Edited at 8:40 a.m. on posting day, as I caught some typos.
As I unpack my studio from the downsizing I’m organizing the papers I have saved for projects I wasn’t able to do during the move.
There are also some pads and blocks of paper purchased in the early days of the Pandemic. Frankly that was the best way to keep myself out of trouble—test some paper.
One paper sat around until last month: Clairfontaine’s Fontaine Aquarelle. It’s a 100 percent cotton paper, acid free, with internal sizing.
The packaging claimed it was manufactured using traditional Dutch art paper methods. Since it didn’t state the type of sizing used I decided to punt and purchase some. I hoped it would be gelatin sizing.
It is not gelatin sizing. The paint soaks right into the paper. The result is you pretty much have to push the paint around, giving up on the idea of easy flow with watercolor paint.
“100 Percent Cotton” Myth
Marketing departments throughout the art supply industry depend on key words to catch the attention of the customer. But the words they use often no longer have any bearing on how the art supply works currently works. They play with expectations set up decades ago.
We see this in watercolor paints with the cycling away from calling something “student grade” and “fine” or “artist grade” (all of which were popular in the 1980s to 2000, to new labels like “professional,” which used to be a designation below artist grade, but now thanks to companies like Winsor & Newton seems to indicate artist grade).
Student grade nomenclature across brands and supplies of all types remains with some companies. Some companies use words like “academy” or “scholar” for their student-grade product lines. Some paint companies label their lines with the names of famous artists and only examination of the product details, and price of course, will help you work out which is the the student grade. Every company has its own system—I mention the numbered series system of Strathmore below. I recommend that even beginning artists move from student grade materials in paints and papers as soon as possible. You’ll progress faster using quality materials, and endure less frustration.
It’s a jumble of words used with no consistent applicable meaning across the industry. (Much like paint color names have no real significance and you must look at pigment inclusion to know what you’re getting since every brand is different yet they still use an old historical name).
This misuse of art product vocabulary feeds on the existence of decades old recommendations from revered teachers who told their students which papers and paints to use for best quality.
It is further muddied by the proliferation of artists teaching on the internet and encouraging people to use products because they are receiving free supplies or other compensation for their recommendations.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ll be looking for some artist quality product and the search engine tosses out some teacher recommending something like Cotman Watercolors (Windor & Newton’s student grade paints—which I don’t think are that quality level).
The end result of all this misused vocabulary and confusing labeling is hundreds and hundreds of students coming into my classes over the years beaten down after using crap materials. They didn’t understand why they couldn’t get the results others were getting.
The Latest Verbal Venture
Since 2000 most watercolor paper companies have switched from gelatin sizing to vegetable/starch sizing.
I’ve written about this a lot. There are a lot of reasons for this. One is European Union manufacturing regulations and controls concerning getting “animal free” products designation. I’ll let you all work that out for yourself but it is complicated by lots of societal factors.
But if you’re a paper factory and you want to get the “animal free” designation you have to get your factory clear of animal products and that includes any sizing you might be using that is animal derived, which gelatin sizing is.
Now that so many of the paper companies are using vegetable/starch sizing there’s been a big push towards emphasizing 100 percent cotton papers as the key selling point in their paper advertising.
Don’t get me wrong, 100 percent cotton papers can be great for the longevity of your piece, and for a host of other reasons. But having a 100 percent cotton paper does not ensure that you’re going to have a great painting experience. The sizing used can still be inferior.
What do I mean by inferior in this way? Well every paper sizing I’ve tried that was vegetable/starch sizing has been inferior to any gelatin sizing I’ve used. The paint moves differently on gelatin sized papers. It lifts, layers, mingles, and bonds differently.
If you were working on gelatin sized papers in the 1980s and 1990s (when pretty much everyone was still using gelatin) you’d have something to compare with. But all the beautiful washes you see Turner, Cotman, Ruskin, the Pre-Raphaelites, Sargent, Winslow Homer, Andrew Wyeth, Georgia O’Keeffe (to name only a few), execute were all done on gelatin-sized papers.
You can’t get those effects if you don’t have that paper.
You can fudge and fiddle; you can actually make new effects you may prefer; but it will be different from results possible on gelatin-sized paper.
And for the art supply companies to push their most expensive cotton papers on you because you’ve heard “100 percent cotton is the gold standard” is simply deceptive.
To say they make something the way it was traditionally made, when gelatin sizing was used—but to no long use gelatin sizing—is deceptive.
I tried out the Clairfontaine paper because I was hoping they really meant it when they said they were using traditional methods.
I bet wrong. I’m not too cut up about it because I thought there was only about a 4 percent chance they were using gelatin sizing.
Of the spiral pads I purchased of Fontaine I only used a few pages of cold press and hot press. I gave the rest away to artists I know will simply cover the paper with gesso and work on if they don’t like the sizing. I could have kept the paper and used it for pen work (but it dragged excessively at the pens I use) or gessoed it myself (but I’m not doing a lot of acrylic painting and I’m still trying to downsize materials). Both the cold press and hot press versions of Fontaine were inferior to many other vegetable/starch sized papers with less than 100 percent cotton content. I already have enough paper with vegetable/starch sizing (both 100 percent cotton and mixed fiber). I sent it to new homes.
