Watercolors

Today, I wanted to share some more watercolor backgrounds that I did. When I make these, I watercolor a large sheet of watercolor paper. I usually use a watercolor block rather than loose sheets of watercolor paper. My favorite is Arches Cold Pressed, 100% cotton, 140lb, 12 x 16.

For me, this is a great size pad because you can fill the page quickly. I tend to work on the page while it is still attached and let it dry on the pad so that the warping is minimized. The paper is thick enough to be sent through the mail which for me is important because I tend to send these out as postcards. There is enough tooth to the page so you can rough it up a little bit if you want to add texture.

What I like most is that you can take an entire sheet and cut it down and the individual pieces are similar but different depending where on the page the section has been cut. How many different sheets of watercolor paper do you think that above samples where taken from?

The whole process only takes minutes and if you allow yourself to play then this can be very fun and therapeutic. I find that moving the color around on the page is mind easing and I love that I can "mess it up" and still be able to recover by doing something creative with the final result. The best part is that you can do these quickly, pull sheets to dry, and do more. Once you are finished, you can put away your supplies until the next time and you have plenty of results to use for future projects.