Time to start testing another
Exaclair paper sample: the
Clairefontaine cold press 10 sheets watercolor block. Rather than doing a single review post, I plan to try this "
Fontaine" watercolor paper with different water mediums and document my observations in multiple posts.
Decided to start testing this paper with a few
Daniel Smith watercolor sticks and some
Faber Castell Albrecht Durer aquarelle sticks.
Initially just drew a simple color wheel with 3 primaries using Aureolin (Cobalt Yellow), Quinacridone Coral, and Cobalt Blue. The secondary colors were mixed directly on the paper. Then just spontaneously started to doodle some random faces and a dragon.
This icon on the cover clearly indicated where to insert the palette knife.
Once the paint dried, it was fairly simple to release the painting from the block by sliding a palette knife along the 4 glued sheet edges of the
watercolor block.
It had been a while since I practiced sketching with actual brushes given my reliance on
waterbrushes. For these tests, I doodled mainly with an old trusty #4
Winsor & Newton Series 7 and a similarly sized #6
Escoda 1212 Kolinsky round sable brushes. I find the former's brush head to be the most responsive and easier to control of the two.
Both 100% cotton
watercolor blocks kept the pages flat while the doodles dried up. The 300 gsm/140 lb
Clairefontaine Aquarelle paper surface has a bit more texture than the slightly thinner 280 gsm/136 lb
Cartiera Magnani Acquerello paper. Colors come across quite brightly and the brushstrokes look fairly smooth on both supports. This 9" X 12" block size is quite portable while still providing plenty of room to work on.
Time to start testing another Exaclair paper sample: the Clairefontaine cold press 10 sheets watercolor block. Rather than doing a single review post, I plan to try this "Fontaine" watercolor paper with different water mediums and document my observations in multiple posts.
Decided to start testing this paper with a few Daniel Smith watercolor sticks and some Faber Castell Albrecht Durer aquarelle sticks.
Initially just drew a simple color wheel with 3 primaries using Aureolin (Cobalt Yellow), Quinacridone Coral, and Cobalt Blue. The secondary colors were mixed directly on the paper. Then just spontaneously started to doodle some random faces and a dragon.
This icon on the cover clearly indicated where to insert the palette knife.
Once the paint dried, it was fairly simple to release the painting from the block by sliding a palette knife along the 4 glued sheet edges of the watercolor block.
It had been a while since I practiced sketching with actual brushes given my reliance on waterbrushes. For these tests, I doodled mainly with an old trusty #4 Winsor & Newton Series 7 and a similarly sized #6 Escoda 1212 Kolinsky round sable brushes. I find the former's brush head to be the most responsive and easier to control of the two.
Both 100% cotton watercolor blocks kept the pages flat while the doodles dried up. The 300 gsm/140 lb Clairefontaine Aquarelle paper surface has a bit more texture than the slightly thinner 280 gsm/136 lb Cartiera Magnani Acquerello paper. Colors come across quite brightly and the brushstrokes look fairly smooth on both supports. This 9" X 12" block size is quite portable while still providing plenty of room to work on.
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4 comments:
Clairefontaine is a brand whose name i keep seeing in the pen/pencil community. I think i might just have to pick a pad up. They're particularly loved in the fountain pen community, from what i've seen.
as always, love the explosions of color. You make me want to learn to work in color too. :)
I am really quite impressed and pleased with the performance of the Clairefontaine and Rhodia papers that I have tested so far. Until recently I was not even aware than these French-made artist papers even existed, for I had not encountered them before on my trips to art supplies stores and browsing online.
As to working in color, I think more of it as playful explorations and as means of adding interest to a line drawing. Hence the "doodles" mindset. A watercolor wheel can be a handy tool when selecting effective color combinations. The Series 7 round sable brush is really fun for sketching with watercolor washes. For bright saturated colors, I would suggest looking at artist watercolors by Daniel Smith, Holbein, Maimeri Blu, and Winsor & Newton. Watercolor pencils by Caran D'Ache and Faber Castell Albrecht Durer are also a convenient and portable source of saturated colors.
hey alberto, thanks very much for the tips and advice. I think that i will need to cultivate that sense of daring to experiment with respect to drawing and learning to be a little light-hearted or playful. I will probably be trying out the Caran D'Ache and Faber Castell pencils too. Thanks for the recommendation. :)
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