The
equipment. - Paper
Every Artist has a preference as
to what paper, paint, brushes etc. they prefer. To be honest there is no right
and wrong, my uncle’s been using breakfast packets painted one side in emulsion
paint for years. We won’t go to that extreme here, although the paper to use
is really to get the best you can afford, and the heaviest.
For the technically minded paper is sold by weight, either based on a square meter or the imperial ton. All we really need to know is that it comes in three basic forms, Rough, Not (not so rough, cold pressed) and Hot pressed (smooth). The weight obviously reflects the thickness 90lb is thin 140lb is middle thickness and anything higher is brilliant buy it.
Generally paper 140lb and below will need to be soaked and glued to a board and left to dry (stretching). Not a difficult thing to do but why waste painting time. Anything above is usually just a case of affixing to a board with masking tape and off you go.
The alternative is to buy a
block, which is basically our 90/140lb paper glued with PVA all round the edges.
This supposedly avoids the need for stretching. The problem I always get with a
block is cutting off the top sheet when the painting is finished.
I have made my
own blocks from loose leaf pads of watercolor paper by weighting down with
suitably sized and heavy books then gluing around the top, bottom and front
edge. Works fine plus you can fit a sharp knife at the spine to trim all round
to get the next sheet. Unfortunately in my house the children are always
pinching the PVA glue for some school project or other.