Watercolor practice - ISO style

[Jaxilon]

Thanks for the encouragement.
Happy to have inspired you Arsheesh, I really look forward to seeing what you come up with. Maybe it's time for another traditional media challenge?

Nice map, Jax.

I'm sure you probably know this, but you can prevent the cockling of the paper that you describe up the top if you stretch your paper first. You say you tried taping it down so you already have all the gear to do it. Just immerse your paper in water before you start, tape it down to a board and leave it to dry. Sorted.

As far as gear, I just used that blue construction tape designed to not lift paint off the walls. It worked perfectly well. I've got an aversion to getting some special Gum type tape or whatever. I don't know why, maybe I'm just rebellious or maybe I think it sounds pompous to have special tape. I'll have to check out what I'm supposed to be using and see what I think after all I do love my gummy eraser.

On the dunking of the paper, is that just a quick dip or a soak for a few moments? I'm thinking, dip the paper, slap it on the surface, tape it....sounds like a mess waiting to happen. I think I'll have to Google this.

[Chashio]

I don't think I had the pencil mixing into the paint. More like the paint pigment starts to overshadow the pencil lines. I will keep an eye on this though. I may have this issue on the floor tiles since that's the heaviest lines. Maybe the paper makes a difference or maybe not going too heavy with the water?

It's probably a combination of paper thickness / water ratio. Mine started to dissolve the pencil on the sketch paper so it turned the colors greyish.

4.5 x 6 is about right so it's kind of small. I don't mind this while I'm learning. I do have an issue now however. I created a similar sized mock up of an abstract painting for my wife's office. Heh, she really liked it so now I need to make it HUGE as in about as large a sheet as I can get it. I'm not sure about how to do that so it's going to be fun trying that. It will certainly be the largest Watercolor I will have attempted.

There's a large difference between sizes when it comes to the way the pigments combine with the surface texture. I wish you luck.

I've got an aversion to getting some special Gum type tape or whatever. I don't know why, maybe I'm just rebellious or maybe I think it sounds pompous to have special tape.

LMAO! Me too

[Ramah]

You could just use masking tape but I guess it may do something to the top layer of paper once it's been soaked. If it holds it.

And as to the wetting, just fill a bowl or your sink with an inch of water or whatever, drop the paper on and push it under. Leave it long enough to soak up some water. Lift it back out, let the excess drain off and then smooth it out on a board. Tape it down and leave to dry.

[Chashio]

You could just use masking tape but I guess it may do something to the top layer of paper once it's been soaked. If it holds it.

And as to the wetting, just fill a bowl or your sink with an inch of water or whatever, drop the paper on and push it under. Leave it long enough to soak up some water. Lift it back out, let the excess drain off and then smooth it out on a board. Tape it down and leave to dry.

I will have to try this Ramah. What do you suggest using for a board?

[Ramah]

I guess you can use anything that is flat and big enough. Maybe even the back of a tray. I used to use a large piece of hardboard but it was lost in a fire and I haven't touched any paints for at least 15 years. I must admit that seeing all the recent hand-drawn/painted goodness is giving me an itch to maybe give it a whirl again.

[Chashio]

Thanks, I've a good thick piece of hardboard claiming space in my studio. I'll try that first... if it doesn't work I suppose I can always go out and get a piece of acrylic. I may try too (out of curiosity) stretching a piece of my thinner sketch paper over a small canvas stretcher and see how it holds up like that.

Inspiration is infectious.

[loogie]

i've used a sheet of plexi glass you can get at an art store, (curry's carries em anyways) you basically wet the screen, wet the paper, and stick it on.... it works for those highly watered paintings, i tend to use less water, and localized, so i don't really use it.. also be careful with painting along the edges if you use the sticking method, since it'll bleed along the edge and under due to the water... nice thing is you don't need to stretch the paper or use staples etc, since the water sticks the paper, and the papers free to stretch and shrink, no waves!

another option is to go with more traditional paper blocks, you'll still get a bit of wavyness, but blocks have glued edges, usually all 4, so it hinders warping. Paper is one of the most important things in watercolour, that and paint.. really makes a huge difference, how the paint soaks in to the paper, sits on top, how the pain mixes with other colours, settles, turns gritty etc.. while the student colours are fine for first use... if you're planning on doing watercolours more frequently, getting some of the more expensive ones are worthwhile... the paints that are fairly easily available that I like are "m graham" paints, they are very fluid and crisp, an interesting fact is that they use honey as a binding agent, which is more traditional, but also kinda cool to think about (you can even smell it in some paints)... and also da vinci, a fairly common US brand... they have like 600+ colours, which is crazy.. Both graham and vinci are kinda unique cause all their colours are only a single pigment, not a mix (makes 600 unique colours even more impressive), it makes them far superior with mixing... the more pigments used in a paint, the more unpredictable it is when mixing... you can find they separate... one colour that it happens to a LOT is ultra marine, a fairly common colour, when mixed with anything, often separates, cause most paints of other brands are mixes of 3-5 other colours...

anyways, i've gotten pretty technical, but i've found this info quite useful in my learning.. and well, seems you don't need help with the artistry looks great!

[Jaxilon]

Well, I believe this is finished.

I picked up a large sheet or Watercolor paper for the piece in my wife's room today, it's like 22 x 32 or something. The largest they carry without special ordering. I'll keep you guys posted on how that experiment goes...should be fun even though I believe I really need a larger sheet. Still, better to work my way up to that I say.

[Chashio]

That's well finished.
I'd be interested to see a picture of the giant abstract watercolor painting when you finish that.

[Jaxilon]

Sure thing, I'll try and document my efforts so maybe someone who knows can help me do better next time

The first thing I'm trying to figure out is how to mount this big sheet on something in order to paint it. I don't really have a board that large.