Easy Techniques for Painting Clouds in Watercolor

In this video I demonstrate some easy techniques for painting clouds in watercolor. I work wet on wet in a variety of different ways.
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Chapters
0:00 Introduction
1:25 The main things I learned about painting clouds
1:48 The paper I used to practice
2:07 My 1st attempt at painting clouds
5:52 My 2nd attempt at painting clouds
11:05 My 3rd attempt at painting clouds - tissue lifting
14:34 My 4th attempt at painting clouds - more tissue lifting
16:02 My 5th attempt at painting clouds - paint clouds first
20:16 First painting
22:09 Outro
22:50 Bloopers
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[@Lulis56]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting this! I’ve done so many cloud studies!, but never methodically thought about what was going on! Additionally, it is such a relief to see an expert painter struggling with this! “Misery loves company…” it actually gives me comfort knowing that it’s not just me! Wonderful as usual Louise!

[@LouiseDeMasi]

You're very welcome! Thank you Lulis. I'm so glad it's helpful to you.

[@jtpaar1732]

Thank you for taking the burden of sorting this stuff out for the rest of us who maybe don't even know where to start some days. Never be embarrassed for trying!

[@LouiseDeMasi]

Great message. Thank you JT.

[@KathyWillhite]

Thank you for showing us your struggles and learning process! It is wonderful for an artist to share frustrations. It helps us beginners to know that watercolor is a lifelong process of mastering... I always enjoy watching you.

[@user-cf3ss5pd4i]

You nailed it in the end! Your lighter grey was so much better and sweeping the blue across leaving white areas, worked perfectly. Count yourself in as a landscape painter! Gerald, UK

[@lva9821]

Thank you Louise, for having us along as you are practicing cloud painting. A tip now, I am a landscape watercolour painter and I tilt the board a lot when painting large areas such as clouds. It helps to play with gravity.

[@LouiseDeMasi]

Wonderful! Thank you for the tip.

[@michelesolis8109]

I appreciate the way you showed the real struggle that you have too, in learning. It's so encouraging! I know it's practice, practice, practice. I also know you learn 23:25 from your mistakes. It's easy to begin to think that you're just not that good and should quit. (Speaking of myself) i believe i will keep making mistakes and enjoy watching the water flow... even if it's a little funky. 😊 Thank you again! I love watching your videos!!!!!

[@walker2837]

This was very helpful to me --seeing how an accomplished watercolor painter does focused practiced for a new technique. Thank you.

[@joshuaelek]

Watching videos of Sergei Temerev painting clouds, I see that he wets both sides of the paper before he starts. This buys him a lot more time and the edges of the clouds he gets from lifting (with a brush and/or tissue) feel more natural. His results are very emotive and convincing.

[@ericakauffman5786]

It is so encouraging to know that you are still learning! Really encouraging to see you work through a problem and practice, practice, practice. I need this kind of reminder. Please keep it up. Thank you!

[@LouiseDeMasi]

Thank you so much Erica. Constantly learning- I think that's what keeps it so interesting. If it was easy we'd lose interest. 💕

[@joeromo8303]

I'm just loving the way you show your human like all of us. Your not embassrassed to share your errors... LOL

[@rettain]

Thank you. Your comments are taken to heart and it makes me more aware of what I do.

[@leslierobbins4467]

Thank you for sharing your journey here. Clouds are so different in every sky. The clouds here in Florida are so fluffy and thick. The clouds in Maine on the coast where I live in the summer are more spaced out (of course depending on the weather) these have been successful using the tissue lifting technique. Its always a challenge to get it right. I love your videos and have learned so much from them. Your technique looks so effortless but I know better. Thank you again. Happy painting.🖌

[@frenchgrama]

I’m soooo glad you are tackling skies and hopefully landscapes eventually - your style of painting is soooo beautiful that it would be a shame to not use it on landscapes….

[@dorisdavidson7849]

Thanks for this, I found it interesting to watch you experiment as we all do! I Cant imagine you having failed paintings. Lol.

[@LouiseDeMasi]

Thanks Doris. My failed paintings are too numerous to count!

