Hello. Welcome back to my studio.
Today I'm going to do some painting
and I'm going to take you through my process for painting a sunset scene
full of rich colour and a few exciting elements as well.
All right when I choose a reference, I'm really looking for a composition.
Interesting clouds and inspiration
from the actual scene itself, the colours and anything that may
just make it a bit more interesting and different.
But that's as far as it goes.
When I'm actually painting it the colours
and the direction I take can change quite a lot.
So with this reference, I'm going to bring in a few different
colours, particularly a blue sky at the top.
But the focus is going to be on the rich colour and getting a nice
contrast between the yellows and oranges and purples and blues.
So let's dive in and see how this comes together.
I'm going to draw out a basic composition, just a small portion at the bottom
for scale
and then getting in the main cloud,
and that's the largest mass shape that's going to be in this painting
and everything's going to work off that big cloud.
Now, the second cloud you can see
in the reference, I'm going to make much smaller.
Just
more of a supporting role for the lower clouds and little ones at the top.
So there's one dominant mass shape and that's going to be dark and it's
going to contrast with all the light around it.
I'm using some cadmium Orange and burnt
Sienna over here and I'll bring in a little bit of Alizarin Crimson as well
to get a nice, rich, transparent colour
for the landscape in the foreground.
All being influenced by the light, and it's that rich colour that I'm after.
Bringing in a little bit of ultramarine to darken the extreme foreground
because there's going to be a transition of colour
as we move up closer to the main source of light, of course.
So
you move from cooler darks to lighter warms.
No white paint coming into this foreground at all.
Nice transparent colour there . For the Blues.
I'm using ultramarine blue, cerulean blue and a little bit of cobalt blue.
Here I'm mixing cerulean
with white and a touch of lemon yellow to get that blue sky at the top,
but obviously influenced by all that warm yellow light.
So a slight greenish tinge to it
makes it a nice complement to the reddish warms as well.
So a lot of complementary colours going on in this painting, yellows
and violets and Orange and blue.
Mixing up a sort of warm grey
for the lower part of the sky here.
Remember, this is just the early block in stage.
A lot of these colours will develop as we go along.
But just important to get your main
thoughts on the canvas.
And then you can start
refining and adding more paint.
Now the sun has just set above the suggested trees at the bottom there.
So that's going to be a strong source of light.
Getting in some greys for the lower clouds.
I will develop those further
and darken them towards the centre of each cloud mass.
Now getting this thick, juicy paint
just behind the trees, suggesting where the sun has just set
using a number six bristle brush,
but to its full extent just
putting on the paint and putting it down nice and thickly.
And I'm just getting a little bit of definition into these trees.
I'll just get this out the way and once it's done,
I can focus on the sky and clouds.
Bit of Orange and Alizarin Crimson,
a little bit of ultramarine to add the dark.
For the smaller shapes,
they're pretty much going to be Orange and red because
being small, they are basically consumed by the strong light behind.
Right now with a bit of a alizarin, white and cobalt blue,
I'm mixing pretty much a warm grey
and then going to transition
those colours.
I'm also experimenting with colours.
I take the colours from the reference as a guide,
and mostly I'm looking at the value,
making sure that it's more or less the correct value
and then
the colour becomes more of an intuitive process.
Basically, I'll put the colour down and decide if it
needs to be warmed up.
What I'm doing here is just cooling this down with some blue.
Composing the scene
while blocking in as well.
I like to work the entire painting
so here I'll work on the lower clouds and then move to another cloud and
it's a way of harmonising the painting as well.
Although I'm using a few more colours than normal.
Most of the mixes, of course, are coming from a relatively small
palette, so the mixes will naturally harmonise very simply.
Try and avoid as many different tube colours as you can.
If you can mix the colours rather do that instead.
The yellow I'm using is yellow lemon
and getting a bit of Orange in it here and there to deepen it.
But as far as the colour of the light from the sun setting,
lemon yellow is actually a better colour to use.
It just gets that brightness
of the sun.
Now I'm just building up this cloud.
There is
a transition of colour in the cloud as well.
Lower down it's picking up some of the warmth
from the sunlight
and then it'll cool and get darker as it goes up to the centre of the cloud
and then lighten up as it reaches the top
rim and there's a bit of refracted light there as well.
Mixing up
a violet. And I'm really just looking for the ideal
Violet shade.
Cooling it down with a little more blue, add some white
and that's a pretty good
Violet colour.
I'll see how it reacts with all the other colours I've put in already so
everything must work
together.
Getting a darker Violet, almost a purple but distinct Alizarin influence.
And
so I get a little bit of a gradation
into that cloud.
Now one thing with painting clouds is you got to remember to soften the edges.
It is still a cloud and it must look like a cloud.
You don't want it looking like it's been stuck on like a decal.
So
keep an eye on your edges when you finish off the painting.
Just make sure
edges have been softened up where necessary.
You can soften those edges by using a transition colour
or dragging your brush across the edge to soften it up as well.
Some sort of transition colour is quite
useful when you're dealing with a gradation
as extensive as you can see here into the clouds.
Cleaning up these colour notes.
I need to get those Blues just
a bit cleaned up.
They've got a little bit of too much Violet mixed into them.
Making this slightly more green.
I want to add some
sort of a fizz and pop to the clouds up there in the sky so we're going to mix up
a light green, a yellowish green and get something going.
Just try. Experiment.
Throw
a brush stroke in there.
You can always tidy it up
and these brush strokes help to convey some movement in the sky as well.
I don't want it looking too static.
Just cleaning that up a little with a bit of cerulean and white
and a few
complementary colour spots here
and then something's going on.
So that's what I want.
I want it to look interesting.
It's not just about
pretty colours.
There must be things for the eye to linger on and enjoy.
I got to tidy up the main cloud.
There's definitely a few
edges that must be worked on as well.
Here I'm adding some
interesting colour notes or exciting dabs of Orange,
a few accents
with some impasto
and soften that edge up over there,
slightly greyed down alizarin Crimson and Orange.
Also tidying up a few strokes.
Just generally having a look.
I need more dark accents down here
and pretty much coming to the finalparts.
I'm going to use the little brush here to put in a few pops and dabs and accents,
but also use it to soften up some of the edges on the left hand side of the cloud.
Just tidying those edges up
and sign it off.
So let's get the tape off and have a look.
I enjoyed this little sketch.
I think it's nice and bright and interesting.
Have a go for yourself.
I hope you learnt a few tips and tricks
you can apply to your next sunset painting.
It's always a great subject and just look for that composition
of those clouds and then have fun with the colour.
You can do so much as long as you get the basics in place.
You can be free
and experimental with your colours and do something really interesting.
Remember, if you haven't
had a look at my free painting course,
you can find a link to that up here and also in the description below.
Be sure to subscribe to the channel if you
haven't already hit the notification Bell so you don't miss the next video.
As always, enjoy your painting and we'll talk again soon.
Cheers for now.