Question Home

Position:Home>Visual Arts> How do I prepare watercolour paper for oil painting.I like the look of a matted


Question: How do I prepare watercolour paper for oil painting!.I like the look of a matted and framed picture !.!?
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Yes, that is all very good advice about getting the paper taut, but you cannot put oil paint directly onto watercolor paper!. It's not archival; the paper will begin to rot from the oil in the oil paint!.

You will need to prime it first with gesso!. One or two coats of an acrylic gesso should be fine!. Perhaps you could gesso it after it is stretched and dried as the first answerer describes!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

The best way to minimize wrinkles on your finished watercolor is to have the watercolor paper stretched BEFORE you begin to paint!.

The paper needs to be soaked for a minute, or so in water!. This relaxes the fibers!.

Then, the paper should be placed and flattened on a drawing board, large enough for the paper!. Using paper packing tape, (the kind with a loose network of fibers behind it) tape the edges of the paper to the board!. Use about half the tape on the paper, the other half to the board!. In other words, if you use four inch tape, two inches will hold down the edge of the paper, and two inches will adhere to the board!. Of course, you make whatever adjustments, according to the size of the paper and the tape you are using!. The key is that you have enough tape on the paper so that it will not come out from under the tape!.

Once you have all four edges of the paper taped down, the whole set us must be allowed to dry!. Overnight is best!. Here, the point is that the paper is completely dried before you paint!. As the paper dries, it is pulled taught by the tape holding it in place!. This built in tension will help keep the paper flat as you apply wet water color paint!. You will still get some wrinkling, but not as much as you would if you did not stretch the paper!. also, the tape will prevent the paper from curling up as you work!.

When you are done with the painting, you can use an exacto, or utility knife to cut the tape off from the board and then it can be trimmed as you see fit!.

This technique applies to watercolor paint on watercolor paper!. I am guessing that the advatages of stretching the paper will still apply if you want to paint with oils!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

im with him,i don't paint but do frame pictures,have picked up a lot over the years you have to stretch the paper,stops it cockling but i think once its dry you can paint on it if it's not on the board,was told wet the paper and stick it down but you can take it off when its dry and use it later,wont wrinkle so muchWww@QuestionHome@Com