[@cgo225]

Thank you so much for this.... I'm a beginner watercolourist (5 months) who just started on clouds.... They're not easy for me, but I refuse to give up and I know I'll eventually get there - because one day, I'll have made every mistake possible, and I'll have nowhere else to go than to paint them correctly.... It's going to take me who knows how long, but at least it's inevitable 😂

[@lisakinney3747]

It’s nice to see an amazing talent like yourself struggle with something new. I always feel like professional artists can just whip out whatever they want. Thanks for making it real, I don’t feel so awful about my attempts now. ❤

[@kathryncurry8728]

Thank you for showing us your trials & progress. I really liked the use of the tissue where you only used the blue, I think that looked very realistic & lovely!

[@lourdesfernandez3162]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ This video has been really useful to me. It taught me that we always need to keep trying and experimenting. THANK YOU. Practice makes perfect. ☁️🖌❤

[@sarahbilleaud2435]

Thank you for sharing your day’s work. It inspired me to continue practicing. 😅

[@lora9664]

I make my clouds with a damp brush and I mop up the pigment so that I keep the soft edges. So like you did I paint the whole of the sky but lighter near the horizon and then start lifting with a damp brush. Once I have my clouds mopped up, I use my gray to make my cloud shadows with a damp brush painting damp into damp. This will keep the soft edges. I will mention that when I use yellow on the horizon I never blend the blue as it makes a greenish hue. I use a soft pink or purple in between the blue and yellow to prevent that. Just a very subtle color. This was an excellent video. Thank you.

[@pspuma1]

I’ve been on a sky journey as well and my two biggest challenges are not letting the paper dry a bit and overworking as well. Looking forward to following you on this landscape journey. It’s helpful to know I’m not the only one with the same struggles 😊

[@pintsizestories196]

Great video. Clouds really are hard, but I find it encouraging to see that even you can have some difficulty with it. One thing I have done to get a sharp contrast between the blue sky and cloud highlight is to tip my painting so the top is down. I wet the sky area but not right up to the cloud line. I outline the cloud with the blue paint which will flow away from the cloud . Then I can fill in the rest of the sky with the blue paint. I only lightly wet the sky area so the blue stays dark enough.

[@alheeley]

So very useful - you learn so much more from mistakes than getting it perfectly right

[@joycekowbelharvey4816]

I really loved going through your journey of your clouds.

[@passinthru4328]

I could relate to your attempts. The final version was a huge improvement. Timing and not overworking are my biggest challenges, after devoting time to practicing. 😅

[@judynash2794]

🎨So pleased you are sharing your cloud learnings. As the saying goes, I've learned more from my mistakes than my successes. Your teaching background really comes through and is motivating. Thank you.

[@LouiseDeMasi]

Wonderful. Thank you very much Judy.

[@dianemccabe9907]

This is one of the greatest videos I have seen! I try and try and get frustrated as if you watch a lot of videos they just paint it very fast and there it is all beautiful and it try it and it looks awful!!! I feel so much better that even someone awesome like you goes thru a process to master new techniques. It gives me hope not to be intimidated by others that are so much better than I am to keep working at it and to realize that it is a process. Thanks so much for doing this video!!! You've helped me so much!! And I love clouds!! I am doing many studies too!! I'll keep trying now!!!

[@karenharrison9786]

Thank you for sharing your landscape journey with us and explaining what worked and didn’t work for you while painting clouds.

[@carollegros8671]

It takes practice. Everything you do is soo good. Also enjoyed Shelly Prior demo in painting soft clouds. Thank you

[@juliehutchingson1149]

Thank you for being vulnerable and sharing your learning. The greatest lesson is that it takes practice. Time with brush on paper. And there are more fails than successes.

[@LouiseDeMasi]

So true! Thank you Julie. 💕

[@maryk1668]

Clouds and water are my Achilles heel. I try to be persistent and try painting them after after stepping back many times. Nice to see you not giving up also and taking us along for the process. The final result was very good!

[@LouiseDeMasi]

Thanks Mary. 💙

[@donafritz6176]

Thank you so much for showing your learning process and teaching us it’s ok to keep trying when it doesn’t work the way we want. Sometimes watching tutorials it seems like we should be able to get it right in one go like whoever we are watching. Love this - thank you!

[@dianehill4019]

You are a doll. This shows us a side of your apprehension and we love you all the more for it! Your work is always superb.

