Watercolor Paper: What is it and how is it different?

If the packaging indicates that the watercolor paper contains 99% or less cotton, it is considered blended. Cellulose paper with the addition of cotton belongs to the same category. Often bamboo, rice, flax are added to wood fibers (cellulose). The most common formulations of mixed watercolor paper are cotton + cellulose and cotton + bamboo. Depending on the percentage of fibers, the properties of watercolor paper will be different - here it is important to determine what is important specifically for the artist himself, what effects and qualities of watercolor painting are in priority, which is especially important in the process of conducting watercolor work. You can shift priorities towards more or less cotton fibers in the composition. Mixed watercolor paper is perfect for teaching watercolor painting, for working on long-term sketches of a large format, for layered glaze painting with watercolors. Combining the basic properties of pure cotton and cellulose paper, watercolor paper of a mixed composition allows you to fully control the process of writing an etude, control the properties of pigments and the amount of water, quickly make changes or dry the desired areas. The density of paper for watercolor is in the range of 170 g / m2. up to 850 g / m2 The standard density, which is suitable for most tasks, is 200-300 g / m2. It is easy to distinguish watercolor paper by density & brush, focusing on its thickness and weight - the heavier and thicker the paper, the denser it is, which means it will be less deformed and better retain water during drawing. Thin watercolor paper should be stretched over the base so that it does not warp, creating random accumulations of paint and other textures (I will talk about this in the next article). It is especially important to stretch watercolor paper if you plan a large and long-term (many hours or multi-session) watercolor work. The choice of paper with a high density is not always justified: for sketching or quick sketches, a paper density of 170-200 g / m2 is quite enough, for educational work in watercolor - 250-300 g / m2, for complex author's compositions in watercolor - more dense 300 g / m2 and higher. It is not recommended to fold sheets of thick watercolor paper (and it’s just technically difficult to do it), so students of art schools and student artists who prefer a tube to a folder write on thin watercolor paper. By the way, the price of watercolor paper rises along with the increase in density - another argument for beginners not to chase the best materials, but to choose a reasonable ratio of price and quality.