Help with Skies

[kjsspot]

Hi ya'll! I was driving my hubby to work this morning and was watching the sunrise as the sky changed. The sky was blue at the top and as it drew near to the sun the blue would gradually give way to either brilliant orange or yellow (it changed as the sun rose)

Anyhoo, despite the blue merging into the orange or yellow, no where was there even a hint of green or any sort of muddy color. So in watercolor HOW does one manage this color transition without greens or mud?

Thanks!

[Fagan]

place a red tone inbetween the yellow and blue.

[Laura Tasheiko]

Try using yellow ochre, works for me. L.

[boarsrock]

You might also try letting one vignette dry before coming back with the other, rather than wet on wet.

[momsyward]

I would do as suggested. Layer. Let one dry thoroughly then go back and wet it again and put another color on. Make sure they are all transparent.

[MALARKEY]

Hi Kjsspot, The way it was explained to me was the sky went from yellow to yellow/gray to gray/blue to blue... of course with the yellow and blue being the main colors. use a violet to mix with your yellow to make the gray and the same violet to mix with the blue to make gray blue... and use it lightly. i might go play and see if I can do what I'm saying myself ... good luck ;)

[MALARKEY]

This is what my book said : From "Water-Colour Guidance"by J. Hullah Brown

"One effect often seen in a variegated sky is that of a change from blue to yellow. If the simple transition is through the intermediary green this variegation is a simple matter. Nature, however, is sometimes very subtle, and sometimes a transition may be seen from blue to yellow with no green intermediary, and students are at a loss to solve the secret of this. It is a very subtle effect and difficult of achievement in water-colour, but the secret of this, that the transition is made not through a single green, but through a blue-grey passing to a yellow-grey, and thus on to a yellow without having touched green. The technical solution of it is, to add to that portion which would normally be green so much of the complementary to green (which is red), to break the green first to a blue-grey and afterwards to a yellow-grey. It is thus possible to pass from blue to yellow without going through an actual green. Similar transitions may be made from any primary to another without showing the pure secondary by adding the complementary of that secondary which would normally appear in the transition.

[Rod]

I agree, separate graduated washes would be the answer allowing to dry completely between each application,

Rod.

[MinneMark]

Transition your blue to a cerulean as it gets near the yellow. You might experiment also with layering the blue on top of dry yellow and vice versa. Keep the blue thin. Mark

[laudesan]

Great Info.. I have been researching skies to little avail.

SO I have a request??

Can you lovely people add your sky wips and how to's to this thread for all of us to use please??

Thanks..

[Johnnie]

Hansa yellow works really well with making blue to yellow skies.. Best of the yellows for me anyway. Little chalky mind ya but works... I dont always want to put red in between

Johnnie

[FriendCarol]

This is what my book said : From "Water-Colour Guidance"by J. Hullah Brown

[snip]...Similar transitions may be made from any primary to another without showing the pure secondary by adding the complementary of that secondary which would normally appear in the transition.
Wow, this is a book I haven't yet seen in any branch of the library, and it sounds VERY useful! Thanks, Malarkey. :) I'm going to remember this trick.

[Deb Leger]

Here's a few sites that I have bookmarked with sky tips and demo's, for JJ's request:

Rod's free demo lessons - includes some landscapes with skies in them (http://www.wetcanvas.com/web/sites/138/rodzart/demo.html)


Peter Saw's lessons on skies (http://website.lineone.net/~peter.saw/doodles5.htm)


John Lovett's lesson on painting clouds (http://www.johnlovett.com/painting.htm)


Hugh Reid, Neil Jones and Colin give step by step lessons which include skies. (http://www.jonny555.co.uk/lessons.htm)


A step by step demo which has some good sky info by David Hagan (http://www.wortorganic.com/watercolor/ins3.html )


Arial perspective applied to painting clouds - John Hagan (http://www.geocities.com/~jlhagan/lessons/arialpersp4.htm)


Sunrise, sunset and waves - John Hagan. He uses oils but this is good basic info. (http://www.geocities.com/~jlhagan/lessons/arialpersp2.htm)


Looking away from the sun - John Hagan He uses oils but this is good basic info (http://www.geocities.com/~jlhagan/lessons/arialpersp3.htm )


Just a short paragraph on info about skies - Robert Long (http://www.robertlongwatercolors.com/42200.html )


Hope these help,
Deb

[Deb Leger]

You might also try letting one vignette dry before coming back with the other, rather than wet on wet.

