Cool ...Easy Way to Stretch Watercolor Paper...and for  Repeated Use!

Read below photos for more information. Enjoy.

This is an inexpensive and easy way to stretch watercolor paper that can be used again and again .  You can build them any size that you will find in a canvas panel and foam core.  It is light , very sturdy and a fraction of the cost of the boards marketed for the same function and I also expect it will last longer.  I have had no warping.  Although my demonstration didn't show it, you could apply a coat of white acrylic or gray house paint to the panel before you put it together to improve life of the panel but I have had no problems.  I hope if you try this, you will be as pleased as I have been.  This is the only system I use now for stretching watercolor paper!!  The foam core on the back side functions as a layer to prevent the tips of the staples from getting through to snag or scratch the painter.:)

On a  crisp morning in the neighbor's barn this pretty little ewe is wondering just what I am doing there.  She is penned because it is spring and she is safer with the little one who is barely indicated at her side.   The light is just coming through the windows creating some great highlights on the wool and barn edges.  Thanks for looking!

Thanks to a neighbor who was generous with her time and livestock , I had a wonderful reference for this beautiful calf.  Entitled:  The Nap 

In an effort to play with light , once again, these two "teenagers" are enjoying a little of the outside seeping into their space.  This painting is a compilation of multiple images from our home and photographic references.  Three different planes are layered to keep pulling at the eye.  I got much too involved in the detail but feel good about the washes in the chair.  Thanks again for looking!!!

Just something to note if you are new to my blog and that is fairly obvious because this is a new thing for me!  The prints on the available print section of my home page are photographed and printed by an excellent pair of printer/artists who live and work in Oregon City.  I have found that their quality is superb and extremely true to the original.   Their business name is "Sweet Pixels".  If you are in the market for giclee prints as an artist, I  highly recommend Wendy and Rick Givens and that is coming form someone who is very exacting with my color reproduction.  [sweet-pixels.com]

More art work coming shortly.....