Watercolor Paper

One of the most popular art materials are watercolors and watercolor paper.  Watercolor paper varies by weight and by finish. Watercolor Paper comes in three or more finishes, usually labeled Rough, Cold Press and Hot Press.

Rough paper has the most texture of the three types.  It’s an excellent choice for loose, expressive style painting but not a favorite with artists who do fine, detail work.

A Hot Press watercolor paper is a mold made paper with a smooth surface.  It’s the best choice for fine detail work though sometimes beginners can have difficulty with this paper as the paint tends to slide around on the smooth surface.

Cold Press manufacturing creates a slightly textured surface.  Cold pressed watercolor papers are the favorite of many artists as they allow for fine detail work and offer a slight texture.

The weight of a paper indicates the thickness of the paper.  A higher weight number equals a thicker paper.  Most papers comes in the standard weights of  90 lb (190 gsm), 140 lb (300 gsm), 260 lb (356 gsm), and 300 lb (638 gsm).   Thinner, i.e. lower weight papers, need to be stretched to prevent them from warping and buckling when you work.  Depending on how much water you use as you work will determine what weight paper you should stretch.  Typically papers that are less that 260 lb (356 gsm) will need to be stretched.

A simple method of stretching watercolor paper is to adhere it to a flat surface with tape.  I like to use 2” brown sealing tape as it holds the paper well but is easily removed.  Simply place the tape along each edge of the paper so that it catches a thin strip of the paper and the rest of the tape adheres to the table.  When you’ve finished your painting just remove the tape and

voila! – you have a nice clean border around your image.

Watercolor papers can also be purchased in blocks.  The paper in the blocks are glued together at the edges, thus allowing you to paint without having to worry about stretching the paper.  But sometimes it can be a little tricky to separate the paper from the block once you’ve completed your painting.  Also if you like to work on more than one painting at a time you’ll have to have more than one block.  This is usually the most expensive type of watercolor paper but it is convenient.

Different brands of watercolor paper offer different qualities.  As with everything, experiment and discover which kind of paper you like the best.