Thank You for Your Propositions ; The New Watercolour Paper Test

First of all i thank you for your suggestions and comments on my blog and Facebook page and comments.

After reading all your reactions, i withheld a definitive stylesheet for testing watercolour paper. You find in this article an empty and filled test sheet.

The test of the watercolour papers are started and will be published shortly. As i’ve more than 30 papers to test, it will take quite some time before all tests will online on my blog. I’ll post new test articles when a brand is finished so that you can compare.

Description from left to right and up to down ;

Under 1

I painted wet in wet . With a quite fluid paint i paint the upper quarter and than i paint a small line near the bottom. The test zone was heavily wetted and than i waited some minutes to allow the water to soak in before i painted the area.

Under 2

I painted Wet on Dry. I use a brush heavily loaded with the same fluid paint as 1 and then went down the area till there was no paint left in the brus.

Under 3

Dry on Dry I made a separation of the area in 2. The upper side isn’t touched. The lower side was treated as one does before stretching paper. I let i soak for at least 5 minutes (this modifies the sizing of the paper). Than i painted over one large ans one small stroke on each with quite heavy colour to test the dry on dry behaviour.

Under 4

I’m doing a test with masking fluid and tape. I did leave some on the test sheet to show them to you. When all masking fluid has dried i paint over with quite fluid paint (to check if paint goes under the tape) and after drying i withdraw all. This gives me an indication on how behave the paper with masking fluid, how it comes off … I used 2 brands of masking fluid : Sennelier and Schmincke.

Then i paint another colour on top of it so i can see how the paper reacts in the areas where the masking fluid and the tape were withdrawn. 

Under 5

I do a test of lifting using a quite stiff brus. I rub the paper till it’s white or begins to give sign of damage. I use 2 colours, one staining Phtalo Blue PB15:3 and Cerulean Blue PB28 which is non-staining.

Under 6

I do mixing primary colours wet on dry to test the mixing on paper quality. I just let join the 3 colours helping a bit so the move. I don’t touch and let the paint do his own will.

Under 7

I do some glazing with primary colours. This help me to control to see if the underlying stroke are fixed or bleed. Of coarse i let the first layer dry for at least 2 hours before glazing with the second layer of colours.

Under 8 

I do some test of scanning with a sharp tool ans insists till the paper begins to become fluffy. I also did 2 lines with a painting knife to control the sedition when i carve marks in the paper.

Under 9

I do use a very granulating color by Daniel Smith , Lunar Violet, in a wet in wet wash. This shows how granulation acts on this paper.

Under 10

I drew a soft and hard line with graphite pencils 4H-2H-HB-2B-4B. Then i erased it with 3 different eraser tools. On the left i used a kneaded gum, in the middle i used a standard eraser and on the right side a Derwent electric eraser. I erased till there was no graphite was left or till nothing lifted any more. Then i painted over to see if there was a different behaviour. I think i’ll use another colour as the granulation in the ultramarine makes it more difficult to analyse the result.

Under 11

I did a little sketch wet in wet

Under 12

I did a little sketch on dry paper

And this is the final result 

I used this colours from Daniel Smith

French Ultramarine light

Hansa Yellow

 Pyrrol Red

Phtalo Blue Green Shade

Bleu Cerulean

Rose  Quinacridone

Lunar Violet

I used for this exemple Canson Héritage Not

All your comments and reactions are most welcome.

The final tests  for these artist papers:

• Canson Aquarelle L’Héritage Hot Pressed - Cold Pressed - Rough
• Arches en Satiné - Hot Pressed - Cold Pressed
• Lanaquarelle Hot Pressed - Cold Pressed - Rough

will be published before the end of this week and will come with close-up pictures and my observation details. Other brands tests as Hahnemule, Fabriano, Montreal, Moulin du Roy, Moulin du Coq …will be published later. 

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Again a big thanks for the interest you showed in my research.