Painting 33

Ref 963 Watercolor.- Keeping the paper "damp" for painting

This is the result of this process;

                 "Behavior is the mirror from which we reflect our image"

Most of my previous exercises regarding throwing paint, wet on wet, and/or wet on damp  give an idea however
there are so many factors that matter (such as paper texture and weight, the amount of water, the thickness of pigment or the timing). With that being said, there’s something magical about the way colors flow and blend with each other, creating a beautiful, striking effect
Here are some tips and tricks that can help you
Choose the right paper
The texture of the paper plays an important role when you paint wet in wet. Hot pressed paper is less absorbent, so colors will float on the surface longer
My personal favorite for wet-in-wet technique is cold-pressed,140-pound, 100-percent cotton watercolor paper
Catch the right moment
If you apply paint when the paper is shiny wet, colors will spread over the large area of your painting, producing undefined shapes. When you need to make a soft, but not too diffused brush stroke, just wait until the surface is no longer glossy, but still damp and cool to the touch
Lift with a “thirsty” brush and/or absorbent paper
As long as the paper is still wet, you can easily make corrections if something goes wrong. Just blot your brush thoroughly and lift the paint back off the paper. In some cases, you may need to add clean water to the surface before lifting. The trick here is that the damp but blotted brush absorbs more water than it releases, so it will quickly pick the wet color up from your painting
Use a hair dryer
Use a hair dryer when painting wet in wet, and you won’t have to get bored waiting for the paper to dry to a perfect consistency
Use damp fabric to retain moisture (main advice)
If you need paper to stay wet for a longer period of time, you can take a moisture-resistant surface (I used plexiglás underneath), place a thin damp cotton fabric on it, and then put a sheet of paper, moistened from both sides, on top of this “sandwich”. With this simple trick, the paper will lay flat and retain water for several hours
In this way I overlaid 3 or more layers of red color making from it, a deep red without stainong marks, and for the wáter reflections I tilted the paper to get a gradual change of colors