A new watercolor in progress and tips I have learned

This is going to be a watercolor with watercolor pencils.  I have been having fun doing this technique, so now I am doing this on Arches 140lb cold press paper.  I am working from a photograph that I took of a real dog napping on a window sill!!!!! 

I started by drawing it freehand in a sketch book on good quality paper that could hold up to eracing to fix errors.  Then I traced it.  Then I made graphite transfer paper - a technique I learned from Anne Abgott in her workshop.  Using a 6B graphite stick (architectural supply), I heavily coated another tracing paper.  Then, I "fixed" the graphite by using a little bit of lighter fluid on a paper towel - rubbing in circular movements.  (The first application was a little too light so I had to repeat the process).

I like to use Scotch 3M painters blue tape in the grade of stickiness called "low to medium adhesion".  It holds the traced drawing paper down and yet you can peel it off without ripping the tracing paper.

Another trick I learned from Anne was to use a cleaning pad (architectural supply) to remove extra dark graphite spots from your watercolor paper before painting.  It worked great!!!

Next, I saved some white areas on the dog's coat and a paper sign with Mistix (liquid artists rubber cement).

Then I began to use watercolor pencils to define the grain of wood, the shadows of the wooden letters, and the texture of the dog's coat and other areas.  Then, I filled in some of the areas with various watercolor washes.  I am basically working on dry paper with a wet brush.  I think this is called "wet on dry."

Because the background of the dog is specific and complex, I needed to do tight work.  I did not tape my paper down to the board because I knew that it would be easier to rotate the paper as I filled in the letters and other difficult areas.