You make it look so
easy and yet, I have tried all
week to do a sky and I discovered
that this is very, very hard to
do something remotely 'looking'
like a sky in aquarelle.. I
am a new beginner with aquarelle
Colette
- Québec
Here are a few points to make painting
skies easier. Remember too, working very
wet like this works better on paper
without too much external sizing. In this
example I have used Arches 300gsm (140lb)
paper. It is a very forgiving paper and
makes the job much easier.
First
thoroughly wet the entire area of
the sky
Then
paint in a runny mixture of
different blues Here I am using
Ultramarine and a Grey Blue made
from Ultramarine, Alizarin
Crimson and Raw Sienna. Don't try
to make the sky uniform and even,
simply introduce the colours to
the wet paper and allow them to
mix and blend by themselves.
Puddles
of paint that form along the
bottom edge of your wash can be
soaked up with a damp 1"
brush
Let
it dry without being tempted
to interfere. You will find as
the paper dries everything blends
and settles into a nice soft
sky - the secret is plenty
of water to start. If you are not
happy with the sky as it is
drying, wait till it is
thoroughly dry, (at least a
couple of hours) then repeat
the process.
