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I went to Blicks today to pick up some supplies and decided to test out some of the Arches rough grain watercolor paper. I had been using the green covered, fine grain paper previously. Both papers are cold pressed so they both have a certain amount of tooth. The fine grain is noticeable smoother, but there's not a huge difference between the fine grain and the rough grain. I set up outside to do quick light and shadow study and found that the rough tooth really works well for capturing a quick effect of the light and color. I wouldn't recommend using the rough grain if you're a more detailed painter, but this rough paper works very well for me. I also found that it's not as rough as the Winsor & Newton watercolor paper. Gotta keep painting while the weather's still fairly nice; once it gets colder out, the watercolor freezes while you're trying to paint.
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It's always a great feeling to frame a painting. I do my own framing and got this one from: www.pictureframes.com - It's a nice quality frame and fit perfectly. This painting is for my Mom and I did it back in 2015 when I was really into the method of William Bouguereau (1825 - 1905). The surface had yellowed quite a bit when it was in storage so I left it in a window with some direct sun for about a month; this is a great trick for anyone with yellowed oil paintings, the sun will bleach the yellow without harming the colors. *Do not put watercolors in a spot with direct sunlight because it'll destroy your watercolors. This is only for oil paintings which can turn yellow when in darkness for extended periods. Now it looks good and it's going to look great hanging on the wall. I'm gathering some tips here for putting a motorcycle away for the winter. This is the way I do it and I've learned this mostly from the Triumph dealership where I bought my bike: Locomotion Powersports in Mahwah, NJ. I keep my bike in an unheated garage so these tips will be different if you keep your bike outside because you'll need a bike cover in that case.  The first thing I do is to get a full tank of high quality gas. It's good to fill the tank before you put a bike away. With the gas, I also put in some gas stabilizer (measurements are on the bottle). The next thing I do is fill my tires, I use a portable air compressor from P.I. Auto Store and it's been working great for years. *Make sure your tires are cold before you inflate them
 When my bike is ready to be put in my garage, I roll it onto two carpet swatches from an old carpet roll. This is good for the tires because it stops the tires from developing flat spots. Since my bike is over 500 pounds, it can be tricky to line up both tires onto the carpet so I measured out the distance between my tires and measured out the swatches on the garage floor before rolling the bike in.
Alright that's it, now it's time to wait until riding season starts again.  |
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