Seascape Artist

90 lb watercolor paper is just too thin for me to use for much painting … I have a heavy touch with the water many times and I do not strech my paper so for actual painting, I generally use 140 lb cold press watercolor paper .. block or loose sheets in a pad.

BUT … I do keep 90 lb in my studio … for sketching ideas alone or with my grandson. Regular drawing paper has a much different feel with colored pencils and it too is in my studio for when I need that type of paper for a project … but generally, in preparation for painting and generating pre-plannning ideas … actual watercolor paper is better for me … I don’t usually use much if any water on these sketches at all … it is about placement and variety of placement … I save the sketches and some are quite good so I tend to even use them for other collage projects.

I have found that different manufacturers of paper have a different touch and feel to their papers just like different brands of watercolor pencils are a bit different to use. When I plan the placement of a project painting using 90 lb paper, I know in advance that I am not planning to use water on it generally. I like the oclor of wateroclor pencils on watercolor paper usually better than colored pencil on drawing paper too. It reminds me somewhat of pastels … it has a softer more organic feel and look to the sketch where colored pencils appear harsher. Pastels smudge too much for me though I have used them a bit … and the dust from pastels are not good for me – makes me sneeze and feel nauseous if I am around them too much. For me, watercolor pencils dry are a very nice sketching tool … since I like working with color and I cannot find any of the colored charcoal pencils any more … I am quite happy to have discovered a brand of watercolor pencils that work similar to pastels without the dust and similar to the colored charcoal that I cannot find anywhere these days … I’m not even sure if they still make it – I have not even found them on the Internet!

Using real watercolor paper and pencils in the planning stage for me has an added bonus benefit … if it is good and I like the finished product as is, I have a finished painting that I can mat, frame and hang without worrying about fixatives … I am NOT good at using fixatives … I always get them all over the place and the spray coat is never even so it makes my painting blotchy when I have used them in the past.