Why Discuss This if There’s Nothing To Be Done?
I still live in hope that I will be able to paint on gelatin sized paper throughout my life. My life is winding down so it’s really only a few more decades of paper production I have to concern myself with.
I think at this point, seeing what has happened in the first 25 years after 2000 I have only a 15 to 30 percent chance of still having gelatin-sized paper on my deathbed.
But I know that I can VOTE WITH MY DOLLARS and buy watercolor papers that are still gelatin sized.
It’s just me and maybe only a handful of my students. But maybe it’s also you and a bigger handful of your students or art buddies or your entire art collective. Maybe you can think of something to do if it matters to you.
(Buying a bunch of paper and hoarding it is never the answer.)
Know that not all gelatin sizing is created equal either. But all gelatin-sized papers I’ve been able to try have performed better for watercolor and gouache than the best vegetable/starch or synthetic sizing.
Educate Yourself About Art Materials
Be wary of the words art material companies use to sell product. It’s just product to many of these companies. So many art companies have been bought up by “widget” makers that only look at how to reduce the costs of making the art materials they have acquired. These companies aren’t concerned with making better art materials, or even maintaining existing quality. They don’t care what artists want. They eagerly glut the hobbyist market with ad copy buzzwords that confuse issues of quality and actual usability of a product. The words meant something in earlier generations when all the necessary characteristics were present.
When art supply companies start touting a feature, make sure the rest of the product is useful and good as well. A cardboard cupcake iced with buttercream frosting is still a cupcake made out of pretty indigestible cardboard.
Find knowledgeable artists who’ve been working with materials and blog about these issues. Take classes from them to find out what they use now to compensate for not being able to get the quality of materials previously available, on which they built their techniques. Learn their techniques for coping with the existing materials.
Ask questions.
Bottom line, the actions of the art materials companies are impacting your fun and final output in your creative art practice.
Seek Out Alternative Products
Many artists still rave about Fabriano. But that’s just a sort of speech/internet jet lag. Thirty years ago, and for the 500 years before that, Fabriano was probably the best paper on the planet. But that has not been true for 25 years. If you’re too young to have experienced the paper before 2000 I’m sorry. You also probably missed doing your research while free-roaming in library stacks (being able to find other gems of knowledge adjacent to your topic); missed shooting with Polaroid film (no longer available in the formats we found most essential); never experienced easy to fix cars; and have never eaten MacDonald’s French Fries cooked in beef tallow—again, I’m sorry, but the world moves on.
But don’t listen to people who say their paper is a great watercolor paper the likes of which so and so used. Because it isn’t.
A main feature of the paper is gone.
And this goes for all the other companies who switched from gelatin sizing
And it goes for the newer papers coming out now from either new companies or companies who have BOUGHT THE NAME of previously great papers and have created a new product to sell under that name.
Be aware of what you’re buying.
Know which papers are still gelatin sized and buy them. Right now the gelatin sized papers I’m aware of are:
TH Saunders/Waterford,
Daler Rowney’s Langton Prestige (be careful when buying this paper as it must be Prestige. Their student grade paper has very similar packaging and labeling and is not this paper! Here is my painting demo and review of this paper),
Arches (this is readily available around the world; it’s a quality paper, but it is not my favorite. I have listed my papers in order of preference),
I also believe the Royal Watercolor Society still has gelatin-sized paper made under their name—probably by one of the companies on this list—but their papers are not accessible to me being too pricey to have shipped. (Read labels when purchasing because this list could change in an instant.)
UPDATE 5.20.26: Note that Fluid 100 which used to be on my list no longer has gelatin sizing You can read my review of the new version at that link. I no longer recommend this paper. It doesn’t matter that it is 100 percent cotton—the sizing is very poor.
Going Forward
You can of course find non-gelatin sized papers and learn to work on them and enjoy them for their characteristics. That’s the sane thing to do.
I do this all the time. I have papers from Strathmore that are starch sized but which I still love. I use their 500 series Mixed Media Paper a lot.
Is that paper the same as using watercolor paper with gelatin sizing? NO! But it is a quality paper and fun to work on. I work on it differently than I do when working on gelatin-sized watercolor paper.
This paper happens also to be from their 500 series line which is their all-cotton line.
I don’t buy it because it’s from their all cotton line. I buy it because it has surface sizing that I can do fun things on.
I don’t use any of their other mixed media papers except for their 400 series TONED Mixed Media paper because it doesn’t come in Series 500. All the Series below 500 are not 100 percent cotton.
Learn what the series numbers mean and choose appropriately when using any brand of paper. I’ve had students come to me saying “I used Strathmore Mixed Media paper and I don’t get results like you,” and it always turns out they are using the 300 Series Mixed Media paper from Strathmore that is sold at hobby stores. KNOW YOUR PAPERS.
Remember if you elect to use non-gelatin sized papers you are not going to be able to easily perform the same approaches as some of your art heroes. Again you can fudge and fuss and approximate. And maybe that’s part of what we learn in life to do in order to survive.
