Beautiful surface textures

Artists can explore using the sumptuous surface textures watercolour papers can offer. These papers have a pleasing look that is down to their random looking weave. There are no regular patterns throwing the eye, with a surface that enhances the artwork and does not detract from it. There are three surface finishes with watercolour paper; HP is the smoothest with a hint of tooth that’s suitable for fine detailed work, CP (also known as ‘NOT’ in the UK) has a medium amount of tooth and generally a versatile surface, and Rough is deeply structured with lots of peaks and troughs, which can be great to produce texture in a composition.

Archival quality for professional work

All St Cuthberts Mill’s papers are made to be archival. Only high quality raw materials are used, so artists can rest assured the supportive base of the painting will last. The paper is buffered with calcium carbonate to give extra protection to the paper when it is exposed to acids present in the atmosphere. They are all lightfast, for a fade resistant white. Even the Saunders Waterford® High White contains no OBA’s (that give an artificial ‘blue white’ hue) that will yellow over time, giving unsightly aging.

Paper easier to store than canvas

Paper is much thinner than canvas supports, which makes storing easier. A quantity of paintings created on paper take up considerably less space than the same quantity of canvas pictures.

Strong surface that withstands pilling

These papers are naturally made to be strong. The surface is tough when wet, and will take multiple layers of wet paint being brushed on the paper, without the surface lifting and pilling. The Saunders Waterford® paper is exceptionally strong due to its additional gelatine coating.

Heavy weight papers stay flatter

These papers are robust, and come in substantial weights to boost their power to resist watermedia from making them buckle (cockle) when painted. Coupled with St Cuthberts Mill’s papers being ‘mould made’ on a cylinder mould machine, which gives the fibres inside the sheet a more random distribution, so when the paper gets wet, it expands in both directions giving a flatter paper (this is in contrast to standard papers, that are made on a fourdrinier machine, whose fibres lie in one direction, making them prone to unsightly buckling when wet, which is difficult to paint on).

Watercolour papers are available in heavy weight sheets. In addition to the standard 300gsm, there are 425gsm, 535gsm (in Bockingford®) and an immense 638gsm (in Saunders Waterford®). These papers are extremely stable and will happily take an enormous amount of wet paint.

Understanding the absorbency of watercolour papers

At St Cuthberts Mill, Saunders Waterford® and Bockingford® watercolour papers are designed to keep the pigments on the surface for a period of time, before drying evenly. Our Millford paper, dries differently, as it is designed to be less absorbent, so the paint stays in its wet state for longer. Due to Millford’s natural ‘hard sizing’, pen and ink lines may skip a little, leaving a broken line.

With acrylic painting artists may find the paper a little thirsty when using a paint with low fluidity. To overcome, as part of the underpainting apply and allow to dry a thinned acrylic wash, which seals the paper.

“Once the acrylic wash is dry, the paper is waterproof, allowing the painting to progress quickly without disturbing previous work” Paul Weaver

Explore watercolour papers for mixed media

For a professional support, explore using a watercolour paper for acrylic, gouache, ink, charcoal, pastel and pencil. If offers artists an archival fade resistant paper, in a heavy weight to resist buckling and has a strong surface to take rigorous workings, in beautiful surface finishes.

To explore more about St Cuthberts Mill watercolour papers:
Saunders Waterford: https://www.stcuthbertsmill.com/st-cuthberts-mill-paper/saunders-waterford-watercolour/
Bockingford: https://www.stcuthbertsmill.com/st-cuthberts-mill-paper/bockingford-watercolour/
Millford: https://www.stcuthbertsmill.com/st-cuthberts-mill-paper/millford-watercolour/

To learn more about the artists featured in this article:
Claudia Drexhage
https://www.stcuthbertsmill.com/featured-artists/?id=19
https://www.claudiadrexhage.com/

Soraya French SWA
https://www.sorayafrench.com/

Paul Talbot-Greaves RI
Acrylic painting on Bockingford® https://stcuthbertsmill.blogspot.com/2024/01/multi-purpose-bockingford-with-paul.html
https://www.talbot-greaves.com/

Carne Griffiths
https://www.carnegriffiths.com/

Elizabeth Waggett
https://www.stcuthbertsmill.com/featured-artists/?id=21
https://elizabethwaggett.com/

Paul Weaver
https://www.paulweaverart.co.uk/
 

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