Painting a Cumulonimbus cloud...Step One:

Cumulonimbus clouds are the tallest of all clouds. Their tops can easily reach 40,000 feet and may extend beyond 60,000 feet. These clouds are birthed from harmless cumulus clouds. Cumulonimbus is composed of water droplets at the lower levels and ice crystals at higher levels (where the temperatures are below 0 degrees Celsius).

These cloud types produce uncomfortable weather conditions; heavy rains, hail, lightning, thunder, winds, and even tornadoes. The strong winds at higher altitudes pruduce an anvil-shape at the top of cumulonimbus clouds. The bottom of these clouds are flat at the base; the stratospheric level.

I began with a full value underpainting, using raw umber and white.

  Step Two:

A mixture of ultramarine blue and a bit of white was scumbled in the top portion of the sky. Brushing downward, I mixed more white into the blue. As I progressed, a touch of cobalt blue was introduced to the mixture; slightly more white at the bottom.

This step completes the sky - two blue hues with white added.

  Step Three:

In this step, I painted the shades of the cloud formation. I mixed ultramarine blue with paynes gray and a bit of dioxazine purple. To adjust for value in the composition, varying (small) amounts of white was added to the mixture.

  Step Four:

A mixture for the tints (lighted ares) was made next. A touch of ultrmarine blue and dioxazine purple was added to white. I painted the tints of the clouds and added more of the dark hues for the middle tones.

  Final Step:

Additional work was done on the cloud formation. Then the trees were painted using ivory black mixed with raw umber.

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