A Wondrous Sky

Kiki, a friend of mine who is an influencer and talented artist herself, commissioned me to complete an 8x8 piece using one of the following images as inspiration.

After a great deal of consideration, I decided to choose this one!

There are many variables that come into play when painting a sky scape. To simplify the chaos I consolidate the nature of the clouds, sky, and light by categorizing them as either a color, shape or sometimes both.  

In the reference photo there are additional elements, such as the boats along with the plants and rocks in the corner.  While this scene as a whole is beautiful, I’d prefer to only focus on one part of the picture.  To do this, I simply crop the photo. 

Now that I’ve concentrated my view on a limited number of variables, I can continue my artistic process categorizing the elements (Clouds, Light, Sky) in this image. 

This is what I was seeing:

From the reference image, I observed that the clouds were more colorful than the sky so I considered creating a blue background with clouds of various colors in the foreground.  Since this was more of a seascape, I also considered incorporating the colors and textures present in the sea itself in a way that flowed - pun intended.

Something like this:

The problem was that I didn’t love it. 

I didn’t like how the clouds carried all of the colors. Even though the colors were bright, the elements created didn’t encapsulate the vibe. It was a little too “coloring book”.  Everything felt separated.  There was a stark lack of cohesion. 

My goal in creating this piece was to create a vibe that was sophisticated yet calming and overall enjoyable to the viewer.

During my third approach I considered separating the cool and warm tones of the sky and doing the same for the water.  This way the elements would only be separated into two.  Immediately no. 

In my fourth and final draft, I decided to combine the plain of the clouds and sky.  By removing what is usually an obvious foreground and background, I created a flat plain to fill with color which created a cohesion within the composition. By removing depth I’m able to focus on color, allowing more imagination and creativity in how the elements of the reference are brought to life. 

I decided it was good and I started the piece.

First I sketched out where I wanted the color to be. Then I created a guide for which colors belong where.

Painting occurred, lots of mixing was involved. The outcome was this. 

If you know me and have seen my art, you know this just won’t do.  There needs to be more. 

I added lines, but this time of varying colors!  I liked this, but it was missing the boat.

Easy fix, I added it to the edge!  

Now it’s perfect and I love it!