Board coated with Watercolor Ground

 

Watercolor on Watercolor Ground

You can purchase an archival treated board (Ampersand Aquabord) from Dick Blick or other art outlets. However, you can also make your own from a wood board and some Watercolor Ground.

A "ground" is simply a medium that makes a surface capable of absorbing whatever paint you want to use, in this case watercolor. QoR makes a ground, as does Daniel Smith. Daniel Smith makes it in 6 colors: White, Buff Titanium, Transparent, Black, Pearlescent, and Gold. I've used Daniel Smith before, but wanted to try QoR (by Golden) brand. 

A ground like this can be added to many surfaces: wood, glass, plexiglas, metal, mat board, plastic, etc. 

To prepare the wood, I first put two layers of gesso on it. To apply it so that the surface is fairly smooth: Brush it on, then roll it with small sponge paint roller. After the gesso dried, I applied 3 layers of watercolor ground, with the same technique: brush it on, roll with small paint roller, dry completely.

After 3 layers, I dried it for at least 48 hours. (Instructions say 24-48, but I like to be certain it is completely dry.)

Cost-wise, this is much more economical than purchasing aquabord, especially if you have access to a lot of wood. I did 12 8x8 boards with half a jar of ground. I got QoR ground on sale at Blicks for around $12...Amazon also sells it for about $14 for 8 oz. (237 ml) But a jar will make about 20 8 x 8 boards. 

For this project, I wanted students to experience several things: How does it absorb the paint? How well does it glaze? How well does it lift? Can you do wet into wet? The feel of brush against surface is very different than paper.

First, everyone copied the subject with Saral, since you obviously can't use a light box.

Be careful not to smudge or copy too dark. GRAPHITE DOES NOT ERASE WELL on this surface. If you are drawing you can use watercolor pencil, as it will erase with water.

For my reference I used a photo by Stuart Swain from Paint My Photo.

The first technique I wanted to show was how it performs wet on dry. The middle bit of foliage is done first. Using a medium green (like sap) and a dark green (I used green apatite genuine) and a yellow, I applied dabs of paint, alternating the colors and leaving tiny bits of WHITE. It's a very impressionistic method and look.

(If your greens are limited, you can make a medium green look darker and shadowy by adding purple to it.)

You will notice that it doesn't take long for this to dry.

Next I used a flower color (in one I used magenta and violet, and in the one above I used coral and orange). I used the same process, making clusters of flower color, NOT POLKA DOTS. After the flowers dried, I used a lighter green (medium green with yellow) to put in the foliage. I still left tiny bits of white. At the same time, I used the green in a negative painting way to shape the flowers more. Then I added a few tiny bits of darker color in some centers.

The umbrellas used a glazing technique. For each one, I glazed over with a pale shade. (for example, with this first one, I used pale yellow). I dried it. Then I left the first row yellow, then painted all the others pale orange. Dry. Finally, I painted the top section a dark orange, adding in a very dark at the very top.

I did this process with each successive umbrella.

All that is left is a cerulean wash for the sky, lifting some clouds if you want it while paint is wet.

I blushed over the tops of the poles with a wet brush, dragging some of the dark paint over the pole tops. 

(The sun would reflect some of the umbrella color onto the poles) When dry, I shaded the left side of the poles. I used a very fine liner brush to paint in the umbrella ribs. I also shade one side of the umbrella to give a little depth.

I had everyone try to lift some paint. Watercolor lifts easily from the ground. If you only want to lighten a color, just wet the area in the shape you want; if you want it back to white, wet it and blot it to lift. You do not need a stiff brush to lift.

IF I WERE TO DO THIS AGAIN, I would paint in the umbrellas before some of the foliage that goes in front of it so I wasn't having to avoid the greens while I painted. I could have just lifted off parts of the umbrella where I wanted to paint green, since it's so easy to lift)

Positives:

1. Lifts back to white easily. Therefore, easy to correct mistakes. And the lifting does not damage the surface, so I can paint over it as much as I like. 

2. Colors sit on top a little more, so look vibrant.

3. You can do some glazing, as long as you use a soft brush and don't accidentally lift the lower layer of paint.

4. You can take the entire board back to white, but not over and over again.

5. You do not need to mat or frame under glass. You can just use a spray varnish (like Kamar) to protect it.

Negatives:

1. Pencil marks do not erase.

2. Sometimes it is TOO easy to lift.

Below is the painting on regular paper.  Since this painting is so small (8x8) I didn't do some of the shading and details I might have if it were larger.