I use 300 lb. d'Arches watercolour paper and find that I do not have to stretch the paper when working wet on wet and it holds a fair amount of water allowing me plenty of time to apply my paint.
The background was created by applying pure colours first in French ultramarine blue, Antwerp blue and raw sienna. I use artists' quality Windsor & Newton watercolour paint.
As the paper begins to dry a little I put in upward strokes of mixtures of the two blues with the raw sienna to indicate background grasses. Using pure burnt sienna I indicated the areas I wanted to have some of the dark seed bundles. French ultramarine blue was added to the burnt sienna for the darker areas.
This painting was then set aside to dry.