You can also embrace whacky paper choices. It’s what I’ve chosen to do.
If you select a paper that has no hope of living up to the working capabilities of a favorite defunct paper you can’t be disappointed—you go in to your painting session knowing that it’s all experimentation.
I love experimentation. I also love using gouache. I also love using watercolor opaquely (without much water). These three personal quirks allow me to paint on pretty much any paper someone hands to me. And I have fun doing it because it is experimentation and I love experimentation.
Do I long for the days I would whip out a sheet of Fabriano and feel the glide of the paint on the sizing? Yep, sure do. It was one of my favorite papers for decades. But I’m a realist.
I live in the now.
I have a jar of FatWorks.com Waygu Beef Tallow in my fridge so I can make my own French Fries.
Strathmore’s Mixed Media Visual Journal is 100% cotton. I am a free subscriber so I don’t know what you think about those. Sounds like you don’t care for it. I have no doubt the 500 series is far better.
P.H. I love Strathmore 500 series Mixed Media paper. I mention that in the section at the end of the post—”Going Forward.”
I use it in sheets to bind my own books, I buy their 7.75 x 9.75 inch soft covered journals. (They also put that paper in a wire-bound and hard cover journal, but I don’t like their construction of those two versions so I only use the soft covered journals.)
Strathmore 500 series Mixed Media paper is an example of a paper that has starch/veg sizing yet is still fun to work on.
And it just so happens to be in the 500 series a 100 percent cotton paper.
Strathmore also sells a 300 and a 400 series mixed media paper. I don’t like the papers in the 300 and 400 series WITH THE EXCEPTION of the 400 Series Toned Mixed Media papers. I love those. But the toned mixed media papers from Strathmore aren’t made in the 500 series, so in that 400 series Toned Mixed Media paper from Strathmore I’m living with both a not 100 percent cotton paper and a veg/starch sized paper. And happy to do so.
We live in a world of diminishing choices as far as art paper goes so we have to look around and find what we can use and enjoy. I’m sorry my points were confusing to you.
I wanted to point out that 100 percent cotton paper isn’t a guarantee of good paper to work on and that sizing is more important.
But that said, if you look around and test, and YOU MUST because so many papers are changing or disappearing, you’ll need to find things that work for you that may not have 100 percent cotton and they are still legitimate candidates. (I’m not currently aware of a paper that is gelatin sized but not 100 percent cotton. But I imagine there are some somewhere. And if I could find those and they had a good gelatin sizing on them I’d used them over 100 percent cotton paper with veg/starch sizing.)
I hope this clarifies my thoughts for you.
I probably have over 100 posts on this blog where I discuss how much I love Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media Paper talking about how I love to work on it, which media I use on it, and how I love to bind it into books. Unfortunately because of my blog migration in 2017 there are some issues I don’t have time to fix so at the end of 2021 I put all my earlier posts into a non-public archive (just me and my web guy). Some of those may get fixed but there is no current schedule for that.
Here is a link to a recent post where I use the Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media Paper in a journal
https://rozwoundup.com/2024/04/drawing-to-improve-your-mood.html so you can see how I use watercolor on the paper.
And here https://rozwoundup.com/2023/04/journaling-predictions-and-creative-momentum.html
And here https://rozwoundup.com/2023/04/journaling-predictions-and-creative-momentum.html
And if you go to this post https://rozwoundup.com/2024/04/another-look-at-the-sennelier-ink-brush-pen.html you will see another page in one of those journals along with a link to a YouTube video showing me actually working on that paper with color ink brushes.
I routinely tell people Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media paper is my favorite non-watercolor paper. By that I mean it isn’t a “traditional watercolor paper.” But it is FAR Superior for working on with watercolor than about 95 percent of the current “watercolor papers” on offer. I’ve been using it since it was introduced. It initially covered their illustration/wet media boards and I begged them to bring it out in sheets because I wanted to bind it. I must not have been the only one because they did release it in sheets and afterwards they started making journals with it which as I’ve just stated I enjoy the soft covered 7.75 x 9.75 inch version the best.
If you haven’t tried it I recommend you do so, Just be prepared to work your watercolor paint a bit differently on it if you use traditional watercolor techniques and have been working on a gelatin sized paper.
If you’ve been working on Fabriano or other veg/starch sized papers most likely you’re prefer the Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media paper for any watercolor approach you want to take. It’s simply a better paper.
Not exactly. You expanded on what you said in the blog post.
I was referring to the 100% cotton paper in Strathmore’s Mixed Media Visual Journal. As opposed to the 100% cotton paper in their mixed media 500 series. Are they the same paper? I only have the VJ right now so I can’t really compare them. I’ll buy one of the 500 series when I can so I can check out the difference.
I don’t like their other Visual Journals.
I have used the Strathmore 500 mixed media sketchbook. I don’t like the soft-covered one because the cover tends to get destroyed because I leave it around. I don’t have one right now so I can’t compare its paper to the Visual Journal one. But they are both 100% cotton.