[@AFAskygoddess]

You are a fabulous artist, and I can't believe I'm giving you painting advice. Lol We all have our own style. Since you're resistant to using tissues to sop up blue paint to form clouds, as I watch your "style," you might consider painting the shadows wet on wet first. Tissue just a touch. Let it dry, then use your brush to form the white clouds on a blue sky. Maybe a happy medium 😊?

[@LouiseDeMasi]

Oh thank you! I need lots of help. ❤️

[@Mail2elr]

Thanks that was very honest and brave and actually turned out a great tutorial.

[@learningwithlynda3562]

This was amazing to see such an amazing artist as yourself working on something that is out of your comfort zone and show us the thought processes of how to improve. Well done and thank you.

[@cassv350]

Louise, always enjoy your videos

[@sonyaoart]

I do find it useful to watch you learn. Thanks for taking us along on the journey ❤

[@simonedegroot2962]

Hallo Louise, my experience is that ceruleum blue behaves beautiful on wet paper to paint sky's. Just easier. 23:13

[@sandyb4693]

I enjoyed seeing your experiment/learning process with the clouds. Seeing how you overcame what didn't work was extremely helpful for me. I really have trouble with them myself & seeing this has given me the courage to try clouds again using this to give me direction. Thanks for sharing!!

[@silylily1212]

I appreciate you sharing your journey. You do such beautiful work.

[@tamasurusrex]

Thankyou so much for making this video… It’s really helpful to see someone else just starting out with landscape painting and for you to show the progress w/mistakes and successes! I recently just started landscaping painting and it is SO not as easy as it looks 😹 I’ve had a lot of success w/illustration type watercolor so I was kind of shocked at how hard a simple looking landscape was. Very humbling… anyhow, I’m glad it isn’t just me 😜 I’ve learned a ton from watching Oliver Pyle’s videos here on KZbin since that first painting. Thanks so much once again! I love watching you paint ❤

[@LouiseDeMasi]

Thanks Tammy. Oliver is great. I enjoy his videos too.

[@977400Dana]

Thank you so much for this video!! I find clouds so difficult and am struggling. I appreciate seeing your 2 different approaches. I have just used the tissue dab method but I’m going to try painting the sky around the clouds. Love your videos!!

[@ShahanoorMamun]

wow.... very amazingly done....... such an easy technique for painting clouds..... lovely !!

[@LouiseDeMasi]

Thank you so much Shahanoor. 😀

[@mahirakhan-rea9625]

love your smile and patient manner of teaching. clearly way ahead of me in your flower studies but this video was terrific for my level.

[@cinhill22]

Thank you very much, I've done so many cloud tests, over and over and over and was so glad to see your process, which helps me, so much!!! I hope to see more of your clouds and landscapes... Thank you again!!!

[@rebeccac2032]

Thank you for this Louise! Honestly your clouds looked beautiful!! And your (and Don’s) outtakes were fantastic!! 🤣

[@janevincent7103]

I think your landscape painting was wonderful. You eliminated so many of the little so called mistakes in the landscape and it looked so real. I love watching the various techniques you tried and plan to try a couple myself. I love using ultramarine blue with burnt sienna for a beautiful gray mix. I love watching you paint; you are a Master, Louise. I see you have a long sleeved pretty blue shirt now and I have to buy it (I have 3 already!) because I admire you so much. Thank you. XOXOJANE

[@LouiseDeMasi]

Thank you so much Jane. 🥰

[@optimisticgal]

Loved watching this. I liked the fluffy clouds created with tissue. I love the last one on here too! I'm going to give it a go, thank you

[@LouiseDeMasi]

Have fun! Thank you.

[@emotionalautoimmunity7986]

I love seeing you learning too Louise. Thanks so much for sharing your progress.

[@chorserider]

This has been super helpful! Thanks so much 😊

[@blackbearybears]

Great share! Inspires a bit of confidence to see even the pros have the odd fail. I’ve always felt so negative about my skill seeing everyone’s accomplishments on line while my reject pile grows a mile high.

[@LouiseDeMasi]

Thank you Johanna. I hear you. My failed painting draw is full!

