When selecting the paper you paint your watercolors upon, select wisely. The success or failure of your painting often depends upon the paper. Because there are many differences among papers, you should experiment with many of them rather than settle early on just one or two in which you feel comfortable.
This article discusses paper sheets, but there are many papers sold in tablets and pads; most of these are light weight and of less quality. However, they are great to carry around to make watercolor sketches.
Some watercolor papers are soft (blotter like), and others are slow to absorb. Some dries quickly, and some will allow a good deal of abuse; such as, scrubbing and erasure techniques. When you experiment with different paper types, you will learn to use different ones for different kinds of paintings.
Paper Weights~refers to paper weight in pounds of a ream (500 sheets) of that paper.
The nature of the surface of the paper is highly important. It deserves more attention than it generally receives. Most artists habitually uses a very small number of the recognized makes and limit the scope of their work.
From the coarsest to the smoothest surface, almost any surface can be used with good effect. Each can be induced to display special charms by adopting suitable subjects, techniques, and methods. For example, a wash on a coarse paper will appear darker than if painted on a smooth paper; as if thousands of dots of color, slightly darker than the wash, had been added
To summarize, Watercolor papers come in three surfaces: rough, cold pressed, and smooth (hot pressed). For the use of bold technique, the rough is best. For general purposes, the cold pressed is best. The smooth (hot pressed) takes skill and is rarely used except by experienced professionals. For any serious person wishing to become good at painting with watercolor, it is best to practice with all the types of watercolor paper. It really does come down to personal taste.
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