P.H. the 100 percent cotton paper in the Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media Journal is the same paper as the sheets of the same name.
https://www.strathmoreartist.com/mixed-media/visual-journal-mixed-media show the wirebound journal. THis is the 500 Series Mixed Media Paper.
This is their paper in sheets and rolls
https://www.strathmoreartist.com/mixed-media/500-series-mixed-media-sheets-rolls
This is the hard bound journal which includes the exact same paper https://www.strathmoreartist.com/mixed-media/500-series-mixed-media-hardbound-art-journal
This is the paper we are discussing in the soft bound journal configuration that I prefer to work in https://www.strathmoreartist.com/mixed-media/500-series-mixed-media-softcover-art-journal (I understand that you might not like the soft covers because they can get dinged up, but I prefer how this book opens to their hard cover version. Also I typically only use these in the studio OR I take them for intense drawing trips like the Minnesota State Fair and fill them in 3 days or so before the covers can get dinged.)
This is there mixed media board which is covered with the exact same paper (and which was the first product using this paper they came out with)
https://www.strathmoreartist.com/mixed-media/500-series-mixed-media-board If you use this board your experience working on this paper will be similar to working in the books or sheets it is just flattened onto board.
This is there HEAVYWEIGHT Version of the Strathmore 500 Series Mixed media paper. It is just paper, not on a board. It’s the same paper only thicker.
https://www.strathmoreartist.com/mixed-media/500-series-heavyweight-mixed-media
This is the 400 series TONED Paper I use from them https://www.strathmoreartist.com/mixed-media/400-series-toned-mixed-media
It is not available in a 500 series version. This is my favorite toned paper. (It also comes in 7.75 x 9.75 inch soft covered books, but BE CAREFUL because their toned drawing paper comes in those books too. If the blurb says 48 pages you’ve got the mixed Media Toned paper!)
Finally, here is the link to their master page listing all their mixed media papers
https://www.strathmoreartist.com/mixed-media
You can explore the other lower grade mixed media papers they make directly from that list.
I do not use any of the 400 series except for the toned one I just specified.
I do not use any of the 300 or 200 series papers.
The Vision Mixed media paper is something I tried when it was released and I think it’s awful—awful surface for anything I like to do on a paper. I do not recommend it at all.
I suspect that the 51 lb, not-cotton paper the Heidi wrote in to tell us about is one of the 400 series Mixed Media (white) that is probably special labeled for one of the craft stores. You can poke around in those links and see if any of those products match the ones you have or use.
But I have provided links for you to all the ones that I use, and which are all the SAME 500 Series Mixed Media paper (with 2 differences—one on the list is a board covered with that paper and another on the list is a heavyweight version of that same paper).
I can only vouch for the products I’ve listed here exactly. They are the only ones I use.
When you say you don’t like their visual journals I really don’t know which product you’re talking about so I’ve provided the links.
Hope this helps you. If you stick with one of the 500 series Mixed Media products I’ve listed here you’ll have the best experience possible, whether it’s sheets, journals (wire, soft, or hardbound) etc.
I’m surprised you really like the Strathmore 500 series Mixed Media paper…maybe you do something special with it to get it to work. For me, it’s one of my *most hated* papers. I bought the sketchbook – the one with the matte brown cover, says it’s 100% cotton, 500 series, etc. — and I absolutely *loathe* it. Maybe I’m doing something wrong.
On the other hand, I’ve used Handbook sketchbooks with great success; watched your long video on those and read the blogpost…hmm. So far that’s been my best paper.
Of course, I’ve only been doing watercolor (line & wash) for about a year and a half, so not nearly as much experience as you have, though we’re probably close in age. (I’m just late to the party, lol) My hunt for decent paper continues, and meanwhile I’m appreciating all the detail you’ve given here on your site and YouTube regarding sizing, etc. No one else seems to be talking about it.
Katie Jo,
NOTE THIS RESPONSE WAS WRITTEN BEFORE I READ YOUR COMMENT THAT ANOTHER COMPANY HAD ACQUIRED ARCHES. Please disregard my comment making an experiment with that paper as I don’t know what the current paper of that name is like—see my response to your later comments.
Original comment follows
I think your comments point out why taste in paper is so personal; and that’s why I try to be specific about what I like about a paper when I review it.
This post is a general post about 100 percent cotton paper and your comments also make my point for me—just because a paper is 100 percent cotton doesn’t mean it is going to work great for everyone.
For me paper sizing is the key. I like gelatin sizing because it is what was traditionally used on watercolor papers to allow artists to get the best results from their paper and pigments. Gelatin sizing helps float the pigments above the paper while the water in the wash dries. This allows the pigments to settle on the surface of the paper instead of being sucked down into the paper.
When pigments are allowed to dry this way you get a wonderful transparency effect of paint that traditional watercolors are known for. Light travels through the paint glazes, hits the white paper surface, and bounces back to our eye, delighting and amazing us.
Gelatin on the surface of a paper also enables washes to move easily across the paper. All the great 18th and 19th century watercolorists used this to great effect.
