Quality of Watercolor Paper

Quality of Watercolor Paper

By: Luke Galutia
originally posted 2013-06-07
Galutia Gallery ( www.galutia.com )


My art teacher in high school, introduced me to the wonderful world of watercolor painting. Before this I thought of watercolor as “kids paint”, used only on crappy printer paper. The first thing she taught me, was that good watercolor paper was the key to a great watercolor painting.

Paper making is actually an art form in itself. Watercolor paper differs from standard paper, due to its quality of production, and the material which goes into it. Usually watercolor paper is made from cotton and linen fiber which has been mulched up in a big tub of water. A mesh is run through the pulp in the water and collected on a screen mesh, which is later left out to dry, and sometimes passed through a machine pressed. When it is not pressed it is usually in a blotter paper form. high quality paper will be acid free - museum grade paper, which is what everyone should use for their artworks. Acid free paper, means that the paper can be preserved for decades because there is no acid in it. Acid in normal paper, yellows or dulls the paper and makes it brittle and crumbly over time. High quality paper, has a professional “nape” or surface on the paper, which are little teeth of fiber that absorbs or holds the medium which is applied to it.

High quality paper can make the difference between something that looks like a preschooler made it, and a masterpiece of art. Watercolor paper comes in different grades, determined by the weight of the paper. The weight of the paper is measured by the “ream” of paper, which consists of 500 sheets of paper. This is usually in the papers uncut state.

The three typical weights are:

90 pound weight ~ Student grade paper. It is prone to buckling and warping in moisture and the nape does not hold up too much scrubbing, or extensive layering of watercolor.

140 pound weight ~ Medium grade pape. This is adequate for the low budget artist. This grade can be soaked and stretched on a balsa wood board to prevent warping and buckling. You can usually find this in notebook reams of various sizes in your local art store. The biggest size will usually be something like 18 X 20 inches for $22 a spiral notebook. I would recommend this for most starting artists.

300 pound weight ~ Professional grade paper. It is usually stiff and thick like a piece of matting board. This paper will usually cost about $10 to $14 per piece of paper. I would recommend getting this type once you have mastered your brush technique. They will also sell this in your local art store, in single sheets or in reams of paper wrapped in plastic. This can get kind of expensive but its definitely worth it!

In my last blog posting I talked about how to stretch the paper. There are two ways to do this. The best way ~ in my humble opinion, is to soak the paper in hot water, and staple or use thumbtacks to stretch it on balsa wood board. The pin holes left in the paper gives kind of a gritty effect to the sides of the paper that I like when I paint. however some people don’t really care for this. The second way, you can either get art tape, and tape the edges of the paper to a balsa wood board, or get a professional paper stretching board which has a metal clamp type frame that goes around the edges of the paper and keeps it in place. You can get them online at art websites or in your local art store. It all depends on your preference.

The cool thing about high grade watercolor paper, is that it can be used for different kinds of mediums. Such as, tempra (egg paint), gouache ( kind of a thicker watercolor paint), india ink, acrylic paint, pastel chalk, and oil pastels. Watercolor paper is a good general paper to use for almost any art project. Sometimes when I want to do art and I don’t have enough money to afford a canvas I will use watercolor paper instead, depending on the project.

I hope this blog provides some useful information to starting artists out there looking for some help. Keep up the great art!

- Luke Galutia
2013-06-07


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Luke Galutia has been in the fine arts since 1989, and has won awards for
his art. His artwork has been recognized as being cutting-edge Optical
Illusion Art, and is hosted as part of a permanent collection in the
Washington State Governor's Art Collection in the Olympia Capitol
Building.

Email: lgalutia@gmail.com
Website portfolio: www.galutia.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lukegalutia
Google+:https://google.com/+LukeGalutia
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lgalutia
Linkedin: https:// www.linkedin.com/in/lukegalutia/
Tumblr: http://lgalutia.tumblr.com/
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/LukeGalutia/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Click Here for More Information