What I Found Out About This Watercolor Paper...

And Other Stuff

I painted most of my career on Arches 300 lb Cold Press Paper. It was pretty textured. I wandered off into a smoother land when I started sketchbooking. Sketchbook papers are nearly hot press smooth even when they are called cold press.

Outside of the sketchbooks, I fell in love with Moulin du Roy hot press paper - which felt like velvet. Sadly, it has been discontinued, but I have a stash, so I am ok.

But because of a couple things, I got interested just recently in very rough paper again - because of some artists on Instagram and because I love granulating watercolor, and Schmincke came out with SuperGranulating watercolor, which did not supergranulate on smoother papers.

So I bought some Shizen Cold Press watercolor paper on Amazon. Very inexpensive - 50 5x7 sheets for $18 and change.

I usually avoid watercolor papers from India or Pakistan because many of them have little or no sizing, which makes them useless to me. (The role of sizing is one of the things I thoroughly explain in my White Paper on Watercolor Paper.)

But this brand is *very* sized which creates some interesting results.

But, first thing to know is that the weight is great and the texture is extreme. Washes go on smoothly and the pigments settles in the hills and valleys creating the texture you see above. The paint flows very well across the surface, which is because of the sizing.

This texture and granulation is something you can’t get on smoother surfaces. And these paints are not even the supergranulating ones, except for the mountains (Tundra Pink - Schmincke). The grass is a Daniel Smith Primatek (Serpentine Green) but the rest is just normal watercolor paint by Sennelier.

Here’s what I learned . . .

1. It is pretty hard to draw smoothly with ink on this paper for obvious reasons. The pen tip feels like it is on a roller coaster ride.

2. Masking Fluid is a very bad idea. It goes on easily enough, but is very difficult to remove and can tear this paper. The paper is 100% rag, but I don’t know what kind of rag. If it were 100% cotton, they would not neglect to mention that, and it would not cost this little. The paper is both internally and externally sized but the sizing doesn’t give it enough resistance to the masking fluid. They hug and that’s trouble.

3. I love lifting watercolor and this paper is great for that. My sky is a good example.

4. Correcting mistakes - like an over painted line - by wetting and blotting with a tissue, works very well. I made my mistakes go away completely with no scrubbing.

5. And finally, I discovered a new technique . . .

   

   This was painted solid with a deep blue. I think this was Daniel Smith Primatek Kyanite because it glitters, I drew the bowls with a water brush and tissue after the paint was dry and added gold leaf to the ball. This is mounted on wood block an is one of a triptych. I am working on a series of these.

About a Painting a Day . . . How’s It Going? Fine, Thanks.

I knew this wouldn’t be easy and it isn’t, but I am keeping up with my challenge for World Watercolor Month. It’s not that I don’t always make art everyday - just not used to completing an entire piece everyday.

The painting at the top of the post is called “Unfinished Business - Another Roadside Attraction”, and it is Day 8.

All the paintings so far can be seen at the link below, and you will see that although I am sticking pretty much to my own style, I am letting the subject matter go wherever it wants to go. It is returning me to a lot of my earlier work with its element of Surrealism.

https://www.jessicawesolek.com/shops.html#!/Paintings/c/152374069