Nothing beats painting on a piece of stretched watercolour paper. But what if inspiration strikes when you don't have any stretched paper to hand? How do you smooth out an unstretched watercolour ready for framing?
It's quite simple. All you need are some pieces of heavy wood, slightly larger than the painting, from which to make a press, a few sheets of acid-free paper, some old pieces of matboard and a spray water bottle. I use four old bathroom cabinet doors to make the press.
Place the watercolour reverse side up on the acid free paper and then spray it liberally with water. Smooth your hand over the wet paper to even out the moisture. Place one of the pieces of wood on the floor or table with a piece of matboard and a dry sheet of acid free paper on top. Then carefully put the wet picture face down onto this. Place a second piece of acid-free paper on top and on top of that another piece of matboard. Then add the heavy pieces of wood on top of this to form a press. Finally place some heavy books and magazines on top to weight it all down. Leave for 24 hours and then remove your perfectly flat painting!
