuring each barn has a slightly distinct tone and texture to enhance the depth of the scene. Time to paint the roof. First I'll outline the roofs used in neutral tint defining their shape and structure. I will now add few lines of neutral tint along the roof to suggest texture and dimension. Then using the damp tip of my rinsed brush, I'll soften and lighten some of the areas, creating a subtle gradient that makes the roof appear more natural and weathered. This technique helps to add depth and variation, preventing the roof from looking too flat while maintaining its structural form. Here, just below the barn, I unintentionally left a white patch while painting the meadow, so I'll have to redo the entire meadow repeating the same layering process. This is a good reminder to always ensure the foreground is fully painted below the horizon from the beginning. That way you can avoid having to go over it again like I have to now. So I'll go back and rebuild the midow step by step, starting with a little watery yellow ochre wash blending it smoothly. Then I'll lay the green tones using sabran mixed with burn sienna, followed by texturing with vertical strokes and cobra splatters to restore the natural grassy look. Now, I'll remove the paper covering the sky and move on to adjusting the shrub between the barns, making it broader and thicker, using the same dark green mix. This step is simple, just like how we painted the previous foliage, using dabbing strokes to build up depth and volume. Once the horizontal baseline of the dark greens has dried, I'll take my opaque white marker from Shinhan art and add a white fence to enhance the composition. If you don't have a marker, you can use a white elpin or even white quash for this step. Once we are done with fencing, I'll let the entire painting dry, then carefully peel off the tapes for crisp, clean edge reveal. And with this, we have successfully completed the seven day sky challenge. I hope you found this class valuable and insightful. It has been an amazing journey exploring different sky compositions and techniques together. I'm looking forward to seeing your projects. 33. Outro : The End Of The Class!: Congratulations on completing this class. I'm so proud of you for taking this journey into painting atmospheric skies. Throughout the duration of this class, we explored color theory and palor selection, mastered water to paint ratio for smooth blends, practiced brush control to create soft wispy clouds and painted seven stunning sky compositions, each helping you build confidence and control in your watercolor journey. But remember, learning does not stop here. The key to mastering watercolor skies is consistent practice. To help you continue your journey, I have added extra reference pictures in the projects and resources section. Feel free to use them for additional practice and experimentation and gain confidence. If you have enjoyed this class, I would love to hear your feedback. Your reviews not only help me as an instructor, but will also help this class reach a wider audience allowing more artists to benefit from it. And if you have found value in this course, feel free to share it with your family and friends who might enjoy learning watercolor skies. Lastly, don't forget to upload your class projects in the create project section of the class. I can't wait to see your beautiful projects. I would also love to know your thoughts and suggestions for my next class. Drop them in the discussion section. I always enjoy hearing from you. And if you have any questions or doubts, don't hesitate to reach out there, as well. I'll be happy to answer at the earliest. That's all for this class. Thank you for joining me and happy painting.