I finally decided on the subject for my first oversized watercolor - a wonderfully complicated pile of fallen branches. I've had a roll of arches 156 pound watercolor paper from Christmas 2016 just waiting for me to use it. A subject was very difficult to decide on - though I knew I wanted to continue my theme revolving around the overlooked subjects in landscape; small, quiet moments a landscape painter would not typically choose for a "beautiful" or oversized image, but that I notice on my walks in the woods around my home.
This watercolor is 52" x 52". In order to build the base to hold the paper I bought some lumber from Home Depot, some corner braces, screws and made the base in about 2 hours. It was very similar to assembling a large canvas from stretcher bars. I also purchased some super strong magnets to hold the paper to the frame (where the metal braces hold the wood together) which worked beautifully.
Here is the frame from the back. I stapled a plastic/paper drop cloth over it help protect the watercolor paper.
The first image shows my reference photo (approximately 14" x 14") against the paper. I used painter's blue tape to "square-up" both my photo and the watercolor because while the blue tape sticks, it is very, very easy to remove and does not leave any residue.
The first image shows my reference photo (approximately 14" x 14") against the paper. I used painter's blue tape to "square-up" both my photo and the watercolor because while the blue tape sticks, it is very, very easy to remove and does not leave any residue.
As you can see in the second and third photos, I've squared off areas that directly correlate to the squares I taped on the photo, making it easier to enlarge the photo to the large scale watercolor. I love details so I really like to get even the smallest shapes recorded. It doesn't have to be perfect but part of this painting will be about organizing and figuring out this huge array of information - in a way that correlates to life, don't you think?
Flattening the Paper
Because of its large size, 52" x 52", flattening this cut from the original roll wasn't easy! I needed a large flat surface so I grabbed two large pieces of oversized mat board (you can use any flat surface you can find, a table, floor) put them next to each other and lined them with freezer paper to keep the wet paper from buckling them. I took the dry curled paper, sprayed water from a plastic bottle over the surface until it absorbed fully into the paper using a paper towel to help dampen the entire surface. Once the paper was wet (not too wet, just damp is ok), I spread some paper towels over the surface, weighted it down with heavy books, and let it sit overnight. In the morning it was dry and fairly flat - flat enough to work on, though not perfectly flat as the pictures show.
Flattening the Paper
Because of its large size, 52" x 52", flattening this cut from the original roll wasn't easy! I needed a large flat surface so I grabbed two large pieces of oversized mat board (you can use any flat surface you can find, a table, floor) put them next to each other and lined them with freezer paper to keep the wet paper from buckling them. I took the dry curled paper, sprayed water from a plastic bottle over the surface until it absorbed fully into the paper using a paper towel to help dampen the entire surface. Once the paper was wet (not too wet, just damp is ok), I spread some paper towels over the surface, weighted it down with heavy books, and let it sit overnight. In the morning it was dry and fairly flat - flat enough to work on, though not perfectly flat as the pictures show.
I will keep you posted on my progress and am excited to finish the drawing and get to the painting. This is a big challenge for me; I've never worked this large before, but I know it will be a great learning experience. I'm taking care in every step so as not to rush ahead of myself and waste all the hard work that's come so far.
Until next time.
