Painting on toned paper

This is somewhat late, but Happy New Year everyone! 

I have been extremely busy with new projects, but while working in my studio today I came across this painting that I did with my class in 2010. I thought you might like to see it.

This painting is on Arches 300lb cold pressed watercolour paper that I toned with Schmincke walnut brown watercolour paint. This was a 'wet' application of colour. When the paint was dry I did a contour drawing of a budding amaryllis on the paper.

Using the same paint as was used for the background, I glazed over the flower using values from light to dark. I intentionally let the light side of the stem, and the foreground leaf disappear, (or almost disappear) into the background colouring.

I enjoy making monochromatic paintings and drawings on toned backgrounds. Above is a sepia pen sketch I made of the grain elevators that used to be in Starbuck, Manitoba.

How to tone watercolour paper

 

Method one: toning dry paper

Use a flat wash technique to glaze colour over an entire sheet of watercolour paper if you want a perfectly flat and even toned paper. The above sample was painted on dry, Arches 300lb cold pressed watercolour paper. It was then left to dry before I made my contour drawing of an amaryllis bud. 

Method two: toning wet paper 

Maybe you would like something more interesting in your background tones. You may achieve this by painting on wet watercolour paper. 

Mix up a quantity of sepia (or any colour). I like excess colour to run off the paper so I don’t tape it down. Paper toweling is handy to collect excess colour.

Both the back and the front of the paper were wet so it didin't dry too quickly. The paper was then placed on a piece of plexiglas. Using a hake brush, the colour was applied to the top left and right corners of the paper.

The plexiglas was then picked up and tilted back and  forth to direct the colour’s flow.
If the colour didn't move where I want it, I used a fine spray of water to lighten, or direct the colour. When I was satisfied with the look, I left the paper to dry. It was propped up so any excess fluid would flow to the bottom where it was collected. This background was also painted on Arches 300lb, cold pressed paper.

Problems:

Fluid can collect behind the paper along any edge and create run backs or blossoms as you can see in the bottom right corner of the above example. This problem can be limited by gently lifting the edges of the paper to clean away excess fluid using a tissue.

Fluid colour may run back up into the paper even if it is propped up for drying. Check the bottom edge of the paper from time to time and remove any fluid that has collected there.

I plan ahead for this happening by using paper that is larger than I require for my painting. This allows me to crop the edges if necessary.

Tip:

If you would like to paint on toned watercolour paper, but don't want to paint your own paper, seek out Bockingford's pre-toned watercolour paper. It comes several colours including cream, eggshell, blue, and oatmeal. Bockingford paper is forgiving so you can lift even the most stubborn of watercolour paint.

Hope you enjoy this little impromptu lesson. Please comment if you have any questions.