Just Completed: Bengal Tiger
Watercolor, 38″ x 30″ on Hahnemühle Watercolor Collection 140 lb rag paper: $12,000
I ordered a few sheets of oversize Hahnemühle from Acuity Papers, at a great price, and tried out my new Black Velvet Silver #18 Brush. I chose this paper after reading some reviews, which claimed it had great liquid frisket handling characteristics, and I was not disappointed.
The paper is thinner than I usually use, and being oversized, I had to soak and stretch it before painting.
I used liquid frisket extensively for the twigs and branches of the background and painstakingly spattered and hand-painted frisket snowflakes across the whole piece before laying in loose background and body layers.
The paper, being sized to resist pilling and handle frisket, does not lift at all and paint won’t reactivate after drying, so once color is down it indelibly stains. Working within those constraints and making use of great glazing characteristics I was able to paint most of the tiger wet-on-wet and wet-on dry, to get the soft bleeding fur, seen through a snow storm effect.