To remove a stretched painting from the board

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When you stretch a watercolor painting, you tape the watercolor paper on a board with gummed paper tape. Using gummed paper tape is important because it is the only tape that sticks to a wet paper. However, problems can arise when the watercolor has dried and it needs to be removed.

Sometimes I get the question “how do I remove paper tape from the painting when it is dry?”. I understand that many people have problems with this, because the tape sticks very hard, both to the board and paper.. If you search for “how to Remove Gummed Paper Tape from Watercolor Paintings”  on Youtube you will find many entertaining results. Artists who with great patience soak the dry tape with water and then slowly loosen it from the paper and board. Some also retain the part of the paper that was once under the paper tape.

In fact, it is very easy to remove the tape: you just cut along the edge of your painting.

Place a ruler along the edge of the painting, cut with a sharp knife.
Do so along all four edges.
Remove what is left on the board by simply tearing it off.

The little paper that remains on the board does not affect the next time you stretch a piece of paper, I have used the same boards for many years, hundreds of times I have stretched on top of the leftovers from previous stretches without any problems.

You should not create problems where there are none.