Clouds & Skyscapes by Alan Sonneman, softback large format published by Walter Foster. ISBN978-1-60058-241-7, price 5.99 GBP available from www.walterfoster.com

This book talks about materials, basic techniques and offers tips too. It helps you set up a colour palette for this dramatic subject. It also talks about different cloud formations and observing clouds in the field. In fact three pages of this 32 page book are dedicated to this. Since understanding your subject is of prime importance, Alan then looks at individual types of skies for you to paint. Each painting is presented as a step by step. I liked Clouds at Sunset best as I found the other paintings rather dark. Twilight in the Wilderness is a close second. This book is perhaps not for the complete beginner but the improver, who understands basic techniques and the use of paint and colour and just wants ideas about what to paint.