Paper And Board Discussion For Watercolor Painting

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Papers and Boards

Arches 140-Ib. coldpress, Arches 140-lb. hot press,Strathmore 2-ply plate finish bristol board, Crescent #112 rough watercolor board, and gessoed Aquarius watercolor paper. 

Discussion of each surface as follow.

ARCHES 140-LB. COLDPRESS

This paper has texture, and although it is possible to move paint around on it to a limited degree, the pigment tends to stay where you place it. You can achieve a soft look by laying in color and then spraying it with water, allowing the color to run. 

This technique works well on this paper although the color does not run as much as it does on other papers such as bristol board. Artist Generally soak and then staple this paper to a board, allowing it to dry completely before painting. This gives the tight surface wich some Artists prefer.

ARCHES 140-LB. HOT PRESS

When using this paper, do not soak and stretch the paper as we do with the cold press. This removes too much of the sizing, and the paper begins to act like a blotter, which makes it difficult to move paint around or to soften edges.

Instead, do the drawing on the paper and then, before painting, either staple the dry paper to a board or hold it in place with clips at the four corners. There is a visible difference in the appearance of the colors on the hot press versus those on the cold press paper.

We do not always working on smooth-surfaced papers, You can achieve some exciting effects and color lifts more easily than you can on cold-press papers.you can move color around on the smooth surface. Even when using a round brush, you can lay the brush on its side and drag and scrape the colors for exciting movement and texture. Rather than damage a good sable brush for scraping,  use an old brush that has lost its point. Save your old brushes for

this purpose.

STRATHMORE 2-PLY PLATE FINISH BRISTOL BOARD

To working on the plate finish bristol boards and find them very exciting. I've had a lot of failures, more so than on cold press and hot press, but the results are worth the struggle. 

One reason for the larger number of failures is that the surface is unpredictable, and it takes a lot of experimenting to understand how the colors will react.

You can apply color to this surface and spray with water, causing the colors to run and creating wonderful effects. Both sides of this board can be used (in case of failure), and either staple or clamp it to a painting board. As on the hot press, you can use a round brush to drag and scrape the colors for varied textures.

CRESCENT #112 ROUGH WATERCOLOR BOARD

The surface of this board has a litfie texture, and even though they call it rough, it's still not as rough as the Arches 140-Ib. cold press.

Colors lift very nicely from thisboard, which is great if that is your intent. But be careful not to disturb an underlying color when going over it with another. You must have a light touch with your brush good advice no matter what surface you're working on. 

If you use white artist tape for masking, be careful when lifting the tape to avoid picking up paper along with it.lay tape on a paper, lifting it repeatedly until some of the stickiness removed. This helps alleviate the problem.

GESSOED SURFACES

If you like to experiment with different techniques, you might enjoy working on a gessoed surface. I use Aquarius watercolor paper and give it a coat of gesso with a 2-inch to 3-inch brush, making a random pattern with my brush strokes. allow the surface to dry completely before making the drawing, and then apply color. It takes a bit of practice to get the feel of how color reacts onthe surface when using this technique. 

A trick you might try is adding soap to the paint. This cuts the surface tension, allowing the paint to adhere to the surface. To do this, you should wipe your brush on a bar of soap and then pick up the color to apply it to the paper.

The more you paint on this surface, the more you like it.

• "As with everything, practice will make you more comfortable and successful".