Papers that were once gelatin sized like Fabriano and Fluid 100 (Fluid’s 100 percent cotton paper) are now using a starch-vegetable-based sizing which doesn’t allow the paint to move in the same way.
This can be heartbreaking for artists who’ve built a career using a certain paper for decades. I myself have a series I started decades ago on the old Fabriano, and haven’t continued it because of the paper shift.
But working artists are an adaptive bunch. We have to keep making things and we find things that will allow us to make what we see in our mind.
And in my case, just because a paper I loved is no longer available it doesn’t mean I’m going to stop painting, though it does mean I’ll have to adapt the way I paint on a given paper. Since I frequently paint on non-art papers (by adapting my water usage) that isn’t a problem for me.
Since you’re new to watercolor in the past 18 months you might want to try an experiment. This will require that you use artist quality paints (which also impact how your paint moves, because of the ingredients in the paint). I suggest you get 3 to five colors from an artist line of watercolor paint. (I like Schmincke Horadam [their artist line], Daniel Smith, M. Graham. Sennelier would also be OK. (Don’t try this with Holbein as it is created differently and I’ve written about that and it’s too involved to go into right now, but one of the 4 companies I’ve mentioned and you’ll have a good experiment.) You could also use Winsor and Newton’s top line which I believe they now call Professional. (Do not use Cotman which is a student line.)
With one of the great paints mentioned above on hand— a yellow, blue, red would be fine— you’ll need a gelatin sized watercolor paper.
Get a sheet of Arches Watercolor paper. It’s readily available. It will be expensive, but you can tear or cut it into quarters or eighths to play with. (Don’t get a block or pad as the manufacturing process compresses the paper and we don’t want that for this experiment.)
Make sure if you cut or tear down your paper to keep the same surface facing up for each piece and mark it with a small pencil mark in the corner so you know this was the top of the sheet (on each piece). The watermark should be right reading when you hold the entire sheet up to the light. That means you’re looking at the top of the sheet.
Why does this matter, some backs of some papers are not the same for painting on. (This matters if you make books from your paper, but it also matters for the purposes of this test—you want to be painting on the same side of the sheet for your tests to compare apples to apples.)
Then with those paints mentioned start to make washes on that paper. You don’t have to try to paint something, but if you tear the paper into 1/4s or smaller you can do that.
If you have a sable brush in a size 10 or 12 that will hold water and pigment nicely you can use that. If you don’t have a sable brush use a less expensive brush from Princeton. I think their velvet touch line is good for this.
Pay attention to how the paint moves across the paper surface, how easily (or not) you can blend other colors into it. When colors dry glaze other colors on top of those. Even if you’ve only been at this for 18 months you’ll be able to see what the paper is doing—keep notes. (Also with non-staining pigments, see how easily the color lifts from a gelatin sized paper.)
You can also use your paints and paper to do the painting exercises found in any beginning watercolor book—they all have exercises on making a wash, a graduated wash, and other layering exercises.
This is actually a great way to learn how to use your paints and paper and I walk my beginning watercolor students through a host of such exercises.
By the time you finish covering all the pieces of the sheet with tests or small paintings you’ll have an excellent sense of how that paper works.
Then you can return with the same paints and brush to other papers like your handbook and test that surface. You can compare that handbook paper with the Arches. You’ll begin to see differences in real time. You will also be more immediately aware that one side of the Handbook paper reacts differently from the other, and this matters to you as you work through the book.
What will happen over time is you will begin to compare real aspects of any given paper with real aspects of any other.
And what you like and enjoy working with on one paper will become a standard for you to seek in others.
I don’t use Arches watercolor paper myself because the sizing floats my favorite inks longer than other gelatin sized papers I use, so that’s a drawback for me. But it is most readily available and a good place to start.
If you want to see me paint on different papers you can look at my Vimeo channel.
Here I do a gouache dog on Fabriano https://vimeo.com/1176069323
That is not gelatin sized paper any longer.
Here I sketch a man on Arches Text Wove which is a lightweight paper with gelatin sizing that I love to bind into sketchbooks
https://vimeo.com/1145455763
And here’s a sketch I did on Arteza which is student grade paper with who knows what type of sizing.
https://vimeo.com/376552238
In all of them you’ll some consistency of my approach, I like to use pen (a brush pen with pigmented ink that dries quickly). On all of those papers I can finish my sketch quickly and move right to watercolor and not have ink bleeding. And then how I respond to the paper changes when I begin to apply paint.
Those changes will be seen in the truncated washes one gets on non-gelatin sized paper. (Smoothest washes are most possible on gelatin sizing)
Pick up issues if I’m trying to lift a color. (Easier on gelatin sizing)
Color vibrancy—remember, it’s the same person, same technique, same watercolor, but on the cheaper Arteza the watercolor will soak in. And even on Fabriano because of the starch sizing it sinks in. I counter this by working opaquely.
So as you do your experiments and start keeping track you’ll know not just which papers are your “most hated” but the specifics as to WHY you hate them.
This tells you how you paint, what you look for in a paper for receptivity and wash flow, and so on.
