Because it’s hardly ever really blue. Think of Turner’s skies or even
Monet’s—they are multifaceted and carry the hum of several colors. As
many of us transition from painting outdoors to inside the studio, we
can sometimes make assumptions and take certain things for granted like
the color of sky or water, perhaps because we may see our subjects
primarily in photographs, or maybe because the weather or busy
schedules give us a much more limited timeframe to go out and work in
the landscape.
When it comes time for me to paint from an
aerial perspective, I think of Georges Seurat’s paintings. This may be
an extreme example, but for me his work demonstrates an awareness of
the prevalence of color, especially in the sky. Thinking of his
pointillist dots helps me remember that color is everywhere. In the
spirit of this, I pulled together a few tips on painting the sky to
help stave off the “blue syndrome.”
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