I recently decided to do a series of skyscapes or cloudscapes and discovered that this is probably as close as I will ever get to abstract painting. Although I have deep respect for abstract artists, I have never been particularly interested in doing abstract paintings. However, painting skyscapes felt a bit abstract to me.  By definition abstract art does not attempt to represent an accurate depiction of a visual reality but instead uses shapes, colours, forms and gestural marks to achieve its effect. 

Clearly, I was attempting to paint the sky, but once I started, I got totally seduced by the abstraction. I was basically using shapes, colors, fits and gestural marks to achieve the effects. 

I love the drama of a skyscape but found them to be so challenging. 

In this series of 5 very different skies, I wanted to capture the abstract quality. In general, I find that paint and the pigments we have available are totally incapable of capturing the incredible glow of the most skies, but we can capture the drama of nature by painting color, temperature and value relationships. 

The first painting entitled Approaching Storm was painted in late August.  The sun was still fairly high in the sky and illuminated the tops of some of the clouds and the sky around it. I loved the approaching dark storm clouds.

The second painting has an unusual title, Potato Sky. The painting is based on the sky that I observed from my friend’s driveway on the evening of a local festival called Potato Fest! It was so dramatic and colorful that I just had to paint it. I also fell in love with the greenish blue hue of the main sky!

The third painting is entitled Winters Promise. The sun is low in the sky and the trees are silhouetted by that low glow.  Some of the sun peaked through those trees illuminating some of the higher spots of snow on the ground.

The next painting I titled After Glow. As a storm was rolling out the beautiful sky colors became prominent and lit up the water.

The last painting, Peaking Through, is the most dramatic of the group. This painting is filled with contrast and color variation. It was so much fun to paint! 
 

It took me about two months to complete all of the paintings in this series. All of them are painted on 16 x 20" canvases. They will be on my website for $250 each. If you buy the entire series of five, the price would be $200 per painting.  I truly think these five paintings would be a very dramatic statement if they were hung as a group!

So I guess I am an abstract artist… Sort of!