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Paint A Dramatic Sky In Watercolors
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Take the plunge and learn to paint a dramatic stormy sky in watercolors with a wet-in-wet technique. Some experience with watercolor is helpful. This is all about letting go and letting the watercolor paint itself with minimal planning. Challenge yourself and join me in learning how to paint this exciting atmospheric watercolor.
Work at your own pace with unlimited access at anytime.
The course includes
- Understanding and using the rule of thirds for a good composition
- Discovering the possibilities of wet-in-wet painting
- Learning to let go and be spontaneous
- Using washes
- Mixing colors to create rich darks
- Uncovering your inner creativity
- Using warm and cool colors for important contrasts
You will also have the ability to upload a photo of your finished artwork if you would like feedback on your watercolor.
You will have lifetime access to this online watercolor class! I want you to be able to review the content over and over again until you absorb the techniques used to create your very own successful watercolor. You’ll find that each time you review the course you’ll remember something new that will help improve your painting skills.
Your Instructor
Jean Lurssen
The luminosity of watercolors is what fascinates and draws me to this medium. I like creating textures and continually try to stretch the boundaries of watercolor. I experiment with materials and media to get the results I want.
I studied painting at the Rhodesian School of Art in Zimbabwe and for four years in California with master watercolorist, Jerry Stitt, AWS.
Course Curriculum
What You Need to Know About The Course and Materials
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Painting Wet In Wet
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When does the course start and finish?
The course starts now and never ends! It is a completely self-paced online course – you decide when you start and when you finish.
How long do I have access to the course?
How does lifetime access sound? After enrolling, you have unlimited access to this course for as long as you like – across any and all devices you own.
What if I am unhappy with the course?
We would never want you to be unhappy! If you are unsatisfied with your purchase, contact us in the first 30 days and we will give you a full refund.
I am a beginner watercolor artist with only a month under my belt so I found this to be a perfect course for me. Jean is so easy to follow, offered some great tips on the rule of thirds, composition, mixing of colors for this stormy painting, and patience, patience, patience! I watched the whole course in its entirety while taking notes and now will go back to my art table to put brush to paper. If I run into any problems I know it’ll be easy to refer back to this course and watch again. Really enjoyed this and will be looking for more courses from Jean in the future.
Jean explains all the steps very well and gives good, practical tips. i love the end result of her painting and will sign up for more of her classes.
This was wonderfully instructive. I particularly appreciated the instructor’s ‘can do’ attitude and approach, which as a novice I found highly motivating, inspiring and encouraging. Of greatest value and learning for me, however, was the subtle and practical demonstration of using one’s intuition in deciding ‘right’ tone, color, composition, value and texture. I loved (and would chuckle to myself) each time the instructor reflected ‘Yes. I like that’ or ‘Be careful, don’t over do it’, etc. These were significant ‘intuition points which i found very helpful. The instructor’s thinking out aloud provided a valuable learning opportunity apropos guiding and gauging my own judgements about, and development of a painting.
Clear explanation of thought process.
John Hulsey shows how to overcome the challenges of building layers quickly for watercolor skies with these color-blending tips.
When painting watercolor clouds, artists generally paint from light to dark, carefully building up tones in successive layers, while preserving the white of the paper where necessary. While I do often work in this premeditated system in the studio, painting en plein air, in strong sun and perhaps wind, demands a slightly different approach if I am to be successful. The main problem that arises when plein air watercolor painting is that wet washes and the paper itself can dry just as I am trying to work a nice graded wash across the sheet. This can often produce unwanted edges and unfinished washes, which then require reworking, losing the very freshness I want. It’s frustrating and may be the reason there don’t seem to be as many plein air watercolor painters out there.
My solution was to teach myself how to work on an over-saturated paper with very intense, wet colors, and to reduce detail to a minimum. This learning period produced many failures. But, each painting honed my ability to more accurately judge the moisture content of my paper as I worked, and served to improve my sense of timing of my washes.
How to Paint Skies
In this gorgeous sky painting demo get insights on the anatomy of sky features like clouds and horizon lines. These skills are important if you want to be able to lay down colors that will blend and mix cleanly, while simultaneously remaining distinct and separate.
You can see how these principles were applied in the orange and blue wash in Ghost Ranch IV (below).
Understanding the Anatomy of Clouds
In Ghost Ranch IV, I wanted to recreate the effect from when I witnessed a storm “pop up” on a clear day and move toward me from the distant mountains. The clouds transitioned from sharp-edged pure white to soft and roiling warm and blue-grays — a perfect subject for watercolor. I was also intent on conveying the vast space that my panoramic view encompassed, with the mountains stepping off into the blue distance. It was calm when I started. But then the wind intensified before I was able to finish, bending my umbrella shaft in half! I didn’t mind. When a painting turns out as satisfying as this one, a few bent umbrellas are worth it along the way. And because this painting was so satisfying to make, below I have dissected the creation process of Ghost Ranch IV, for you to enjoy and learn from. Happy painting!
Skies to Beyond
Understanding how to build drama in your landscapes by painting layered skies puts you well on the way to master artist status. For more great sky painting techniques, check our post on painting clouds at sunset in pastel. Plus get more great info about the types of clouds one may encounter when painting outdoors in this free download.
To see more work by John Hulsey and Ann Trusty visit their website. Then be sure to join The Artist’s Road for more articles, interviews with expert artists and step-by-step demonstrations.
