Today I want to share my favorite watercolor paper!
I’ve been painting with watercolors for a while and have used many different watercolor papers. I realized early on how important paper is when you use watercolors.
Your paper can make or break your watercolor journey. If you’re a newbie and paint with cheap paper, you’ll probably get frustrated and not understand why you aren’t getting the results you want.
Don’t get me wrong, practicing with cheaper paper at the beginning when you’re new to watercolors is totally okay. I did that for a long time. But when you want to improve your skills further, upgrading your paper is a great idea.
In this post I’ll share what my all-time favorite is and a runner-up that’s more affordable.
Let’s get into it!
Favorite Professional Watercolor Paper
Hands down, Arches Cold Press Watercolor Paper is my favorite.
I’ll always choose Arches over another brand given the chance. I’m also only a fan of cold-press watercolor paper over hot press. Cold press paper is more textured than the smooth texture of hot press.
I use a lot of water so cold press works best for me. And I really love the grit of the paper.
Lately, I can’t seem to paint on anything but Arches. I’ll use my cheaper option to just play around with my paint and not waste a precious piece of Arches paper. But then I seem to get frustrated when I’m not getting the results I want.
My Second Favorite Watercolor Paper
The runner-up paper I used for YEARS before discovering Arches is Canson.
Canson is so affordable and is a decent watercolor paper for the price.
I’ve gotten nice results from using this paper and have made lots of paintings on it. I still use it here and there. I like to use it for mixed media. The daisy painting above was made by creating a textured watercolor background and then drawing with oil pastels over it.
Watercolor Art
Painting with watercolors is so much fun! It’s such a unique medium and there are many ways to paint with them.
What you use for your paint, paper, brushes, etc, is all up to you. You may not be a fan of the papers I mentioned and that’s okay!
I just wanted to share my favorites to possibly help someone out who may be a beginner.
Thanks for reading. 🙂
-Amanda
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