while waiting for my voice to return

house finch on rough press paper

so i can record this voice over...... (i am wondering if, perhaps i should just do it with music and insert black frames with type, like old timey silent movies)
i figured i would talk a bit about watercolor paper and a bit about the differences etc.
watercolor paper is usually 100% cotton, and is specified by weight, and surface finish


i tend to use 140# hp (hot press) some folks use lighter 90# and some use heavier
a lot of artists like the texture of rough press paper, and i do too but it doesn't lend itself to easy reproduction of my paintings - see that house finch...look at the sky closely.....see the texture? now in person that texture just sparkles....... but i don't truly like it in scans as well..... and i have to correct for it.
(when the originals go up for sale though, someone is going to love it, i would bet on it)

cardinal on hot press paper

now here on the other hand is a cardinal..... he's done on hot press paper and the surface is smooth... it's easier to get fine crisp lines and better, i think, for reproduction...but in person, it is my opinion that he doesn't quite sparkle as much as he could. (that is my opinion, as my husband thinks he does)

my favorite brand of paper is twinrocker, hands down the top of the line paper.
i do also use fabriano artistico
i do NOT use arches, i don't like it.
i do however like canson100, which is also part of the arches family..... but for some reason canson works better for me then arches does.

there are other papers out there and others that i have tried but these work the best for the way i work.
normally

all the paper i use is 100% archival as well, so it should, with reasonable care, last at least 500 years. so will my pigments...........
not that i am any great master artist or anything but it's good to know that when it comes time for these original paintings to be sold, the buyers won't be facing faded or mutated colors, or deteriorating paper. properly matted and framed they will be around for a very long time.