Adding drama, mood and atmosphere to the composition, skies are the most important component of a landscape painting in any medium. They are key to a successful painting, yet many artists feel that they don’t possess the necessary skills to create a convincing sky. Beginners especially view them as being beyond their grasp and that's where this book comes in.
A section on colour theory focusses on those aspects key to painting skies: how to retain vibrancy; how to avoid muddy colours through the use of 'bridging' colours; and how many pastels to use for best effect. 
6 step-by-step projects then follow. Each looks at a particular sky effect, from the bright clouds on a fresh, blustery day to rich sunsets. Each main stage is shown both before and after blending for clarity.
Award-winning artist Sandra Orme's aim is to teach readers how to create a broad range of skies in pastel. Her 'Sky clinic', which finishes the book, offers more specialist and technical help on some of the common problems readers might encounter when painting skies in pastel.
Containing the all-important specifics on how to hold the pastel to make various marks, along with close-up pictures showing how the surface should look before you start to blend at each stage, this book assumes no prior knowledge and contains information and insights of value to even the most confident artist.