Go Big or Go Home
This June I began a project with the goal to make larger pieces of art since geometric art is traditionally quite large. It decorates walls, for example. The project is called 'Geometry Writ Large.'
One-and-a-half months into this project, I have found out that enlarging my pieces comes with its own learning curve. It starts with doing research and sourcing large sized watercolour sheets. Not every watercolour paper manufacturer makes these.
There are basically two options - using paper that comes in rolls or buying unrolled large sheet. I am a stickler for perfection when it comes to paper. I prefer to work on smooth watercolour paper. I do not like the paper to buckle - mostly because large area washes are applied with geometric art and in my experience, buckling tends to interfere with the smooth application of a watercolour wash.
The Watercolour Paper Roll Experiment
I already had Fabriano smooth rolled watercolour paper and set out researching how to flatten this paper. Truth be told, I was given this paper and can only guess at its weight. I think it is 200gsm. I wanted to make it as flat as possible. I cut off a large piece of approximately 150cm by 120cm. The piece I was planning to make would be about 1m by 1m. I then needed to find a flat weight, and decided that a very large 1m by 1m ceramic tile that I found in my yard (yes indeed!) would do just fine. I sprayed the sheet with water - not too much and not too little and let it absorb for a few minutes.
Then I placed a thin towel over the sheet and steam-ironed it over low heat. This seems to be one of the methods. I let the paper dry and rest overnight with the large ceramic tile as a weight. In the morning I expectantly lifted the tile, and unfortunately did not like the result as the paper had buckled in places. It may very well be that the paper was too thin.
Some people would recommend tacking down the paper so that it is stretched and then wetting it and letting it dry. The result should be a perfectly stretched canvas. I tried this in the past with this particular paper when working on smaller pieces and the results were the same: too much buckling for my comfort. With smaller pieces, I work on the paper non-stretched and not previously wet. This works fine. But, with much larger art pieces in mind, rolled, dry, large format Fabriano paper is not manageable.
Decision Time
Buying large watercolour sheets is not cheap! And, the choices are few. Overall, I do like working on Fabriano Paper (although it is not my favourite). After much thought, I bought a pack of 25 loose Fabriano 300g smooth surface sheets (50cm by 75cm)
and also three huge Atlantis Giant Watercolour & Drawing Paper - 400gsm sheets
It seems that I was lucky to have been able to order these online. Now, these sheets are only available in store. Is it worth a trip to the store?
So far, I am pleased with both products, but I prefer the 400gsm sheets. The absorption of the watercolour paint is fantastic and results in very consistent washes. I even came up with a hack for doing large-area washes: I fill a dropper with my watercolour paint and as I lay down the wash, I drop the paint onto the watercolour paper. This way I do not have to dip my brush into the paint reservoir all the time and can work very steadily and effectively.
Some more considerations
Some other things I am learning seem to be matter of course: The time it takes to make the preparatory geometric drawings, trace and transfer them onto paper and make arabesque (biomorphic) designs is much longer.
Struggling with large watercolour sheets also comes with its challenges. For example, I tend to turn my work a lot so that I can paint as precise as possible. You can imagine that this is more difficult with a large sheet.
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I am currently working on several pieces at the same time. One is more for play and experimentation where I use various media together including gouache, watercolour and Art Graf soluble graphite blocks. Two geometric pattern designs are proprietary to my teacher, Mr. M. Aljanabi who can be found on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/zakhrafa.school. This means that I cannot post these particular designs online. Here is a rosette I designed for one of the pieces.
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The next piece will be a pattern that is publicly available and I will film parts of the procedure. Stay tuned for that!
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At the end of the summer, I hope to also have made two murals (on wooden panels). Initially, I thought that I would use a projector to project the pattern onto the panels. Now, I am wondering if this is possible at all. Do the angles of the pattern transfer properly with a projector? Do any of you have any experience with this? I may just transfer the pattern by using a tried and tested method -with powdered charcoal.