Loved & Learned from #skieswithjt – weeks 1 through 10

#skieswithjt is an Instagram challenge hosted by the artist @jthomasart_ I participated in this summer. Each week, J would post a new reference photo of a sky to paint, along with a reel with some tips and tricks. Here are the tips that I picked up from either his reels or my own experience painting.

Week 1: Blue Sky

This week was all about leaving white! The clouds are negative-painted.

Tips from JT:

• Leave more white than you think you’ll need. 
• Soften edges with a clean, damp (not wet) brush. 
• Build shadow in layers. (I didn’t do enough of this, I think!)

Colors I Used: Ultramarine Blue, Phthalo Blue Red Shade, Cerulean Blue, Transparent Red Oxide (for grays)

Loved: I generally liked how this one came out, and I especially liked my sky color mix. I stand by my decision to edit out the steeple.

Learned: If redoing, I would smooth the edges a bit more and make the shadows more high-contrast.

Week 2: Night Sky

I love a sunset and a night sky, and this is both!

Tips from JT: To avoid blooms when working wet-in-wet, the paint on your brush should be a thicker consistency than what’s on your page.

Colors I Used: Spinel Grey, Indigo Blue, Quin Red, Nickel Azo Yellow, Titanium White gouache (for stars)

Loved: Bright sunset colors from Quin Red (PR209). They’re redder and less orange than the photo, but I think this is probably accurate to life, as photos tend to make sunsets look more orange. I also like the cloud shapes and patterns I got.

Learned: Because of the way I had cropped the photo from Instagram, I missed the stuff on the bottom. I saw some other versions of this with really nice mountains along the bottom that gave a lovely sense of scale.

Week 3: Sunset Over Sea

I felt that I struggled with this one. I liked it better before I added the clouds.

Loved: Brightness of the red colors again, especially right behind the sun; this is mostly from Permanent Red (PR188). Loved the basic sky gradient I got (before covering it with clouds).

Learned: More water would have helped the clouds to look softer, and I could have stood to use more neutralized colors as well. Masking tape didn’t do a fantastic job of masking, and I did get some bleedthrough around the edges of my sun.

Week 4: Alpine Hill

Loved: Soft mist-over-cloud effect. Bright green hill color. Better contrast in the cloud shadows this time. Color-separating cloud shadow colors.

Learned: Could have pushed the cloud contrast even more, and made it more sharp-edged by using less water when negative-painting and when painting the shadows. Sky could could have been toned down: the neon blue look is a bit distracting.

Week 5: Moon

Colors I Used: Indanthrone Blue, Quin Red, Raw Sienna, Red Rose Deep

Loved: Contrast in cloud shadows is getting there! Fairy tale pink color of the clouds (even though it doesn’t match the photo; I prefer it.) Interesting shadow colors. Large moon with semi-realistic shadows.

Learned: I cut the moon shape freehand out of masking tape, and all the imperfections in the circle really show. Using a helix circle maker or a circle-shaped sticker might have helped. I could have smoothed the background color a bit more, and I can see some spots in the cloud edges where I smoothed them too early or too late.

Week 6: Lighthouse

I think this one looks better in person.

Colors I Used: Indigo, Quin Red, Imidazolone Lemon, Transparent Red Oxide, Payne’s Gray

Loved: Indigo sky, textured rocks.

Learned: When painting very dark over very light colors (such as this dark blue and pale orange), it’s especially important to keep an eye on how the second layer dries: I can see some unsightly lines here.

Week 7: Stormcloud

My first attempt at this was too labored: I tried to copy the cloud shapes from the photo exactly, and it came out stiff. I put aside the reference photo and tried a version from memory, and that ended up with a more spontaneous look.

Colors I Used: Payne’s Gray, Smalt, Cobalt Turquoise, Rich Green Gold

Loved: Expressive clouds with lots of contrast, and appearance of white “lines” between clouds. Bringing out color from the grays by the use of color separating mixes. Electric green of the field. General impression of grass.

Learned: If I were doing it again, I might try to get a more dynamic diagonal shape from the cloud. I also think I didn’t capture a certain pearly, heavy, gray color that is fascinating in the clouds. I saw versions of this that did a better job with the grass by use of smaller brushes.

Week 8: Mountain

I was more relaxed about this one and took only one run at it. I enjoyed working on it on a new type of paper.

Colors I Used: Ultramarine Blue, Cobalt Turquoise, Raw Sienna, Titanium White

Loved: Soft colors in clouds, dreamy blue sky colors, granulation.

Learned: I wish I had chosen warmer colors and captured the orangey color of the clouds, instead of having it come out kind of brown. I also should not have used white; it always makes things look chalky.

Week 9: Sunset Over Sea

Colors I Used: Nickel Azo Yellow, Permanent Red, Indanthrone Blue, Transparent Red Oxide, Ultramarine Blue, Alizarin Crimson, Phthalo Blue RS, Cobalt Turquoise

Loved:

• Gentle sky gradient! I tried a few times to get it. It was actually three layers – a yellow layer, a blue layer, and a pale red layer to make the yellow a bit more orange.
• Random bit of Cobalt Turquoise dropped into the shadows.
• I straightened the horizon.
• I left lots of white in the water.

Learned:

• The cloud would have been more of a focal point if it had taken up more of the frame; I think it could have at least been taller. I freehanded it, and if I’d done an underdrawing I could have had a chance to get the proportions right.
• The reference photo has more pink and purple, which I miss!

Week 10: Cloud Reflection

Colors I Used: Phthalo Blue RS, Ultramarine Blue, DS Indanthrone Blue, Transparent Red Oxide (to make gray), Titanium White

Loved:

• Pastel shadows on the cloud. It was the right move to use white in the mix for cloud shadows, but only diluted water for the sky. I don’t mind that the cloud shadow colors I used are much bluer and less gray than the photo.
• Ethereal “halo” of light around the cloud. It’s not quite as it is in the photo, but it looks beautiful.
• Detailed, high-contrast dappling waves in the water foreground, which become more indistinct as the water recedes up away from the viewer.

Learned: Normally when I have trouble with a painting, I can help myself approach it by making it smaller. In this case, I actually did better when I made it bigger! My first run at this was on my usual 5×7-ish cut paper, but I found it difficult to make it look like anything, and did better when I switched to a page twice the size, about 7×10.

Another lesson I struggle to learn: you can never make the water too muted!

Conclusion

I love skies, so this was an endlessly fun and exciting challenge! One-a-week was a good amount of prompt painting for me to do, leaving me plenty of time to work on my own projects, but jump-starting me when I felt idea-less. Seeing how other people did the same prompts gave me ideas: check out the hashtag to see everyone’s great work!