Skies and Silhouetted Landscapes

Lesson Summery

In this lesson, students will be painting skies by applying a wash painting technique. They will practice two types of wash painting techniques; a graded wash and a variegated wash. Many artists use washes to paint skies. It can create the illusion of depth and distance in a landscape painting.

Lesson Objectives

• Paint skies to evoke a specific human emotion.

• Understand how colors effects feelings.

• Learn how to paint skies using a wash painting technique.

• Practice applying graded washes and variegated washes.

Different Types of Washes

To practice wash painting, you will need to tilt your art board at an angle and have a bucket of clean water ready. You will practice two types of wash painting techniques: a graded wash and a variegated wash. Using a wide flat brush, adjust your paint load accordingly by adding water to your paint. Practice making some graded and variegated washes on a piece of scrap paper before working on your actual artwork.

Wash Painting Process

1. Setup: Keep your painting board tilted at an angle and ensure your water is clean.

2. Graded Wash: Using a large flat brush, begin by painting a stroke of color across the top of the page. Move the brush across the canvas, having one brush stroke touch directly beneath the other. As you progress down the canvas, dilute the wash until it becomes almost white.

3. Variegated Wash: Near the middle of the wash, rinse your brush and pick up a second color and continue the gradation. The angle of your board will shift the wash from one color into the other.

4. Dry: Allow the paint to dry.

5. Silhouetted Landscapes: Illustrate a black silhouetted landscape using a thin round brush or markers. You may illustrate scenes such as mountains, lakes, forests, or rivers, as you feel is appropriate for each of the seasons. You are also free to incorporate other elements such as animals or people.

Painting Tips

• Be careful not to “overwork” the paper, as it may peel.

• While you can control your washes with an angled surface or a careful brush stroke, there is something wonderful that happens as you relax some control and allow the paint to do the work for you.

Terminology

• Wash Painting: A painting technique in which paint is diluted and applied as a semi-transparent layer of color.

• Gradation: A gradual change from one tone or color into another tone or color.

• Dilute: To make liquid paint thinner or lighter by adding water to it.

• Silhouette: The dark shape and outline of someone or something visible against a lighter background.

• Wet on Wet - A painting technique in which wash paint is applied onto a wet surface.

• Horizon - The line at which the earth's surface and the sky appear to meet.