Part Three Project 2 Landscape Exercise 1 Cloud Formations and tones

As I explained in my previous post, I do not have any clouds to work directly from, so I will need to work from photographs for this section. I chose a few photographs of cloud formations over a beach in New Zealand, taken by a friend of mine.

My first study was in conté, creta color monolith graphite, and 6-B pencil. I tried to create a sense of the thin wispy nature of the clouds by combining smudging and erasing to remove whites and to portray light tones. I left some of the darker strokes which indicate the billowing formations of the clouds, in order to create a sense of movement and formation. The horizon line with the lapping ocean below the peninsula helped to give a sense of stability to the sketch.

First Study

I then went on to portray this same photograph using Decorating Chalks and the creta color monolith graphite pencil. As I was using my fingers to smudge on the Decorating Chalks, I found this to be a rather enjoyable and yet haphazard way in which to apply the layers of color. My finger was really inaccurate, resulting in erasing a lot, but it did mimic the smooth smear of color found in clouds. Once again, I used wispy traces of graphite to try to indicate the shadows and the billowy effects with the clouds.

Same scene with chalk pastels

I tried varying effects in my sketch book. The effects that I thought had the most potential was using creta color marino watercolor black and watercolor crayons on wet paper, as well as using creta color marino black with dry chalk pastels washed with water. Both techniques seemed to indicate the subtleties of lighting effects found in clouds.

Having lived in Venezuela, Kazakhstan and now Benin, I have experienced some phenomenal thunderstorms. Our family watched the approach of one of the most awesome storms from our 9th storey apartment in Almaty. This storm was to rip up the mountain valleys reaching tornado strength and wipe out whole sections of ancient coniferous forest. So while looking for photographs of storms I found an equally amazing scene of a storm taken by Christopher Martin.

Prairie Thunderstorm, 2011. Christopher Martin.

This is what he had to say about the scene:
"This location, just west of Calgary, is one of my favourite places to photograph during the winter months when the sun sets behind the southern edge of the Canadian Rockies. Last night, a massive storm broke free of the mountains and stretched across the prairie. There were some great holes in the clouds that allowed sunlight to streak through here and there. A very dramatic scene to work with and create images of."

What I find stunning about this photograph is that at first when you look. it appears as if it is a scene of storm clouds over the sea, but then you notice that the sun is actually breaking through the clouds reveal a prairie underneath. This totally changes your perception of the scene as you realize that what appeared to be roiling ocean waves are actually clouds.Totally amazing!

I had fun with this photograph. I particularly enjoyed the mythical rider and horse-like formations in the clouds, so I decided to focus on this area. I used conté for my base, sketching in the main areas of dark first. Then I worked wax crayons and white conté on top of this base. Using white wax crayon to help blend it all together.

Prairie Storm study

Works Cited

Martin, C., 2011. Prairie Storm: Dark Clouds, Heavy Rain and a Lightning Strike. [Online]
Available at: http://christophermartinphotography.com/tag/dark-clouds/
[Accessed 7 February 2016].