This painting was a challenge. It is painted on Aquabord, which was new to me. It's a bright white clay surface mounted on 2" blonde wood sides ("cradled board"). It makes a nice contemporary presentation because it doesn't need a traditional mat and frame. It looks very clean and it's ready to hang. What was challenging was that this surface sucked up the watercolor paint, requiring many, MANY layers to get the intense colors that I wanted. I'm not a patient person, so I tried to think of this little darling as my "Patience Practice." Ultimately, I got the colors where I wanted them and then it was really fun to apply layers of lacquer and watch the depth of the colors come out and really glow!