Paint Soft Clouds In Watercolor

27

May, 2023

Painting Techniques

Original Art

In this watercolor demonstration of a sunrise at the beach in Fort Lauderdale, Florida I show you how to paint soft clouds, dynamic drawing tips and how to paint palm trees. 3 Watercolor tips you need to be using to improve your paintings!

Inspired by a beach in Florida!

 

 

• In the first video at the top I paint soft clouds wet into wet.
  • While paper is wet
  • Add darker cloud color
    • Be sure brush and paper have similar amount of wetness
    • You may need to practice this on scrap paper to get it right.
Draw in more details in the next video
• After sky is dry
• Draw with a soft graphite pencil
• Use your whole arm to draw
• Don’t bend your wrist
• Move from you shoulder
Paint the Palm Trees in the last video
• Use a variety of greens and browns
• Try different palm frond shapes
• Working out from the tree trunk
• Use palette knife to scrape highlights while the paper is still moist

 

Paper

  • Arches 140 cold press watercolor paper

Brushes

  • 2″ Hake brush
  • large round 🖌 size 12 with a nice point
  • rigger or liner brush for detail

Use any brush that you are comfortable with. One big mop brush and a liner for detail would be fine. In the video I am painting the clouds with a 2 inch Hake brush. I often paint wet into wet clouds with a Hake brush so I cannot be too precise! Paint with a brush that you may think is too big. Your paintings will be more spontaneous and crisp.

Try these 3 watercolor tips in your next painting and let me know if any of the tips worked for you. 😊 Post any painting questions you may have in the Comment section at the bottom of this page.

Thank you,

PJ Cook