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Ever since I returned from Italy in October I have had an image in my head that I have been itching to paint.  The image comes from a photo I snapped of an elderly woman reading a letter.  She was completely absorbed by it and her furrowed brow and slouched shoulders added emotional content.

I thought it would be interesting to tackle this image in watercolor - the medium with which I am least comfortable. Because I hate stretching paper, I chose the heaviest sheet from my watercolor paper pile and spent a couple of hours carefully mapping out the drawing.  I thought I could do my usual painting with thin wet into wet washes using expressive brush strokes. Later that week I worked from a model and as my paint slid around uncontrollably and dried blotchy I realized the paper was 300 lb. hot press and my normal approach to watercolor painting was not working.  I also realized that my drawing of the old woman that I worked so hard on was on the same paper and I had no idea what to do next.

Luckily the internet exists so I Goggled “painting on 300 lb. hot press.”  There are artists out there who create beautiful images on this particular surface and I hoped to find someone who shared their process.   Many references were to Susan Harrison-Tustain who generously shares her approach of priming the paper with clear water twice and creating an under painting in yellow.   This meant that I had to soak the paper and stretch it (ugh!). Once it dried, I would have to completely wet down areas twice before “dabbing” in the color.   This priming and painting wet into wet creates a smooth surface with soft transitions.  So I soaked, stretched, primed and dabbed. 

The result was lovely but I did not know how to approach the color layering.  I needed an example to follow so I created the same image in oil using the same yellow under painting.  Oil allowed me to experiment and become confident of the color palette.  To match the oil palette in watercolor, I painted several scraps of watercolor paper yellow then experimented with glazes until I got the colors that matched the oil.  Now I am layering in the color following my oil palette.

Oil painting

Color lay in

Close up

1st background wash

Will this painting turn out? I have no idea but the process sure is interesting.  This is the kind of challenge that I love and what returns me to the easel with enthusiasm.  The day I know exactly what I am doing is the day I retire as an artist.