Rose Gloria Dei - Original watercolor stretched on stretcher bars

Rose Gloria Dei, size: 8"x8", stretched 140 Lb watercolor paper

Hi, this is really something new. At first the painting is new :) but also that it is painted on stretched watercolor paper which were stretched over stretcher bars like a stretched canvas for oils or acrylics.

Fellow artist Joyce Faulknor did a demo on her blog about Paper Preparations for Varnishing Watercolor Paintings. I really had to try this out.
This means my watercolor painting looks now like a stretched canvas and after it was painted I varnished it. This means too that it doesn't need to be framed, because the edges are painted. Of course a beautiful frame looks always great, but you don't need to frame it behind glass. You can handle this watercolor painting like an oil painting. The edges are not stapled, this happened all on the backside.

This is a wonderful idea and I plan to do more of them. I just needed to order some more stretcher bars. I am very thankful that Joyce Faulknor was so generous to share this technique.

I also was having a lot of problems with stretching my watercolor paper on a board, it always buckled and the tape was not working correct. I have tried so many things. When doing a lot of washes you really need to have a flat surface to get the result for what you are looking for.
Now with stretching the paper over stretcher bars another pluspoint is that your painting is flat and it is tight as a drum. You should try it - I am sure you will love it!