#30×30, 2025, Day 22: Peony Season

“Peony Season”, 22×22″ Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico 200lb Cotton Rag.

I’ve had to take a few days out of #30×30 to make a painting for the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour, as it’s time again for their annual Open Water Exhibition.

I’ve been meaning to make large-ish piece (22×22″) with this particular approach for a while now, so – despite the fact it’s Direct Watercolor this month – I’ve been spending a few days practicing with transparent glazing.

This one started with a drawing of course, but instead of trying for this depth of color with my usual wet-on-dry direct painting; I’ve flooded the paper probably 5-9 times with transparent glazes. (Depending what areas we’re talking about).

I’m of course waiting for it to dry between layers, either using a hair dryer for small areas, or actually flattening the paper in-between soakings.

I’ve made a table-top press with a HUGE stack of cardstock that I lay over top of a sheet of plexiglass, then the painting, and then thick stack of newsprint which serves to wick away the moisture from the damp paper.

If I want to flatten more than one thing at a time, I just interleave them in the stack between sufficient amounts of newsprint. I’m not using drawing-quality newsprint. We happened to have a few boxes of ‘moving paper’ – the same stuff you use to pack dishes, or lay on the floor when you’re house painting. Or at least, that’s how I paint ceilings. I should have bought a proper drop-cloth 20 years ago, but I’ve always used newsprint, and now it’s too late to get a lifetime’s value out of a proper drop cloth :)

This Rube Goldberg approach seems to work well enough, giving me back a perfectly flat sheet of paper the next day. Presumably, a few hours would suffice, but I’ve been managing to put in a little work each day and end up with a soaked sheet that is ready to flatten.

So; this is my first time in a long long time spending more than one day to paint a watercolor!

I had to learn from a book that drying was a necessary step for Tea, Milk, and Honey; but even then, when you’re painting plein-air you’re doing well if you have time to wait for one soaking of the paper, never mind all this layering.

And then of course, now that I’ve added Gouache to my toolkit – it’s remarkable what a tiny amount of retouching will do to pull an image out of a misty background.

This year is the CSPWC’s100th anniversary – and I’ve already been rejected twice this year!!! Once for the King Charles Royal Collection Trust and once for the 2025 Members’ Exhibition, where I took a wild gamble on the oversize-works category, of which only ONE painting was accepted.

So this is my last chance for 2025 and the big 100th season! Wish me luck!

~m