I have some really large sheets of heavy, glossy paper that feels like cover stock or really heavy photo paper that a friend gave me but we don’t know what it’s made of. It handles paint in interesting and unexpected ways. Regular watercolors float on it and, unless they’re a staining variety, can be wiped away–almost completely erased–which is very un-watercolorlike. (A spray or two with fixative makes watercolor permanent.)

Dr. Martin’s radiant watercolors stain and are permanent from first brush.

Acrylics float if thinned out but eventually stick tight.

The paper is so tough that I can scrub away at it, finding wonderful effects without tearing the paper. It’s the perfect stuff for water and fish, so slippery and unexpected and fun.

I tried a large painting on this paper–25 x 30–but ended up not liking the composition, so I found and developed several smaller paintings, using that as a base. I call them One Koi, Two Koi, and Three Koi.

Click on a picture to enlarge it.