Testing Hot Press watercolour papers

Pros and cons

Up to now I have been fortunate enough to have had a stock of old Fabriano 5 to work with, that’s pretty much used up now apart from small pieces. I have to get to grips with some new paper, so I’m going to write down my thoughts as I experiment with new substrates, and I will assemble my notes or come back to this to add to it as I try out other stock.

Click on the images to see larger versions 🙂 these are images with the background cleaned up for Giclee prints, so they all look white, but they weren’t all this white in real life and some had a bit of texture to them.

Arches, 300gsm (140lb) HP

I have been trying out Arches, I don’t think I have painted on Arches since my evening class days at RBGE, Generally it’s good, I enjoyed working on it initially, but got a bit fed up with it after working with it for a few weeks!

Painting on the watermarked side:
Pros
Nice weighty feel
Good movability of paint
Slightly soft velvety feel when you apply dry brush, also a con*
Crisp lines in some areas, but not consistently…

Cons
It’s a bit too cream coloured
Graphite can stain it once the surface has been drawn on and rubbed out a lot
*The water in my brush seems to get sucked out into the paper without the pigment, and then I have to rewet it as the pigment won’t leave the brush, so lots of rewetting
The edges seemed to bleed, so it was hard to get crisp edges

Summary
I don’t want to paint on this again

 Crabapple, watercolour on Arches

Fluid 100,300gsm (140lb) HP

An American paper, 100% cotton, with gelatin sizing, it doesn’t say that it’s acid free, however it does say it is produced to the highest archival quality standards of permanence and will not deteriorate with age. One side has little subtly textured patches (very hard to define), I’ll paint on the other side

Painting on the smoother side:
Pros
Nice crisp lines, was able to paint fine details
Was able to lift and move paint quite happily
Cream coloured

Cons
Feels kinda’ thin (although it is 300gsm)
I could see where I had rubbed out by the change in the paper surface, not too much but slightly
Seems to be slightly hard to get hold of here in the UK

Summary
I would be very happy to work with this again

Wishbone seed pod, watercolour on Fluid 100

Botanical Ultra Smooth, 300gsm (140lb) HP

From St Cuthbert’s Mill, 50% cotton, surface sized, acid free, watermarked, designed to replace Fab 5
I have another piece of Botanical Ultra Smooth from my previous Ken Bromley sample pack and the paper is a darker cream, has a smoother surface and the mesh marks are a lot less noticeable – so I don’t know if the manufacturing process has changed, or if this paper tends to vary across batches…

Painting on the smoother side (which shows mesh marks but doesn’t have that wavy pattern across it):
Pros
Takes wet on wet really nicely
Quite white, though not as white as Fab 5, this is the whitest paper I’ve worked with in these tests, it’s a shame that it’s not a better paper, because it is so nice and white
Good weight

Cons
Need to load the brush with water to get a smooth gliding line, otherwise it skims the surface and leaves a broken line…
After working with this I found that the finish on this paper was less satisfactory, I couldn’t get a thin defined line, and the texture of the finished painting is not as crisp and smooth as with the Fluid 100 paper
Lifting with a synthetic brush was not that successful, but quite soft and smudgy, I couldn’t lift fine lines

Summary
I’d rather work on the Fluid 100

Wishbone seed pod, watercolour on Botanical Ultra Smooth

Hahnemuhle ‘the collection ‘, 300gsm (140lb) HP

I used to use a Hahnemuhle for large format digital printing, so I was hesitant to try this out, but its pretty good!

This is a vegan 100% cotton externally sized acid free watermarked paper. I’m painting on the side that shows the mesh imprint slightly as the other side looked a bit rougher, but I think I should probably also try the other side:
Pros
Good weight
Really nice fine clean edges, and I have been able to create some lovely fine lines
I have been able to really just forget about the paper and get on with painting

Cons
A bit creamy
Slightly fluffy to begin with, and I find that when I erase my pencil line there is a resulting roughness/fluffiness to the page where I have rubbed out, Arrrggg – I can flatten this down a bit with my finger, and water with my brush, but it was a bit alarming…
Coming back to this roughness, I couldn’t really get the paper smooth again with my finger (probably not recommended), or a bit of water, however I remembered my tutor Alicia recommending an agate burnisher so I bought one and gave it a go and voila, smoothed paper, I’m really pleased to have sorted this out as it makes this paper a proper viable option.

Summary
I’d use this again

Wishbone leaf, watercolour on Hahnemuler ‘The Collection’

Hahnemuhle Britannia, 300gsm (140lb) HP (block)

I’m painting on the side that shows the mesh imprint slightly as the other side looked a bit rougher, but I think I should probably also try the other side:
Pros
Good weight
Really nice fine clean edges, and I have been able to create some lovely fine lines
I have been able to really just forget about the paper and get on with painting

Cons
A bit creamy
I am again getting the roughness in the fibres/disturbance of the paper surface can be quite noticeable under certain lighting, disappointing as Hahnemuhle claim: “The solid, smooth surface is perfectly suited to sketching and erasing.” You can brush the fibres back down, but they can easily lift back up… Time to get that Agate burnisher out again…

Summary
I’d probably use this again, but be super careful about not having to erase too much, I wish I could find my putty rubber! I’m currently using a muji.

 

Image to come! 🙂

 

Bockingford, 300gsm (140lb) HP

This is a wood-free, acid-free, internally sized paper with no watermark. I just cracked on with this painting and actually made no observations regarding the detail or whether it was good, or bad, I had no issues with it, this was a really good paper.
Pros
Nice weight
Nice clean edges
Nice lifting
Again I have been able to really just forget about the paper and get on with painting

Cons
A bit creamy

Summary
I’d probably use this again!

Wishbone leaf, watercolour on Bockingford

Wishbone leaf, watercolour on Blockingford