[@margretmartin7572]

I think you did a wonderful job on your clouds/skies. I love David Bellamy’s paintings and have many of his books. 💗

[@jennymurray2873]

I didn't like the red in the shadow mix, without yellow as well. Also it reminded me to mix mixed colours before using them. I liked the clouds in the painting better. I noticed you adjusted the colour of the sea in the last shot, to reflect the sky colour. A good video. Thank you

[@LouiseDeMasi]

Thanks Jenny. Me too- it was a bit overpowering I felt.

[@jacquelineandrea8172]

Wow, amazing. More skies please, love watching you paint.

[@SuzanneLegault]

Great video as always Louise. You must have read my mind, clouds are my present challenge. This will be very helpful.

[@LouiseDeMasi]

Wonderful! Thank you Suzanne. Keep at it. My biggest takeaway I think was to not fuss- trust the paint.

[@kristin3484]

Love this

[@sujanithtottempudi2991]

Excellent!

[@DeniseBrooks1955]

Thank you so very much Louise!!♥️♥️♥️

[@sarahwbs]

This is super helpful, thank you for sharing!

[@adunzoroq33]

I love seeing you do landscape (or cloudscape)! Cannot wait for more to come!❤

[@LouiseDeMasi]

Thank you Agun. Encouragement is good! 😂❤️

[@sharongillis4531]

Love the tissue clouds.❤️

[@LouiseDeMasi]

Thanks Sharon. They are easy to do. 💕

[@michelekirkpatrick9230]

You are so important to my future. ❤

[@els1793]

Great tutorial. Thanks so much!

[@Nimhde]

You are very honest. Thank you

[@joandow5627]

Thank you so much for sharing this it was really helpful and appreciated ❤

[@hArtyTruffle]

Haven’t caught one of yours for a while. Thanks for sharing your learning process. Very helpful indeed. 👍🏼✨

[@rogerebert5122]

Yes, well done. Certainly better than anything I've done. Your a natural. 🇺🇸

[@LouiseDeMasi]

Thanks Roger. I'll be working at it for years to come.

[@MsMoniqueWilson]

Thank you so much for sharing. Seeing that everyone struggles a little learning something new - even artist that you think do nothing wrong - gives me more courage to try new things.. I hope you do more because I know you will make it your own!

[@LouiseDeMasi]

Thanks very much Monique. I will keep at it and I'll keep sharing. I think it's good to know that we all struggle with different things. 💕

[@sarahbailey5928]

What a great video Louise ... thanks for sharing the process😊 ... clouds always cause me a bit of grief, but I’m always learning and this has helped enormously.

[@LouiseDeMasi]

I'm glad. Thank you Sarah.

[@Beencouraged777]

Looks realistic

[@lindas.martin2806]

Kudos for having the courage to share your learning process. I think it will help beginners a lot to not have expectations of doing a great painting at first try, and learning can be part of the fun road towards success....if you have the patience ;-)

[@pjprimadonna]

Love this, thanks for these insights louise much appreciated

[@LouiseDeMasi]

Glad you like them. Thank you!

[@elainethomas2564]

So glad you did this! Clouds were my first wc project and really strugled. You've inspired me all over again❤

[@LouiseDeMasi]

Glad I could help. Thank you Elaine.

[@t_j77]

Fantasztikus! Köszönöm szépen! 🤗☺️

[@LouiseDeMasi]

Örömömre. Köszönöm!

[@amandastratton8242]

Brilliant tutorial thank you Louise,lots of good info and techniques to ponder on. Thank you for sharing wit us xx

[@LouiseDeMasi]

Glad it was helpful. Thank you Amanda.

[@maryalgar8779]

I've never attempted clouds, so had no idea they could be so challenging. You learned heaps from your practice, so thank you for sharing what you learned. I still am having trouble believing you have "failed paintings". That looks like an interesting book. Perhaps in future, after you've had time to get into it, you'll talk about the book again.

[@LouiseDeMasi]

Thanks Mary. It's a helpful little book. I really like his style of painting.

[@monica-NJ-123]

OMG , thank you Louise for this lesson , I need this very badly 😅❤

[@LouiseDeMasi]

I'm so glad. Thanks Monica.

