The general rule is– the position of the sun in relationship with the clouds determines where the light and dark parts of the shadows are.  

In most cases, the sun will be above the clouds. 

So Imagine holding a cotton ball under a light. You want to paint three parts of this cotton ball:

1: the top part where the sunlight hits the cotton ball. It’s the lightest part of the ball. 

2: the middle part, the main body of the cotton ball.  It will be a middle tone.

3: the bottom part of the ball, where it is the darkest. 

If you paint a sunset, as I did in this painting of Fort Myers Pier in Florida,  the sunlight will hit the middle or lower part of the clouds. So the lower parts of the clouds will appear light in color, and the upper parts will be darker in color. You can also add some thin lines of bright color around the lower edges to show where the sunlight hit the clouds.

Remember: you are painting big shapes and values. Don’t try to paint every little detail you see. Or it will take away the overall feeling or mood you are trying to express in your painting.  

Happy painting!  

To learn more about the background of this painting, go to https://yingmclane.com/our-hurricane-ian-story-part-one/

Here is another good article about painting clouds: https://drawpaintacademy.com/clouds/#light-and-color

The post How to Paint Clouds appeared first on Ying McLane.

Hurricane Ian devastated my hometown in South West Florida. I felt led by the Spirit to do a series of paintings of the iconic landscapes in those towns for auction to benefit hurricane relief.

First, I did some google image searches. This photo of the Sanibel Island Lighthouse caught my eye. I felt my creative sparkle flying. So the following day, after dropping my children off at school, I went straight to my studio and started painting. 

Here is my painting process:

1 I used the direct painting method. That is, I drew an outline putting down the basic placements of the elements, then I painted directly on the canvas.

I chose the 30 inches by 40 inches canvas because I felt only a larger-sized ground could express the breathtaking beauty of the lighthouse and the island.

2 I picked out several shades of blue. I put down a thin layer of the blue sky first, then worked my way down to the house and beach scene. 

3 After the first acrylic base coat of the background sky dried (acrylic paints dry fast), I put down the second layer with more attention to detail. 

4 Using a ruler, I painted the lighthouse”s metal structure. I made sure the perspective was accurate. 

5 Time to paint the foreground, and that’s the fun part. I love using loose strokes to paint the sand, grasses, and palm tree leaves. The process was exhilarating!

6 The last layer added highlights, like the orange sunlight on the clouds, with oil paint. Oil paint is more saturated and intense than acrylic paint, so it is perfect for doing those highlights in this painting. 

I finished the whole painting just in time to pick my children up from school.  Sometimes with the right frame of mind plus a little luck, you will get the best workflow in your creative process. 

If you need some help with landscape painting, try my free tool — grid and greyscale, on my website.  It will help you with composition and finding the accurate value of your reference photo.

Just click here https://yingmclane.com/image-converter/

See you soon!

Ying

www.yingmclane.com

The post How I Painted This Big Canvas in One Day appeared first on Ying McLane.