Watercolor Paper with "Confidence"

Hello again!

            Forget what you have heard - forget what your friends have told you, the simple fact toward achieving success in watercolor painting, is through its “simplicity.’’ No other medium can boast such a claim. So, let’s now condition our minds once more; repeat after me; “My Success will come from Simplicity and Confidence.”

            Great, you are getting the hang of it. In almost everything we do, the most important aspect towards achieving success will come from acceptance and the will-power to succeed. 

Shawn Stoffel

            First, I thank you for your time in choosing to read my watercolor blogs. It is such an honor to share with you everything I have learned from my mentor Jim McNeil. Jim was an amazing watercolor artist, friend, and teacher. My watercolor blogs share a combined watercolor experience that presents you with the amazing opportunity of learning decade’s worth of valuable knowledge in the watercolor arts.

            Let’s begin today’s lesson. We will be shedding some light on the subject of watercolor paper. Watercolor paper varies tremendously from one maker to the next. It comes in many different sizes, weights (thicknesses), tints, surfaces, and are constructed of different materials. Most papers are cotton or linen. Some are made of flax, jute, hemp, bamboo, rice straw or rattan. Cotton papers are often times more popular due to its high quality, durability, and availability. Watercolor papers have different surfaces. The common surface styles are; rough, cold press, and hot press. Watercolor papers can be purchased in rolls, sheets, and blocks. Blocks generally contain a stack of pre-cut sheets that are glued on all four edges, which hold the stack together. You can also find many varieties of low to high-quality home-made papers available. Whatever paper you decide to purchase and use, you should understand a few simple, yet important characteristics.

           

A Realistic Painting example

One characteristic of watercolor paper that you will find to be very important as an artist; will be the surface texture. Before you go out and spend your money on watercolor paper, you will want to evaluate and determine what your art painting style will be. What I mean is this; do you want to paint images that are realistic, detailed, semi-detailed, or very loose? Understanding what you want to paint and how you want to paint it, will determine what paper you want to choose. For instance: It would be very frustrating to attempt a realistic and highly detailed

A Detailed painting example

image on rough paper. It can be done, but it does present some level of frustration. Rough paper is well known for its characteristically pitted surface. Its hills and valleys texture are better suited for semi-detailed and very loose painting styles. For highly-detailed paintings and realistic paintings, the fantastically smooth surface of hot press paper works best. Cold press papers offer a middle of the road surface texture, meaning that it isn’t too pitted or too smooth of a surface to restrict you from using any style. Cold press paper is capable of achieving realistic and very loose images, and everything in between. It is the universal texture for just about any style you choose to paint in. 

A Loose painting example

             

     After you have determined your image painting style, and you have selected the best paper surface texture for that style, next, you will need to determine the weight of paper you want to use. Common weights from thinnest to thickest are; 90lb, 140lb, and 300lb. The 300lb papers are practically indestructible, and can take a lot of abuse. As you get down to the thinner papers like my favorite, the 90lb, you will 
notice that they require a lot of finesse. They buckle when saturated, and are less durable when lifting out paint.

Combined styles painting example

I recommend purchasing samples of all the different brands, different surface textures, and the different weights. Practice using the different painting styles on each to determine what best favors your style. The paper chooses you; you do not choose the paper. Match your style with the paper that best accepts it.

           

 10 different brands/weight papers. Notice the dispersion differences.

Here are some other characteristics of paper that you should be aware of; note the water saturation level, the water dispersion level, and the pigment collection and dispersion levels. All of these characteristics can be examined and learned through experimentation. Again, all paper differs from each other, by make, by texture, by weight, by material, by water saturation level, by water dispersion level, and by pigment collection and dispersion levels. 

 Examine and study how your paper absorbs water into its fibers, how it disperses water outwards, and how the pigment does the same. Experimentation, and the understanding of paper characteristics, along with getting plenty of practice will lead you towards selecting the most appropriate papers for your art style.

                            “My Success will come from Simplicity and Confidence.”