Clouds. Aren’t they amazing?

Cloud photography by Carolyn Cochrane

Two years ago I took a very helpful watercolor painting class. One of our assignments was to paint clouds.

Connecting Art with Science

I love to make connections with other subjects. This one is perfect for my 5th/6th grade because in Science class they study cloud identification. They come into my class with a broad understanding of clouds which makes my lesson richer.

Clouds and Art Resource

The Clouds in Art Gallery is amazing. This gallery features famous paintings (for example, by Van Gogh, Constable, Turner, Renoir) with the clouds identified. To start this lesson, I downloaded the powerpoint from the website to show my students.

The One Tool I Can’t Live Without for Watercolor Painting

Hands down, my favorite tool for watercolor painting is the fan brush. Buy fan brushes in a variety of sizes. If your budget is small, start by buying a small assortment every year. They are indispensable for creating texture!

Tips for Using the Fan Brushes

1. Find reference photos of clouds to use while painting.

2. Use the paper towel to dab your brush so it is not dripping wet. A dry brush will create a nice texture.

3. Use a light feathery technique to make the texture in the clouds or grass. Look at this video to see what I mean. For the clouds, hold the brush flat and dab it up and down.

4. When painting the sky, remember to leave the cloud areas white, unpainted. Paint the sky around the clouds. While the blue paint is still wet, add other colors (different shades of blues, purples, etc) on top and it will blend the colors together. Creating variations in the shades makes a more realistic effect.

5. Go back in to add depth to your clouds with light touches of grays, pinks, purples.. the sky’s the limit!

Additional Tips for Painting

If you can afford it, don’t skimp on the quality of the watercolors for kids. It does make a big difference, in my opinion. Every two kids can share the paints. So if your highest count of kids in a class is 26, buy 13 sets if you can. Simply instruct them to place the watercolors in between them. I also find that this helps them to monitor the muddying of the colors.. no one wants all their paints to turn black from careless mixing.

My favorite watercolors for kids are Crayola Artista II Watercolors, 16 Color Set

The Prang Washable Watercolors, Metallic are nice for some shiny touches.

Use a sea sponge for rocky or sandy texture.

As for paper, I have experimented with a lot of paper and I am still on the never-ending quest to find the perfect, non-wrinkly, affordable watercolor paper for kids. PLEASE let me know if you have any recommendations. What I have used recently for painting with watercolors and tempera is White Tag Board from Nasco. I find that it takes paint well and looks pretty nice. I have not been afraid to get out the iron and carefully iron paintings that have buckled. Another option is to take a stack of heavy books and place them on top of the dried paintings. What do you do?