I bought a piece of plexiglass at Home Depot and it works fine. You can even use it without tape if you like to work wet into wet. Paper wet on both sides sticks to it nicely for those early washes. Then you can tape it to the dry board for details and finishing.

I use beige 1.5″ masking tape I get at the DIY store. No distracting blue or green tape to mess with your color perceptions.

Sylvia

Hi. I use plexiglass, too. They will cut it for you at Home Depot, if you like. It lasts forever and it’s really easy to clean, plus, it’s lightweight. I just use plain, white artist tape from Dick Blick to hold my paper down (no stretching) or, as you have discovered, you can let the water hold it on, if you are working very wet. I like to stick the tape to my clothes first, to make it a little less sticky. Good luck!

Noelle

“…I’m looking for a cheaper alternative to gatorfoam…”

Well…gatorboard is somewhat expensive, but foam core board is not.

And you don’t really have to stretch, staple or tape your 140-pound paper (or heavier weight paper). Simply put a bull dog clip in each corner, paint with the paper elevated, and all will be well.

If/when the wet paper begins to buckle, simply remove one or two bull dog clips, stretch the paper taunt and re-attach the bull dog clips to paint on to completion.

Sling paint,
Virgil

I bought a large sheet of corrogated plastic (3 feet x 6 feet) at Home Depot for less than $20 and cut it into various sizes — allows me to take a project to class, keep a personal project at home, experiment with a technique with a third.

I use masking tape.

It’s used frequently where I live for political candidate signage, so if you know someone running for office, you might be able to score their left overs after the election. Some candidates don’t print on both sides.

I was introduced to plexiglass at my first art class. A class member has them cut down at a local hardware store and sells them for $7. Lightweight and durable, as others have said. But…I was at a print shop, and they have several types of sturdy display boards that sized for painting would be less than $10. I am considering getting one of those as well.

Still looking for a good artist’s tape as well. Good point about the reflections cast by the painter’s tape. I never even thought about it, but makes total sense!

For a possible tape solution, I bought some “PRO-ART” artist tape from Amazon. I like it so far.

Uniquely, one of the rolls is black (I bought it cheap for affixing paintings/prints to mats). I was hesitant to use it while painting at first, but when taping down the edges of my paper, the black border helps me visualize how dark my darks should/could be:

Best wishes!
Frank