[@laurenmorgan-outhisack6341]

The is such a great video. Seeing your process is great. Seeing that you practice before doing a pieces is a helpful reminder that practice makes things easier to execute. In my head I always think that everyone but me can just sit down and and produce a worth while piece of art

[@LouiseDeMasi]

Glad it was helpful! So many of my paintings fail - probably 25% or more so don't ever feel bad about that. 💕

[@laurenmorgan-outhisack6341]

@@LouiseDeMasi that makes me feel more hopeful about my process

[@colinremmer2417]

Hi, there's nothing to be emnarrassed about, there are plenty of us that struggle to learn to paint realistc looking white fluffy clouds. I struggle with getting the grey into the right places and also the paint spreading too much It's hard to leave the paper for a short while to let it dry a bit (especially when it doesn't dry evenly all over at the same time as you found out) and then have the time to get all the paint on the paper befiore to dries too much, espacially for those of us that live in hot climates I will try out your idea of painting in the grey areas first and then the blue afterwards as that may work for me. I feel that if I can get white fluffy clouds right, then getting the clours into stormy clouds should be easier (he says hopefully) Thanks for sharing that even accomplished artists don't always get it right first time when they change the subjects of their skills. It makes us mere mortals feel less llike it's us that are useless (because other artists can doi it easily) and it eminds us that what we aren't the only ones trying be able to learn to do something

[@redinabloogs8477]

If you want to inspire other artists 🎨 please 🙏 please 🙏 please show us your most Embarrassed ones. This helped me more today than any of your other videos.

[@pattycyr8662]

Thanks very much for this demo and your experiences painting clouds via wet-on-wet. In the 2nd example, you mentioned the steaks you had wished were not there - what causes such streaks? Thanks so much for sharing your skills and for your great teaching style.

[@LouiseDeMasi]

Thanks Patty. I may not have had the pigment dissolved properly. Sometimes I'll get streaks if I get a tiny but solid bit of pigment on the brush.

[@pattycyr8662]

Thanks very much for the insight. Much appreciated. @@LouiseDeMasi

[@suzannewithers8093]

Well done

[@LouiseDeMasi]

Thanks Suzanne.

[@carolpingel39]

I use the tissue method.

[@barbsaenz8882]

Best way to learn anything is to see one, do one, teach one. I reuse my paper, too. Loose is not as easy as it appears!!

[@yinyindrawing]

👍👍👍❤️

[@sujanithtottempudi2991]

When you use back of a failed painting...is it the same texture and absorbancy? I mean about cold pressed paper. Thats a very good idea.

[@patdarlington3297]

Thanks for sharing another informative art session . I wondered whether you might share the name of palette you used? Thank you.

[@LouiseDeMasi]

Hi Pat. I don't really use that one anymore. I use these now. www.louisedemasi.com/studio-equipment

[@eyepod1967]

Hi Louise, I'm new to watercolour, in fact i'm just taking up drawing and painting for the first time since school. I find your tutorials very helpful, but was just thinking about your use of "failed paintings". I was curious, what percentage of your paintings do you class as failures and abandon them?

[@sujanithtottempudi2991]

What do you think of wet on dry like modt watercolour artists do from top to bottom...like wash?

[@terrylmartin6014]

Great video. Can't seem to find a palette I like. Is the palette in the video available anywhere? Thanks

[@LouiseDeMasi]

Thanks Terryl. It's a John Pike Big Well palette. I can't remember where I got it I'm sorry. It was an online purchase so it might come up if you Google it.

[@lindyhawthorne2164]

Louise, which brush are you using, with the light handle, at 21:54 please ?. I've looked at the notes but cant tell which one that is. thank you.

[@sujanithtottempudi2991]

Which of all the 5 ...you thought its near favourite?

[@kilauea2083]

My clouds always are a surprise or mystery as to how I get them to look good. 😅

[@sujanithtottempudi2991]

...do you think is it possible anybody to paint in watercolour in 30 minutes? I have only 30 minutes in the evening. But if i do i feel tremendous pressure of time not fun. Also most of the 30 minutes go in planning and preparing

[@joancroce8993]

Since much of watercolor is layering, you might take your 30 minute timeframe as one segment.😊

[@reetamaidhotmail.comtomas2689]

Beautiful as always, you are so confidense building