I have been to Venice a couple of times and I always wanted to paint Venice someday and that day came last week. I had a 12x16 Arches 100% cotton paper that was sitting in a recycle bin. I wanted to practice on the back of the paper. The first image below was the practice painting on the back of the Arches. Issues I encountered were;

1. Wash was drying too quick. I couldn't wet the back of the paper for the obvious reason and that definitely contibuted the wash drying too quick.

2. Too small brush for the wash. I used the #12 round brush and I think it was still too small.

3. Not having enough paint mixed for the wash. , I thought I had enough paint mixed for the water, but I didn't.

Asides theses issues,, I included too much detail on the boats and the water.

So based on this practice, I painted the second one below. This time it was done on a qtr sheet Buckingford 200 lbs rough. It was my first time testing Buckinhford. I wet the back of the paper, used the 1" Hake brush for the wash and had enough paint mixed. The first was went very well. Then I encountered the problem with the paper. As I wet the front of the paper again and paint, I noticed that the fiber of the paper was lifting. It is probably a learning experience for me using Buckingford. Since it is not 100% cotton, it won't take multiple applications of water well I think. As for the overall take on the 2nd practice, less detail was included, but I still overworked the water. 😣. I think the composition of the 2nd painting is slightly better.

It was a good practice and learned a lot.

Your comment is always welcomed and appreciated. Thanks, H.