A few months doing this and you’ll be on a life time journey of enjoying a variety of papers for a variety of reasons. And you’ll know when you want to paint in a certain way you need to pull out a certain paper.
I think this is the great fun and benefit of being alert to your process.
And realize that as your watercolor technique improves over time with practice, you may find yourself returning to other papers that you didn’t like, and suddenly appreciating them for what they can do, and what you now can do on them.
In the meantime it is good to remember that if you have a paper that works for you to great success as you write then own that and enjoy it. But realize what it is you are using and be aware as your skill with watercolor improves, other papers may suit your work better.
Will this mean that someday you’ll wake up and want to use Strathmore 500 series Mixed Media paper? No, that may never happen. In fact it is not the same paper as when it first came out (I have one of those books sent to me at the time and recently bought paper of that name works differently). But for me there is the way the pens I love work on that paper, and so I adapt to those changes.
Since you are reading off the book you have that it is the 500 series Mixed Media I don’t have to warn you about this, but there are versions of the 400 series and a lot of confusion on how Strathmore labels and markets their products so others reading this have to make sure they are using and comparing the same items.
If you haven’t been using artist quality paint, (or you have been using Holbein), I encourage you to try the exercise I suggest with a few colors of artist quality paint and compare that feeling of paint on the paper you currently like, as well as on the gelatin sizing of Arches.
For future reference and tests know that I love Th Saunders/Waterford and Langton Prestige (be careful Langton is in the title, another product confusion issue). Both are gelatin sized.
And finally, after you’ve done your exercises and tests, trust what you like if you’re getting results you enjoy and value. Now you know you can seek out other papers that have similar qualities to the papers you like. And it’s important to do so because one day you wake up and the company you’ve relied on to supply gelatin sized papers for 400 years is now making starch sizing which will make you pull your hair out. And just as that happened to so many of us in the art world that can happy with your Handbook paper. They can change it at any time. But you’ll now be an alert using and either develop a way to adapt on that paper, or start seeking a new one.
These exercises will also let you know what you value in a paper and free you from the hype of “400 year process” and “100 percent cotton.” What matters is the entirety of the paper. And you shouldn’t pay more for ad hype.
And as to no one else “seems to be talking about it”—meaning gelatin sizing, yes, this is a big problem that more people are not talking about this. But frankly a lot of people you may be “listening” to right now have started painting after 2000 which is when the big mills like Fabriano started making the shift. (I’ve written about this on the blog already, about the EU etc.)
People who don’t have experience of something can’t write about, or even know to write about it. Too many people seem to think things are the way they have always been, simply because a mill says it has been making paper for 400 years.
But things change.
Another thing that I would suggest to you for help in your journey—go to any large museum where they have watercolors on display, or sometimes in archives which you can schedule a visit to. STUDY these paintings, especially the 19th century English watercolorists, IN PERSON. Look at how the light works on the pigments and the paper, look at the texture of the paper. There is so much to see and absorb, and that will help you in your journey.
And finally, to bury the lede and answer your question, NO there is nothing special I do to Strathmore 500 series to make it work for me. I accept that it is not a gelatin-sized paper and I adjust my working method to it. Which simply means I manage my water differently when working on it. This is true for every paper I work on. Each is unique and requires a unique response from me.
It is a case of loving the one you’re with. I want to paint, and if it’s what I have on hand to use I’ll use it. I’m not going to wait around for a gelatin sized paper. And remember I said I enjoy the way my ink pen works on the Strathmore 500 Mixed Media. Sometimes are choices are about the pen and ink and we’ll just adapt how we paint after we get the sketch down.
Have fun with your experiments.
Wow, Roz — thank you so much for your detailed reply! I only use Daniel Smith paints with a couple Schmincke and M. Grahams here and there…I gave up on Cotman long ago, and I just have a weird aversion to Winsor & Newton in general (don’t know why). So I’ll try your experiments: I do have some Arches Cold Press (hate the hot press, ugh!) so I’ll give it a go.
I should mention that I’m just doing art for fun, not to sell, though I do display some on the walls of our home because I’m proud of my work and I didn’t want our home looking like HomeGoods with generic art. I aim for a wonky style wherever possible, though sometimes I do a little more “refined” (?) sketches, if I’m in the mood. My goal in taking up line & wash was to get away from the rigid perfectionism of my classical music years, which I enjoyed but I grew up with far too much emphasis on perfection and “one mistake is one too many.” I purposely want to “mess out of lines” (color outside the lines), create wobbly/squiggly lines and let my inner little girl just have fun. (I even have Caran D’ache Neocolor II’s so she can play with crayons, lol)
I do agree that one of the biggest problems is the influencers probably started after the shift, *and* they’re heavily influenced/pressured by Lightwish and all sorts of crap companies sending them free stuff to review, which creates a host of problems. Lut – Sketchbook Art has a fantastic video, ” Honest Talk: How Art Sponsorships Are Changing ” that talks honestly about all the shady tactics of these art supply companies getting free marketing through YouTubers by providing free products, which creates a false sense of”this is the latest, hottest product you must buy!!!!” I’m so fed up with all the fake hype — I’m done jumping on bandwagons.
