Beginning Watercolor Homework 9/18/13 Wet on Wet Sky

Let's review the steps for the soft-edged, cloudy sky we practiced today. First, wet the paper. Very wet, but not quite dripping. No puddles.
Paint the warm body color. Don't wash the brush.
Add color to the brush to make the first layer of shadows. Again, no need to wash the brush.
Add more color to make a slightly darker gray for the second layer of shadows.
Wash and partly dry the brush. Mix up a blue, and paint around the cloud shapes, leaving some white on their tops, but letting the blue touch the gray along their lower edges. Before you launch into applying the blue, make sure the brush is not too wet, and the paper is not too dry.

 If you skip the warm first layer and just go for white clouds, you could paint the blue first, around where the clouds will be. Then you could just add color to the brush (and no water) to make the gray shadows, then more color to make the darker gray. That way you would not risk having the brush wetter than the paper. The downside of this sequence is that you have to "color in" specific shapes when you apply the grays. Try it both ways.

Make up your own sequence of colors to make a more subtle sky, or a more dramatic one. Whatever you invent, try to keep all the edges soft. It's actually the soft edges we're practicing, more than the clouds. have fun.