Clouds can be a nightmare to reproduce on canvas because of several reasons. The important thing is that one avoids the appearance of a solid object because they are not solid – yet they have more form (shape) than any landscape image. I have used a palette knife and a Q tip (cotton bud) and a very inexpensive small fan brush to get this far.

These are ‘towering cumulous’ which often develop into a late afternoon thunderstorm in summer months. This layer is not yet complete but the building blocks are going in the right direction.

Masking tape removed and aircraft drawing resurrected. I am not happy with the cloudscape but know that these things evolve and they need a good foundation. All paintings go through a pain phase before it all comes together. I have a script for the background in the form of a photograph that I took last year and at the moment the painting is not a good reproduction of what I had planned. I am not happy with the blue not having a gradient towards the horizon either – so expect big changes to the skyscape before it is finished.

You have no greens or browns on that list. I would add Cadmium Green and Raw Unber. Raw Unber is especially useful in glazing almost finished works to facilitate cohesion between colours. Green can of course be ‘made’ with the palette you have but is often problematic to artists. As an advocate of work smarter not harder, I have issues with the theory of kudos to those working a limited palette. I tend to use very few colours in my work but have an arsenal worthy of Fort Knox at my disposal.

For everybody – it has long been known that zinc undermines paint; and indicative of industry acceptance of this Langridge have stated that they are removing zinc from their paints – Rublev already have. It is scary how much paint I have that is inclusive of zinc as an ingredient.