Hi kjsspot,

Just to demonstrate boarsrock's suggestion :D , I'm attaching a painting I did to learn how to do waves and reflections. It has yellow and blue in the sky together, and a lot more yellow and blue against each other in the water. The blue was allowed to dry first, then the yellow was added and with a separate clean dry brush, it was blended in gently. (The clean dry brush is important - don't use the one you painted it in with. And don't blend that yellow too far over the blue though. I did in a few places as I learned and in those spots there is a slight greenish tint.)

This was a painting that I copied from a calendar one for learning purposes. (Please excuse the horrid mountain in the background! :rolleyes: )

Deb

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/31-Jul-2004/11775-finalresized.jpg

[chookbrown]

Great Info.. I have been researching skies to little avail.

SO I have a request??

Can you lovely people add your sky wips and how to's to this thread for all of us to use please??

Thanks..

Hi Judy, I learned this technique in a Claudia Nice workshop last year. Haven't used it as I don't do landscapes... but usually gives a nice effect and I'm sure with a more experienced hand than mine it would look great... Anyway, this is how it goes...

Step 1: Prime paper thoroughly with clear water. Then mix colors.

Step 2: Apply liberally to create a wash of your choice. Then...

Step 3: I use a 3 inch Hake brush (shown in the picture to smooth my wash a bit first but you don't have to).

Step 4: Take a tissue or very soft paper towel and roll into a sausage shape as shown in the diagram. Roll from bottom to top (I'm sure it could be done top to bottom if desired!) and voila... instant clouds...

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/31-Jul-2004/9218-skydemo3.jpg

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/31-Jul-2004/9218-skydemo4.jpg

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/31-Jul-2004/9218-skydemo2.jpg

This technique makes great clouds and I'm sure with lots of experimentation could produce some nice effects.

Hope this helps just a little.

Chooky :D:D

[Deb Leger]

Hi Judy, I learned this technique in a Claudia Nice workshop last year.

Hi Chooky

Wow, great idea! I'm going to try this out tonight!!! Thanks for sharing,

Deb

[laudesan]

Woo-hoo GREAT LINKS...!!!!!

Chooky I love your idea. Definitely going to try it.

Thanks guys !!

.

[Yorky]

Such a useful thread! :clap: :clap: :clap:

[JudyL]

I have been taught that Naples Yellow is a good one to use in skies, as it resists blending with blue and does not turn green.
JudyL

[Deb Leger]

A few more sky tips about skies and clouds that I learned last year in an online landscape class that I thought you might like to read:

A few things to remember about clouds and skies is that if you have a busy sky, you need a simple landscape, and if you have a busy landscape, you need a simple sky. Otherwise they'll compete against each other for attention.

Clouds have dimension. Think of them as 3-dimensional shapes, each with a foreground, midground and background. When you've dabbed or rolled out those clouds and are putting in a few light touches of colour to them to create that dimension, try to use colours from your landscape for harmony. (For the same reason, add sky colour to other parts of your painting, also.) In other words, don't bring in new colours for your cloud highlights. If you leave them almost pure white, they can become bright, distracting elements.

If you want them to appear very muted and much less distracting, you can even just make them one value lighter than the sky. (I like those puffy cumulous clouds best tho!)

Clouds that are nearest and above your line of viewpoint are rounded, and warmer in colour, and darker in value than those in the far distance. When talking of the colours, I'm meaning the bottoms and lower parts of the clouds, not the entire cloud, unless you want them that way. In the distance, they become smaller, cooler and lighter in value as they recede towards the horizon. Your sky, on the other hand, gets lighter and warmer as it approaches the horizon, and darker as it approaches the zenith.

If you're creating those puffy, cumulous clouds, to make sure they don't look like cotton balls, have little wispy areas breaking off from the bigger cloud masses.

It's almost 2 am and that's all I can think of right now! :D

Deb

Oh, another thing was that if your painting is predominantly green, you should use a slightly turquoise-y shade of blue for your sky.

[laudesan]

This is great Deb.. Thank you..

I wanted to add Kev's SKY WIP (http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=207030&page=1&pp=40) he has just done for me too. Such a fantastic wip!!

.

[laudesan]

Barb has done a terrific SKY WIP (http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2577244#post2577244) too worth adding here..;)

[laudesan]

**bump**

[laudesan]

Another excellent sky wip by Peter Saw.. He gives 4 different sky demo's on this link..

http://painting.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=painting&zu=http://website.lineone.net/~peter.saw/doodles5.htm

JJ