Painting Realistic Clouds: a beautiful sky & clouds for a nursery
Posted by M&M in Techniques on Jan 26, 2011
Palette for Sky and Cloud Colors
I viewed a video posted by Morgan Bricca that gave me some great tips for painting clouds. I pride myself in how realistic my clouds are, but Morgan has developed a formula that makes it really easy and she was generous enough to share it.
How to Paint Clouds on the Ceiling
It worked. Of course, being an artist, I mixed the cloud shadow colors myself. Using the Benjamin Moore paint swatches that Morgan recommended, I mixed my own using the paint I had on hand.
The ceiling was based in Benjamin Moore 779 Fairview Blue, matte finish. I mixed a little of the blue in with some white paint to mix the color to block in the clouds, about 1 part blue to 4 parts white. It is very helpful to map out the clouds first. I made a sample board to make sure that the palette I mixed was going to work.
Sample Board for Clouds
It looked great on the sample board. When painting on the ceiling, though, I found that I had mixed the shadow colors maybe a touch too deep. So I mixed another pot of paint using the “highlight” color and the “midtone” color to create a fourth color to soften it, which worked nicely.
Nursery with Realistic Clouds
The result: an easy, fun day for me and a very happy client. Thanks, Morgan!
Beaufiul Sky and Clouds for Babie's Nursery by Murals & Moldings
I think your clouds look better than mine! Thanks for the shout out and keep up the beautiful work.
Morgan