The watercolor effect (Pinna, Brelstaff, & Spillmann, 2001) is a new color spreading phenomenon. Pinna et al. (2001) proposed that the watercolor effect is a new Gestalt factor because it determines figure-ground organization more strongly than classical Gestalt factors. We used achroriatic watercolor patterns and varied the lightness of the background and two border lines to study the relationship between the color spreading effect and figure-ground organization. The results demonstrated (a)a bidirectional color spreading phenomenon when the background lightness was between the two border-lines' lightness, and that (b) some patterns elicit only a color spreading effect without organization of figure-ground, while others elicit only figure-ground organization without a color spreading effect.