A lesson on how to prepare watercolor paper for wet in in wet painting

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The biggest reason people run into problems painting wet into wet, is that the paper dries too fast. It will always dry fast if it is not properly wetted.

When paper gets wet it swells a surprisingly large amount. That's why when you paint on dry paper it buckles. That is the wet part gets bigger, while the paper around it stays small, so the wet paper has no place to go except up and down.

Wet paper also sticks to the surface below it, and that's nice not having your painting moving around while you work.

Some people tape the paper to the surface below. If you do it carefully, you can have a nice white "frame" around the paper. It give the matted work a snappy appearance, like an extra mat might. I used to do it that way,. Never anymore. Since the paper is restrained by the tape, it buckles like mad, and makes painting very difficult.

This is a map of the captains color palette.