How to Paint a Stormy Sky Over the Mountains of Colorado

Thanks to John for sending me this gorgeous photo of a stormy sky over the mountain of Colorado near the Dream Stream!

This painting does a few things well. The top part of the sky worked out well by just leaving it alone! I like the tone of the distant mountains and the warmth in the foreground. I hope you enjoy the process! If you would like to learn how to paint like this then I have a great foundational course Watercolour Landscapes for Beginners. The link is below:
https://www.scottswinsonclasses.com/c...

Happy Painting!
Warm wishes, Scott

Paper:
9” x 12” (23cm x 31cm) Arches Cold Pressed, 100% Cotton, 300gsm Acid Free Paper

Paints: (all paints used are Winsor and Newton artist quality tubes of watercolour)
Mix of Cobalt Blue and Light Red
Mix of Winsor Blue (red shade) and Light Red
Burnt Umber
Raw Umber
Yellow Ochre

Brushes:
2” Holbein Hake
1 ½” Holbein Hake
1” Holbein Hake
¾ “ Flat Nylon Brush
Size 12 Round Pure Kolinsky Sable
Size 0 Series 7 Winsor and Newton Round Sable to sign the painting

Other:
Piece of 6mm MDF
Tooth brush for splattering
3M Scotch Magic Tape (Green Packet) to attach the paper to the board
Jars for the water
Daylight Bulbs for good lighting
Hair Dryer
Spray Bottle
Tissues
Small knife to make a couple of marks in the foreground right at the end

Paper - if you can afford it try and use Arches Cold Pressed 300gsm paper or any other 100% cotton paper. Sheets most of the time are the cheapest way to go. I can get Hahnemuhle sheets (53cm x 78cm) for $11.50 Australian from my local art store when buying them one at a time. This gives me 16 sheets of A5 which is much cheaper than buying a pad. If you can afford to buy 50 sheets at a time that can save you a lot of money!

Arches A4 Cold Pressed 300gsm 100% Cotton Pad: https://geni.us/Arches300gsmPad

Arches A3 Cold Pressed 300gsm 100% Cotton Pad: https://geni.us/Arches9x12Pad

Arches A3 Block if you wanted to use that instead of tape to a board:
https://geni.us/ArchesWatercolourPaper

Alternatives to Arches Paper:
Saunders Waterford Watercolour Paper Sheets 300gsm cold pressed 100% cotton from your local art supplies store. Or the links from amazon below.
Sheets of 425gsm:https://geni.us/SaundersWaterford
Block 9”x12”: https://geni.us/SaundersWaterfordBlock

Hahnemuhle Etching Paper Sheets 300gsm (75% cotton 25% high alpha cellulose)
https://geni.us/HahnemuhleEtchingPaper

Stonehenge Paper Sheets 20” x 30”: https://geni.us/StonehengePaper

Baohong Watercolour Blocks: Much cheaper than Arches and good quality paper
https://geni.us/bahongwatercolorblock


Paints:
Cotman Student Quality Paints
Cobalt Blue amazon: https://geni.us/cotmancobaltblue
Light Red amazon: https://geni.us/cotmanlightred
Yellow Ochre amazon: https://geni.us/cotmanyellowochre

Winsor and Newton Artist Quality Paints (If you can afford it I would encourage you to buy these!)
Cobalt Blue amazon: https://geni.us/WinsorNewtonCobaltBlue
Yellow Ochre amazon: https://geni.us/YellowOchreTube
Light Red amazon: https://geni.us/LightRedTube

Brushes

Size 12 Round Sable
Pure Kolinsky Round Sable Size 12 - Cornellisen (quite expensive over £150)
https://geni.us/PureKolinskySableSize
https://geni.us/IsabeyPureKolinsky

or
Synthetic Round Sable Size 12 - Micadore For Artists - roymac Revolution Taklon - ($20)
https://geni.us/SyntheticRound

Hake Brushes x 2
Holbein 2” Hake Brush (my preference)
Holbein 1” Hake Brush (my preference)
https://geni.us/HolbeinHakeBrush
or
Ron Ranson Large Hake Brush (about 2”)
Ron Ranson Small Hake Brush (about 1”)
https://geni.us/RonRanson

Flat Nylon
Long Flat Nylon (¾” wide and 1” long bristles) - Robert Wade Neef 980 Taklon Wash: https://geni.us/RobertWadeNylon


Small Round Sable
Series 7 size ‘0’ Winsor and Newton Finish Round Sable (lovely small brush but more expensive than synthetic): https://geni.us/Series7WinsorandNewton

A cheaper alternative to the series 7 round sable is: Size 00 Winsor and Newton Cotman Round
https://geni.us/CotmanRound00

or
Art Spectrum Size 2 Pure Sable Liner

This Princeton ones are also very good: https://geni.us/PrincetonLinerSize1
https://geni.us/PrincetonLiner2


Other
Spray Bottle Large Garden One: https://geni.us/AdjustableSprayBottle
Small Spray Bottle for a Finer Spray: https://geni.us/SmallSprayBottle
MDF Board: https://geni.us/MDFBoard
Bowls for the paints: https://geni.us/WhiteBowls
Jars for the water: https://geni.us/GlassJars
Vase for the water: https://geni.us/SquareVase or
https://geni.us/LargeWashingOutJar
Razor Blade: https://geni.us/StanleyRazorBlades
Small Knife: https://geni.us/SwissArmyCard
Pencil B, HB or 2B: https://geni.us/StaedtlerPencils
Tweezers from a Swiss Card: https://geni.us/SwissArmyCard
Scotch 3M Magic Tape (Green Packet): https://geni.us/ScotchMagicTape19mm
Scotch 3M Removable Tape (Blue Packet): https://geni.us/ScotchRemovableTape
Aligloss - used as my desktop and palette: https://geni.us/AliglossCompositePanel