Watercolor Painting and Solid GroundTM Panels

Since Solid Ground Panels are non-absorbent and smooth,
painting on them with watercolors feels almost completely
different than painting on a piece of watercolor paper, and for that
reason we rarely recommend them for use with watercolors.
(Not so, however, for gouache, casein, and other water-based
paints, which work very well on Solid Ground.) Watercolors
sit on the surface of our panels, and take a long time to dry. And
due to the nature of the surface texture of the panels, colors tend
to feather at the edges when applied in water-thin applications.

The only cases where they might be appropriate would be in the
realm of "experimental" techniques, where their particular properties
might find occasional use.

For artists who might still like to pursue watercolor painting on
panels, one way to make our panels more receptive to watercolor
is to coat them with a priming of a product from Golden Artist
Colors which they call "Absorbent Ground". This primer adheres
nicely to Solid Ground panels and provides a coating which is
absorbent and works very well as a watercolor ground. It was
designed to work and feel like paper, and the degree of absorbency
can be controlled by your method of application of the coating.
If you would like more information about this product, you can
get it at the Golden Paints website by clicking on this link:
http://www.goldenpaints.com/absorb.htm