One never knows what one is going to do.
One starts a painting and then it becomes something quite else.
It is remarkable how little the ‘willing’ of the artist intervenes.
— Pablo Picasso
I’ve been going through all of my drawers and found a myriad of different watercolour papers that I decided to test out today. I decided to test all of them out with the same combination of mixed colours (Cerulean Blue, Prussian Blue, a bit of Q. Gold and a small amount of red to neutralize the colour). I used a wet-in-wet technique which is, I think, the reason that my colours are are too unsaturated. I definitely do not like how the Strathmore paper bloated with the water. The Arches paper combined the different intensities of colour a bit too much (but my paints were too watery). The Fabriano and Fluid 100 papers were fine and the Saunders was intense as the paper is darker than the rest. To note that the Fabriano paper was not HP (hot-pressed) as the other ones so to compare it with the others is not really fair, as I usually love the results on this paper. I think that I might redo this exercise tomorrow with more saturated paint colours.
That is what happens when you stop painting for a while… humph! My technical eye went for a ride and said bye-bye -))) Well, guess what I will try to achieve tomorrow? Good saturation levels — hah-hah!!!
Colours: DS Alizarin Crimson, DS Q. Gold, W&N Cerulean Blue, DS Prussian Blue
Papers: Arches, Bockingford, Fabriano Artistico, Fluid 100, Saunders Waterford, Strathmore
Painting to see : Peindre pour voir 
Great info Jane! That is always a good exercise to do! I ordered from Two Rivers in the UK because Shari mentioned their paper! Google it and sign up for the newsletter, it’s a family run business in a 150 year old mill! Love the whole story behind them! Definitely gonna visit the mill on one of my dream vacations!!! One day!!
I just love the paper! Stay well!
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Oh his is great info Angela! Two Rivers in the UK, and yes that would be one of my ideal vacations too one of these days. Can’t wait to travel again. Thanks for the heads-up -)))
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Wow, Jane! I love doing things like this, because “it doesn’t matter WHAT you paint, as long as you paint.” Getting the supplies out and fooling around with them is such a pleasure. I just bought some new colors, and can hardly wait to do a sampler page. I love your eye for color.
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Oh thank you ginarteau! Yes these exercises are so much fun, and they test your eyes and memory… which is good, especially at my age -)))
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