I am going to try and write every day but I may end up missing a day or two. We are going to try and sell our house.  They come this Thursday to photograph and write their description.  I might put some photos of photos of my house on my blog and website.  

I'm going to tell you all about watercolor paper.  I feel like this is the most important item when watercoloring.  There are all kinds of papers but I am only going to talk about the most common ones that most people I know use.  

The 3 surfaces of watercolor paper is Rough, Cold Press (sometimes called Soft Press), and Hot Press.  Rough has a very pebbled texture, Cold Press has a much lighter texture (not as rough), and Hot Press is smooth to the touch.  There are various weights of paper; 90# which is very thin or lightweight, 140# is a little heavier (my personal favorite), 2o0# which is heavier, 280#, and 300# which is very heavy (more like a thin board).  I am sure there are more weights but these are the ones I'm familiar with.  There are different rag/cotton contents in paper.  100% rag/cotton is the best.  The lower the percentage of rag/cotton, the less durable the paper.  It is awful when you are painting your picture and the surface starts pealing or picking off.  A 100% rag/cotton takes more abuse than paper with 60 or 80% rag/cotton content.

I like either Arches or Fabriano 140# Cold Press.  A lot of artists will use Hot Press, which is very smooth, when painting with Gouache Watercolor Paints.  Gouache is an opaque watercolor paint.  

All papers come in sheets or blocks.  The most common sheet size is 22" x 30". Blocks come in a various sizes.  A block of paper can be 10/20/25 sheets of paper glued on all four sides with the fourth side having an 1" or 1-1/2" space with no glue.  You paint on the top sheet and let the painting dry.  When dry, place a flat smooth knife or plastic palette knife between the painted top layer and the rest of the paper in the area without glue.  Slide it around all the edges to remove the painted top sheet.

If you buy a 22" x 30" sheet, you can get several pieces out depending on the size you need. You can then tape down your paper onto a larger backboard.  The backboard could be plexiglass, masonite, a drawing board or any board that will not absorb water.  You will tape down all four edges with a gummed brown tape or masking tape.  The block doesn't have to be taped because the edges are glued together.  

If you are painting a larger painting on anything less than 200#, you can stretch the paper.  You place your paper into a tub or anything that is larger than the paper size, leave it there for a few minutes.  Carefully remove the paper letting it drip a minutes, then place it onto the backboard and taping it down along the outer edges.  When working the wet or damp paper, I would use the brown gummed tape.  Let it dry, the paper will shrink.  This is to prevent it from warping if you are using a lot of washes.  I used to stretch my paper but now I guess I'm too lazy.  I just cut out my size and tape it down...  dry!

That is all I'm going to write about today.

Gayle