Also, companies do name their products strangely and in very confusing ways, so next time I’m at the art supply store I’ll check the Saunders Waterford (if they have it) to see which one they might have, and maybe give it another go.
Again, thank you for your detailed reply! I’m always learning on my art journey, a 62-yr-old fledgling artist. LOL
Katie Jo, glad you’re using great paints, that’s so important. Based on your other comment about Arches being sold (I’ll respond to that note directly) I would not do a test with it.
Naming issues from companies has made teaching on line to students from different companies very difficult because students end up getting something they think is what I suggested based on misleading ad copy. It’s always important to tripple check and I’m glad you’re paying attention to that.
As to sponsorships and such—I buy all my supplies so I can give independent reviews. I often give bad reviews so it’s just better if I do that and companies aren’t shocked.
The number of times I’ve accepted free samples to test has been very few. I always give the companies a heads up, but they always end up surprised.
More important, if I am given something I do mention that. I think I’m pretty rigid when it comes to my concept of clear reviews, but I’d rather there not be even a hint of being given something in return for a favorable review.
In the past I have promoted Schmincke Horadam Gouache because I do believe it is the best gouache in the world and it’s the brand I use 90 percent of the time. And when I started writing my blog I would write about it, so it seemed a no-brainer to create a couple sets for them. It’s easy to promote a brand you use a lot, for a long time, and teach with. But you do have to be clear about any connections.
I don’t know how all the sponsorship stuff is happening because I’m not involved. But I do see the results in puff piece reviews of products I know to be inferior.
I’m sure this will get worse as AI generated materials proliferated for “ads” and for “reviews.”
I think it is great that you have a clear view of why you are making art. This will keep your enjoyment in the process high.
P.H. and Roz, I believe Strathmore made two different wire-bound Mixed Media Visual Journals. A quick internet search shows two different but confusingly similar covers sold through numerous stores. However, I only found one of them on the Strathmore website – the (500 series) 90 lb. 100% cotton MMVJ, which is the same paper used in their hardbound and softcover Mixed Media Art Journals and large sheet paper. This is what I use, I believe what Roz uses, and it sounds like what you have as well, P.H.
The other MMVJ (different cover) version is 51 lb., not 90, and it does NOT say it is 100% cotton anywhere on the cover or in the advertising information. I remember seeing that one years ago in a big box craft store and thinking it odd. So I guess buyer beware. We just have to read carefully to know which one is which. I thought others might like to know.
I thank you Roz, for many years of information, thoughtfulness, your Art and levity. I wish you all good things!
Thanks for joining in Heidi. I’m not aware of the MMVJ with 51 lb. paper. I can only surmise it is something made with the 400 series or lower papers and made to meet a price point for the craft marke at on of the big box stores.
We do have to be very aware. (I am always leery when purchasing Strathmore Toned Journals online because they often show the Mixed Media book in the photo, with 48 pages and that’s what I want, but I have received the 100 plus page version from some vendors which is the toned drawing paper version and useless to me.)
Have a great day getting some sketching done!
Another reply, more in general:
Just came across this: https://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/topic/arches-bought-by-canson/
I personally cannot stand Canson XL paper for the kind of line & wash I do, and so far I haven’t found any Canson paper I like. Montval was horrid. Now I’m trying Arches and wondering what all the hype is about, as I’m finding it far more difficult to work with than my 25% cotton and even cellulose papers, so I can’t help but wonder what I’m doing wrong (?).
However, I’m also seeing comments by others saying things like, “I am very frustrated with this paper. Wet on wet techniques don’t work the paper just sucks up the water with no blending, forms hard edges and colors look dull. Very sad.” That was exactly my experience as well! So I’m not alone.
At any rate, it goes along with what you’re saying in this blogpost, Roz: that just because companies have been doing something for 400 years doesn’t mean they’re still doing them the same way now. And “now” could be very different than “back then.”
Katie Jo, thank you for telling me that Arches was bought by FILA Group. I did a little poking around on line and verified this. (FILA Group also owns Canson.)
Since 2020 I haven’t been following the paper mill ownership changes because I’ve been involved in a drawn out relocation and dealing with some health issues. I have had a stock of paper to use up for the small projects I’ve been working on.
It concerns me that FILA Group has purchased Arches. If the paper hasn’t already changed it may very well change shortly.
I haven’t used Arches watercolor paper for a long time. Because it has been purchased by another company in the intervening time I would recommend you NOT make the exercises I suggested with Arches Watercolor paper.
The only papers I know for sure are still gelatin-sized are Th Saunders/Waterford and Langton Prestige. You can find TS/W on line and at local art stores in the US, in sheets as well as blocks. Again, I would encourage you to get a 22 x 30 inch sheet for reasons stated in my first response to you.
TS/W is what I think of as a softer sheet than Arches so the sizing differences to starch sized papers will be more subtle, but you can still get a feel for things.
Langton Prestige (and it has to be that full name because their student paper is just Langton and the packaging can look similar depending where you buy it), isn’t available in the US as sheets that I have been able to find so you’ll need to buy a block or pad if you decide to try that paper.
