painted on smooth board

watercolor on hot pressed paper

Stretching Watercolor Paper

You can buy pre-stretched watercolor paper in drawing blocks. When you’ve finished a painting, you use a knife to remove the sheet from the block. Also available are watercolor panels.
“Stretching watercolor paper”
It's generally recommended that watercolor paper less than (260 lb) is
stretched before use, otherwise it'll warp. It's a simple process.
“Here’s How”
You will need, gummed brown tape, plywood board about 2” larger then watercolor paper on all sides. I suggest board thickness of ½” to ¾”.
Cut four strips of gummed brown tape, one for each side of the piece of watercolor paper. Cut them slightly longer then the sides.
Soak a sheet of watercolor paper in cold water for a couple of
minutes. This is to allow the fibers in the paper to expand. Lift paper from water and let excess water drip off. With board laying flat, place wet paper in center of board. Paper at this point will be all hills and valleys. Now gently smooth out paper on board with your hands.
Moisten a strip of gummed tape and stick it down firmly along one side of paper, one third on paper. Tape down the other sides the same way. Leave board with paper flat till dried. When dry, you are ready to start painting.
Instead of using brown gummed tape, an alternative method is to staple the paper down onto the board.
Any tape or staple marks left on paper will be covered by the mat when painting is displayed.
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watercolor on rough paper