Watercolour Paper – a few comparisons

If you’ve ever wondered why the same paint behaves completely differently from one painting to the next, the culprit is usually sitting right under your brush: the paper.

Watercolour is a magic dance between pigment, water, and surface. Change the surface, and you change the whole dialogue — how the paint blooms, how long you can rework an edge, how vibrant your colours stay after drying.

Many years ago, when I restarted doing watercolours, I decided that it would be a good thing to try and compare the different watercolour papers that I had.

As I am sure I have mentioned before, I am a bit of a collector/hoarder of materials, so it was a very helpful exercise at the time.

I cut one-inch slips of the paper and used 2 watercolours: alizarin crimson and cerulean blue (Winsor & Newton).

I did a full-strength stroke, a half-strength stroke and then a couple of water droplets to see what happened. Under those, I did a short wash of the blue.

I found it very interesting to see how the colour spread, and how it looked after it had dried.

At the time, I had various types of paper.  I’ll say here and now that has been added to greatly; however, it hasn’t changed the fact of what my favourite papers are.

I won’t put how much these papers cost me, and things change, things go on sale, and we all use different suppliers. Obviously 100% cotton is seen as the best (and I love it), but it tends to be expensive. If your budget can’t stretch to that, then you need an alternative. There are so many different choices, it can be hard to know where to start. I do have many more different papers and will add as I go.

To start:

Budget-friendly papers:

Arteza, Flying Tiger and Office Tree.

For me, what I don’t like wth these is the very uniform press marks that have been used, that make the water go (in my opinion) a bit patchy, but for the price, you can’t really fail them. I have used them for trying out new things and for quick sketch watercolours. Arteza (opening their store again soon). Flying Tiger (love this store for all their weird and wonderful gadgets at fab prices). Office Tree.

Khadi paper

I adore Khadi paper; however, I think it is a bit of a nightmare to paint on. It takes over a little and decides where the paint will go. So why do I adore it? I genuinely don’t know; I just love the feel of it. It’s quite a good option for cotton rag at an affordable cost and is pretty positive when trying to do your bit for eco-friendly trade with the manufacturers.

As it’s made from cotton rag, it is naturally 100% cotton, and allows for really loose expressive painting, if that is your thing. It is naturally acid-free, so will not yellow over time. Oh and I will say, for making cards it’s just lovely.

Mid Range

The Langtons

This is not cheap paper at all; however, I found the results pretty similar to the cheaper alternatives above. It’s 100% cotton, and I think it copes with lots of water.

Canson

Canson offer so many choices; it’s hard not to find one that works for you. Ranging from cotton to wood pulp and meeting most budgets.  I like to use it for practice pieces and for daily watercolours, but it’s not my favourite.

Higher Price Point

Fontaine and Arches

I’ll be honest and say I have only tried one type of Fontaine paper, and it was rough watercolour paper, which didn’t really work with my type of painting. Then, of course, Arches is considered to be the creme de la creme of watercolour paper; however, I’m not a massive fan. I don’t tend to use it, a) because of the price point I suppose, b) it just doesn’t work how I want it to. I know most artists love it. It does have pretty even coverage.

Bockingford and Saunders Waterford

My two favourite papers. Bockingford (wood pulp) fits my budget nicely and I like how it accepts the water.  I tend to buy in bulk in sheet form, either from Amazon or from Jacksons when they have a sale.

Saunders Waterford is my go-to bestie paper. It is 100% cotton and available in a variety of surfaces and also in high white, which is really lovely

Nearly all the paintings on this blog are on either Bockingford or Saunders Waterford paper. Both are made at St Cuthberts Mill in Somerset.

So, to conclude, I have tons of paper; I stocked up at one point with a lot of cotton paper from Temu. Whenever Amazon has had a sale, I have stocked up again. I also have some boxes of full-size (in half) cotton paper and Bockingford that I have bought from Jacksons when they have had a sale. Not every picture you are going to paint needs the highest quality paper, so it’s good to have a range, and new things come out all the time. So, my fave cheaper paper is Canson (usually in a pad) , and then I move to Bockingford (which is loose) and then when I’m confident of what I want to paint I will go on the my Saunders Waterford paper. Everyone has their own favourites; those are mine. I’d be very interested in others choices.