"Awesome Sky"

"Awesome Sky", Acrylic, 16 x 20" Stretched Canvas

When I saw British Photographer, Adam Brough's photo he entitled "What an Awesome Sky!" immediately I felt inspired to start a series that I've been tossing around in my head - one based on spectacular clouds - skyscapes I guess you'd call them.  Adam was gracious enough to give me permission to use his photo as a reference.  Thanks Adam!

I really felt like oils would be the way to go with such soft, feathery details in this sky that would take a lot of wet into wet blending.  However, since I'm primarily an acrylics painter, I decided to challenge myself to working in my preferred medium.  It was just that - challenging as I really had to work quickly to get the desired effects.  I found that using really large stiff bristle brushes to blend and blend and blur edges as well as doing some dry-brush scumbling worked effectively.  I really had a lot of fun in that tiny little lower strip of trees and land too - just providing enough details to "ground" the scene, while still letting the viewer get that soaring feeling of that amazing sky.