“Desert Sky” 8 x 12 Watercolor by Roland Lee. A scene of the southern Utah desert with red cliffs and a dramatic sky. This is an example of a Roland Lee 3-minute watercolor sky.

I feel that cloud shadows need to be darker so I decide to apply a second glaze. First I completely re-wet the sky area with a 1-inch flat brush and clear water. While wet, I touch a mixture of [...]

At this stage I bring the painting into sharper focus by putting additional darks in the shadow areas and adding the foreground elements. Finally I put in some strong directional shadows across [...]

I usually wet the entire sky area first and then drop in Cad Red, Ultramarine blue, and Yellow Ochre, letting the pigments mingle naturally. After completing the sky I allow it to dry and paint [...]

In this closeup you can see how the addition of the darks on the underside of the clouds helps tie them to the mesa and helps the composition.