Kauai Clouds and Sea

I've been in Kauai for the last few weeks, and have been painting some every day.  After the rain passed, however, and I went out to paint plein air, it quickly became apparent I needed some practice with my clouds.  And so, in an effort to improve, I've set about doing doing entirely clouds as their own subjects over the last 10 days or so.  This has been a lot of fun!

Of course, I've painted clouds before, but they're always been included as a mere accessory to the true subject of the painting.  If they even get included, it's more for the sake of tonal variety and mood, than for really representing what I see up there.  Processes like this (really digging in with a new subjectd) are always fun to me- it involves lots of photography for sure, but also lots of looking.  When are clouds white and when are they a warmer yellow?  Are their shadows a blue grey or a warmer, brown-grey?  Where are they lit from?  And then, of course, how do I turn all of this into a painting?

Here's a record of my journey so far-

1st painting- plein air

exploring techniques and color combos

2nd go at it.

2nd plein air.  Getting there!