Bigger is Better!

Recently on a trip to Lake Tahoe, California, my wife and I discovered a great little gallery in South Tahoe (Nevada) The artist's name was David Hwang. He and his wife Connie (also an accomplished artist) we very nice to us. I mentioned that I was also a watercolourist and they showed us around their gallery and studio. I immediately noticed the size of David's watercolours and mentioned the fact that I had never seen watercolour paper that big before.

David filled me in on a detail I was not aware of. Paper is available at 300 lb. on 11 yard rolls. He gave me his source and I promptly ordered a roll on my return home. My first large scale painting was 27" X 38". It is the picture shown above. What a unique challenge this size presents. First off, it become quickly apparent that my regular brushes were too small. Next I needed small cups of colour instead of my regular puddles. Painting on larger sheets of paper also places an increased challenge when it comes to consistency of wet. Starting on my left and moving across, it was interesting to see how fast paper dries.

The big overall lesson was more planning from a different perspective. In the above painting it took three passes to put in the background mountains. Everything more or less fell into place. I was quite pleased with the result of my first large watercolour.

The finishing also came at the direction of David Huang. He advised that I purchase a deckle edged ruler. With this tool, I ripped the edges of the painting along the deckle to give the final impression of painting off the edges. VERY nice. When framed and matted away from the painting it has a floating effect.

For my first big piece, I think it turned out rather well. I noticed that because of it's size and and my smallish brushes, I tend to be tighter than looser in technique.