Baohong Watercolor paper was developed in China with the involvement of some excellent watercolorists in Australia. You can read my review of that paper here https://rozwoundup.com/2025/05/baohong-watercolor-paper-review.html
If you think you want to try that paper for your experiments please read my linked blog post in full because there is a huge amount of labeling and packaging confusion with that paper. And reviews from people using their student line of paper have been generally bad.
Baohong’s artist paper has been advertised as gelatin sized and I think it still is, though I’ve not purchased any additional paper. Just be careful which line of paper you purchase if you go that route. (And do read my full review for other issues.)
So pickings for gelatin sized papers are very slim and that’s extremely sad.
I would still recommend you make some tests on known gelatin-sized papers for your own knowledge and growth in paint handling.
And then, of course, as I mentioned in my first response to you, reexamine your current favorite papers and identify the handling characteristics you like and depend upon with that paper. Then enjoy the paper as much as you can while it’s still available in the same quality. Be alert to changes. And every few months test another paper by using it exclusively for a two- or three-week period so you can get to know some other papers.
In this way you may find a paper you like even better than the Handbook watercolor paper you currently like. Or find other papers you could use and adapt to long-term if Handbook changed the way they make that paper and you need a substitute.
Like you I’m not a fan of Canson. The XL paper is junk (I have reviewed it on the blog). Montval I haven’t used in a very long time. My concern is the FILA Group may change Arches to meet EU requirements, or to dovetail with Canson, and that would be sad.
Remember if you’re having better luck with 25 percent cotton and even cellulose papers what you’re experiencing is the surface sizing on that paper which probably responds better to your water handling approach, as well as the fibers the paper is made from.
You might simply always find that you enjoy painting on those paper more. And there is no problem with using those types of papers if you are having fun and meeting your goals.
My comments about trying the gelatin-sized papers go back decades to when I was first teaching watercolor painting in the 1990s. I wanted students to try the gelatin-sized papers so they could experience the qualities of those papers and improve their handling techniques. Or at least experience the handling possibilities that traditional watercolorists who were writing the books they were reading, or painting the paintings they were seeing in the museums had experienced.
It is so fun to paint on a quality gelatin sized paper that I just really hope that for everyone. And it’s important to watercolor art.
Unfortunately, in a world where companies gobble up other companies something is always lost or shifted and in the past 2 decades I’ve tried to alert my students and blog readers to that.
I would caution you about accepting the reviews you read that say a paper is just soaking up the paint. If you are having that experience too, then I would avoid a paper. But if you haven’t tried a paper I would give it a try to verify for yourself, when possible. It will help you work out what changes you need to make to your water and paint handling approach as well as make you appreciate more the paper handling qualities of the papers you enjoy using.
I disagree completely with one of my good art friends about the usefulness of Hahnemühle’s Travel Journal paper for painting on. My friend thinks the paper is a blotter, and I’ve painted some of my favorite paintings on that non-wet media paper. You can read the review here https://rozwoundup.com/2022/08/another-look-at-hahnemuhles-travel-journal.html
Bottom line test, learn technique so you can test for nuances, note the nuances of a paper, capitalize on those nuances, and just have a heck of a lot of fun getting your vision down on paper.
And keep being skeptical, as you are now, of advertising claims!
Katie Jo, just another quick note about papers. I know you and I aren’t fans of Canson XL, but they make a watercolor paper with a synthetic sizing that is actually quite good, or was about 8 years ago. Something else to possible look into. I think it’s called Heritage. But I can’t find my review of it.
Additionally Canson makes a sketchbook called Canson 180. You can see some brush pen work in it here https://rozwoundup.com/2022/10/more-happy-brush-pen-strokes.html
And some watercolor work on it here
https://rozwoundup.com/2023/02/why-i-do-what-i-do-still-more-on-watching-tv.html
It is lightweight paper which will buckle when you use it, but it takes media so well that it’s a shame not to use it.
It isn’t sheet paper, just in the sketchbook, but I wanted to mention it in case you wanted something to try out that can also be fun.
I learned of this sketchbook from artist Inma Serrano about 10 years ago. (Inmaseranito on instagram.) I don’t know if she still uses them or uses a bunch of different books. But she uses dry and wet media in the most amazing and vibrant urban sketching. I would take a peak at her work. And if you’re looking for a sketchbook that can take a variety of media you might want to try one of these.
This is a listing for the book just so you can see what it looks like https://www.cansonlife.com/product/canson-180-degree-art-book-paper-pad-hardbound-8-3-x-11-7-inch-80-sheets8-3×11-7/ I have not purchased from that vendor—it’s just the first listing I found to show you the book I’m talking about.
I don’t like the front closure so I rip that out of the back cover.
Given your interest in working loosely with wet and dry media I think this might be a fun paper for you to try.
If you scan your work to share on social media get some large pieces of black card stock (thin) and cut to be slightly larger than the page of your book. Place those behind the first page of the spread and behind the opposite page of the spread when you can and you won’t see dark show through of bold lines from other pages.