Watercolor Experiment, Floating Market Thailand

Watercolor Canvas (YES Brand) 24X30 Watercolor and Acrylic mat medium

I've worked on this new watercolor canvas called 'Yes' Canvas before, as you may remember but haven't actually used it as a "traditional watercolor" substructure before.  I usually do some abstract mixed media type stuff on them.  I have wanted to create a very large watercolor and have had a 45X45" piece of watercolor paper stretched out and ready to begin in my studio since July or August but every time I look at it the idea of framing it gives me cold feet and I go work on something else.  So I decided to experiment on a 'Yes' Canvas to see if I could get the look of traditional watercolor I want without having to deal with the size and weight of traditional framing afterword.   Of course I often make some big mistake by getting ahead of myself and this project was no different.  I actually painted this whole underpainting in watercolor instead of using acrylic as watercolor.  For those unfamiliar with the properties of watercolor this means that the paint is resoluble and will lift if you re wet it unlike acrylic.  On watercolor paper this isn't such a big problem as you usually have to agitate the surface quite a bit to lift the paint significantly and it has to get pretty wet as well.  On this 'Yes' Canvas the dry paint lifts instantly when touched with a wet brush!  I realized my mistake as I tried to begin my second layer with more wet watercolor.  I then realized that I should have used acrylic as watercolor instead which would have solved two problems. The lifting of each layer and how to protect the finished painting.  I didn't want to completely start over so I decided to see if I could lightly paint a coat of liquid gel mat medium over this layer without lifting the watercolor too badly.  It wasn't easy because the paint lifts so easily on this canvas surface but I finally managed even though it did blur the paint in some areas.  Now I am ready to continue but I will not make the mistake again and will go forth with thin layers of acrylic instead of using the traditional watercolors.  We'll see how it goes.  I thoroughly enjoyed working on this surface with the watercolor up to the point when I tried to add the second layer so am very encouraged that I my be able to create my very large watercolor on a Yes canvas.  I would love to hear if about any experience you have had working with this product.