For Artists Who Love the Outdoors

I've been exploring different watercolor surfaces for about the last twelve years; it takes a while to find my comfort level with each new surface, but watercolor is an incredibly flexible medium, and at some point I reach that level each time. Washi paper is one of the most interesting surfaces I've explored because it is so personal, so individual, and yet so connected. You may have seen sheets of washi paper in your local art supply or you may have to ask to see them. (Some art suppliers treat them like gold.) They are fibrous sheets, either natural or white for our purpose, but it is the fibrous texture that fascinates me. There are many, many types of Washi paper, and developing a collage surface with them is like working on a jig saw puzzle of pure white. You are guided by shape alone and there are no visual guidelines to turn to for help. You have entered the world of texture.

There are two ways in:  You can begin by tearing washi sheets into small shapes,and laying them on a canvas or board surface that has two coats of gesso. Next, use matte medium to adhere the shapes to the surface. Because of the different shapes and hues of Washi paper, you will build up a varied and intriguing surface which replicates to some extent, the landscape or still life you will paint over it. At its most abstract, it is like painting a fresco. The surface becomes a part of the painting.

The othe method is to paint individual sheets of washi with pure colours - sheets of red, green, yiellow, blue, - all the colors you plan to use in your painting. Let them dry completely, and then create your collages, tearing pierces from the colored sheets to complete the shapes and structures of your painting. After you have the shapes adhered to the surface with matte medium, you can add calliographic details with a brush, and glaze the final work with a colored wash. 

The work is careful and thoughtful, and requires concentration; however, that doesn't mean that it can't handle spontaneity. There's always an opportunity to bring something exciting and unplanned to your work. I've included " Wolf Willow" as my image, because I made a decision as I painted the piece, that I needed something different, something exciting,  in the foreground of the landscape, but didn't know what it was yet. So I stopped, left the piece on my easel, and went for a long walk at Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park. While coming down the long hill in, I saw exactly what I needed for my landscape, a patch of wolf willow on the hillside. That's what my painting needed! That would be my foreground! I could hardly wait to get back to the studio.

Creating watercolour on Washi paintings and collage works is, in fact, what I've been searching for for a number of years, and didn't know it. I wanted genuine texture in my watercolours, not tricks, but actual texture. I only know of a few watercolourists who have found their way in to this space, a space almost totally inhabited by acrylic and oil artists. They can layer on paint, work with palette knives, create density to their work which watercolourists can only admire. I needed to find a way into this world, and watercolour on Washi paper seems to be that way. To me, it's like the artists of Lascaux caves coming across a blank cave wall and seeing the curves and dents and fissures as a part of what they wanted to express, the life they wanted to capture. I invite you to join me in this exciting new artistic opportunity, watercolour on Washi paper!