Friday, July 9, 2010

Watercolor Painting Preparation



As usual, I have umpteen projects going at once. I'm working hard to get ready for the Strawberry festival, but in the meantime, two images have been nagging at me for days.

I finally stretched some watercolor paper yesterday so that I can work on them in pauses between other projects. I would like to get them done in time to put on cards for the Strawberry Festival.

To stretch watercolor paper--I usually use 140#--I wet the paper on both sides with a wide brush, while it sits on a peice of plywood I have painted with Gesso. When the paper lies flat, I tape it down with acid free tape, the kind that needs to be wet on the back. Sometimes, before I tape it down, the paper wants to buckle in places, so I wet the back again.

2 comments: