For my birthday recently, my son and daughter-in-law took me to the Lehman Caves at the Great Basin National Park in eastern Nevada. I was so struck by the caves that I wanted to paint the stalactites. In order to give them definition, I used watercolor "ground" to create the rock formation, giving it almost a 3D effect.

Watercolor "ground" is a very thick, viscous material that goes on wet and takes 24 hours to dry. Once dry, an artist is able to paint on it. In this case, as I was creating a rock-like effect, I made sure to increase the amount of ground so that it would stick up from the paper. I am very happy with the effect and may do more like this in the future.

This painting is not matted nor framed. I think it would very nice with a black mat and frame, but that will ultimately be the decision of the buyer. I hope you like this painting as much as I enjoyed painting it