How to Paint Mackerel Skies in Oil Colour

Oil Painting Tips & Hints on Painting Altocumulus Clouds with Oils

Aug 24, 2009

Altocumulus clouds pose challenges for the artist in that it contains intricate patterns. This demonstration simplifies its fish scale formation into basic colours.

A mackerel sky can often be seen at its most dramatic when the sun is just rising or just before sunset. The oblique light skids across the ripples of cloud bases, creating contrasts to colour and tone. At this time, it is easy to see why it is called a mackerel sky for its resemblance to fish scales. To lessen the challenge of capturing its complexity, painting from a photograph might be wise. When working from life, comfort can be sought from the fact that mackerel skies are often slow moving.

Oil Painting Materials

Step-by-step Oil Painting Demonstration on How to Paint Skies

A composition consisting of a low horizon was used to emphasise the sky. The rooftops below add a sense of atmosphere and location. The composition was sketched lightly in pencil prior to the painting. Simplifying the sky into basic areas is likely to take away the confusion of detail. Half closing the eyes will make these areas clearer. In this case, the clouds were divided into highlights, middle tones and darks. Working on the highlights first will prevent a neighbouring colour from dirtying it. With a thin sable, titanium with a dab of burnt sienna was dabbed onto the highlighted areas across the sky. A little permanent rose as added to the mixture at the horizon. At this point, the painting will make little sense until the other tones have been blocked in (fig 1).

How to Paint Clouds

Clouds, like flesh tones and snow require the smallest variations in tone to make it look authentic. For this reason, a tiny dab of ultramarine was added to the mixture and dabbed in thin horizontal patches near the horizon, taking care not to go over the highlighted areas. A little more ultramarine and burnt umber was added to the clouds towards the zenith, as clouds are usually lighter in tone at the horizon (fig 2).

Blending the Colour of Clouds

The clouds will appear more irregular in formation towards the zenith. For this reason, loose brushwork was employed around these areas. It is important to remember to keep half closing the eyes to retain the scene’simplicity. With a clean sable, a mixture of pthalo blue and a little white was dabbed onto the blue sky that poked through here and there (fig 3).

Soft Brushing When Oil Painting Clouds

The painting might look disjointed at this point. With a soft, clean brush, the different areas of colour and tone were gently knitted together in order to add coherence to the painting. Since the sky is usually much brighter than the ground, the rooftops below will appear almost in silhouette. With a mixture of burnt sienna, ultramarine and burnt umber, the buildings were blocked in (fig 4).

Painting Techniques on Painting Mackerel Skies

Mackerel skies are a challenging subject matter for its complexity of formation, so working from photo to oil painting might be the best option. The secret is to divide the tonal areas into highlights, mid tones and darks. Working from light to dark will ensure against a dark mixture tainting the highlights. Tiny variation in colour and tone is important when painting clouds, or it will not appear soft. Half closing the eyes will help simplify the scene. The formation of mackerel skies will often appear flatter and paler near the horizon, with more variation in tone and formation towards the zenith. Soft blending when finishing off will give the painting coherence.

The copyright of the article How to Paint Mackerel Skies in Oil Colour in Landscape Painting is owned by Rachel Wills. Permission to republish How to Paint Mackerel Skies in Oil Colour in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.