I came down to my studio to find my water colour paper flat with no buckles, so that was a relief. I can now move along in the process and transfer my drawing on to the stretched paper. Normally, I draw my image onto the unstretched paper which works fine, however, I have read that if you stretch first before drawing, then the pencil lines can be erased easier. Because Remi is such a light colour I have to be sure that my pencil lines are very very light i.e. erasable.
So, the drawing was finished and I started in on the painting. I have studied the reference photo intensely but it is still a challenge knowing where to place that first brush stroke. Today I spent roughly four hours on painting and at the end of the day was feeling satisfied with the beginning.
* * *
Well, how quickly things change! I was shocked to find my work had dried all wavy--the kraft paper held to the paper but not to the board and even with a ton of staples it managed to buckle! Now what??
It is worth trying to save so I removed all the staples, trimmed the excess kraft paper from the painting and my plan is to resoak the painting and then reattach to my foamboard with duct tape which I am finding holds well. Unfortunately a painting that was originally 13 x 16 is now only 9-1/2 x 10-1/2 but I refuse to just trash it.
Ultimately, this painting does not want to cooperate--the second attempt at stretching seemed to work after drying it with a blowdryer and I thought I was home free, but as I proceeded to paint again, after three hours it started to buckle AGAIN.
I am extremely disappointed and expect I will have to begin all over again from scratch with new paper. I will use Arches 300# this time and change my board from foamboard to plywood using staples and duct tape. Fortunately, there is no deadline and I am so appreciative that Melissa is patient with me.
Off I go. I will pickup on my blog at a later date.
~C
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