Watercolor Gift

90 lb watercolor paper is just too thin for me to use for much painting … I have a heavy touch with the water many times and I do not strech my paper so for actual painting, I generally use 140 lb cold press watercolor paper .. block or loose sheets in a pad.

BUT … I do keep 90 lb in my studio … for sketching ideas alone or with my grandson. Regular drawing paper has a much different feel with colored pencils and it too is in my studio for when I need that type of paper for a project … but generally, in preparation for painting and generating pre-plannning ideas … actual watercolor paper is better for me … I don’t usually use much if any water on these sketches at all … it is about placement and variety of placement … I save the sketches and some are quite good so I tend to even use them for other collage projects.

I have found that different manufacturers of paper have a different touch and feel to their papers just like different brands of watercolor pencils are a bit different to use. When I plan the placement of a project painting using 90 lb paper, I know in advance that I am not planning to use water on it generally. I like the oclor of wateroclor pencils on watercolor paper usually better than colored pencil on drawing paper too. It reminds me somewhat of pastels … it has a softer more organic feel and look to the sketch where colored pencils appear harsher. Pastels smudge too much for me though I ahve used them a bit … and hte dust from pastels are not good for me - makes me sneeze and feel nauseous if I am around them too much. For me, watercolor pencils dry are a very nice sketching tool … since I like working with color and I cannot find any of the colored charcoal pencils any more … I am quite happy to have discovered a brand of watercolor pencils that work similar to pastels without the dust and simialr to the colored charcoal that I cannot find anywhere these days … I’m not even sure if they still make it - I have not even found them on the Internet!

Using real watercolor paper and pencils in the planning stage for me has an added bonus benefit … if it is good and I like the finished product as is, I have a finished painting that I can mat, frame and hang without worrying about fixatives … I am NOT good at using fixatives … I always get them all over the place and the spray coat is never even so it makes my painting blotchy when I have used them in the past.

ISBN 8170207195 - Tom Lynch’s Secrets of Watercolor Painting on Watercolor Canvas DVD
ISBN 8170203485 - Fredrix Acid Free Watercolor Canvas (sheets)
ISBN 8170205532 - Fredrix Archival Watercolor Canvas (stretched)

I have not painted on watercolor canvas at all yet - I bought a tablet of watercolor canvas sheets as well as one stretched watercolor canvas - I didn’t happen to see any of the watercolor panels or I would have bought one of those to try also. I bought the video because I wanted to have an idea of what another artist had to say and how they were using it. I watched the video this morning on my computer. The video on my computer was rather jerky, tended to blur a bit sometimes and was a bit distracting from the material covered. I then played it on my Playstation 3 which is also a DVD player hooked up to the TV - same issue - this is a technical filming issue!

I was impressed so far with how Tom Lynch is using the watercolor canvas and the tips and techniques he shared. One of the most important to me was that you use a juicier beginning and a softer second layer. The reason to lay down more color in the beginning is that it is not paper - paper pulls the color off the brush and the canvas does not and there may well be more beading depending on how you paint. The lifting techniques are incredible, very exciting and you can almost, if not entirely, get back to the white of the canvas.

Since I started out as an oil painter working with stretched canvas painting wet-on-wet, I am expecting to like it after watching the video. The colors are supposed to be brighter and you do not have to frame them but you do have to use an acrylic sealer on them (3 coats). I didn’t know that so I have not bought any yet - the sealer does not have to be applied the minute you finish a painting though - he said he generally waits a week or so in case he may want to make changes to a finished painting (it is always a good idea to let a painting sit and not even look at it for awhile so that you come back to it with a fresh eye - you can then see things that maybe are not quite right that you couldn’t see during the initial painting stage). There is a Tom Lynch Tips & Techniques brochure packaged with my canvas sheets and the stretched canvas.

I opened the pad package and felt the sheets - they are thin and lightweight as I expected - they WILL buckle when painting so the brochure recommends stapling to Gatorboard® or taping to a solid surface - I am used to painting on paper that buckles since I do not stretch my paper so my plan is to use them as is on a flat surface (my drawing table - it can be raised but I generally use it flat for watercolor painting.) I plan to start my first painting on the watercolor canvas sheets using watercolor pencils.

Do I plan to give up painting on watercolor paper to paint only on watercolor canvas? NO - I have plans for different projects I want to do on the watercolor canvas sheets than what I want to paint on the watercolor stretched watercolor canvas and I like how many things turn out on watercolor paper - there is room in my art for both surfaces. I think the watercolor canvas rolls may be just what I was wanting though for a large wall mural project.

Fredrix has a 10 minute YouTube video online you can see at http://www.fredrixartistcanvas.com/ - it is also on the DVD. They also have a Tips & Techniques PDF brochure - it is not the same one that is packaged with the products I bought. There is also an audio visual Flash presentation that is different from the Tom Lynch video. Good information.

On a scale of 1-10 - I rate the DVD content by Tom Lynch as a 10.

Technical issues - from a filming point of view - I give the videographer/editor or whoever was responsible for the final DVD movie a 5 … they did not do a good job in my opinion but Tom Lynch did a good job of helping me be ready for painting on watercolor canvas.