I don’t know about you, but I am too precious with my 100% cotton paper. Sometimes it is crippling to the point that I am afraid to paint. So I decided to buy cheaper paper to practice on, to take that pressure off. The Winsor&Newton 25% cotton paper costs just CAD$13 and change. Is it worth the pocket change?
Specifications
Even though the paper is not 100% cotton, the sizing should make it stay wet longer. On a relevant note, I have used Canson XL watercolour paper before and hated it, because it is not cotton or sized, you get lots of blooms and hard edges. Since the Winsor & Newton paper is sized, I hope it will perform better than the Canson XL.
Texture
I must say I am not a huge fan of the texture of this paper. It is too uniform, like the cellulose paper from Strathmore. However, this is a very personal preference. At this price I feel like I am nitpicking! 😛
First Painting
For the first painting, I wanted to do a ton of washes on this paper. It took the heavy washes very well. The blooms in the green background were intentional. I noticed the paint didn’t dry as quickly as on regular cellulose paper (or mix), so it gave me a bit of time to blend it out. The paints lifted fairly easily even when they were dried. I thought the paper handled it well enough for what I wanted it to do.
Used For Practicing
I bought this paper pad for the sole purpose of practicing my loose florals, so these are just my test runs. The paint doesn’t dry too quickly on the paper so I find it fairly easy to paint on it, without the frustrations with regular cellulose paper. I could rewet the paints and blend them out even after they have dried, and the paper allows a decent amount of play time.
In addition, I used the Dandelion paints from Let’s Make Art to do a quick floral painting on this paper. It took me less than 15 minutes so it’s just a quick trial. The paper worked well.
Furthermore, I used Meiliang paint and painted the Misty Treetop inspired by Let’s Make Art. This one had lot of layering and wet on wet and the paper handled it well, though the paints tend to dry with hard edges.
Overall Review
Winsor & Newton’s 25% cotton watercolour paper surprised me! It can take in a lot of water and doesn’t dry out too quickly. Despite it not being 100% cotton, the sizing allows for slower drying time. It is a great budget paper to practice on. If you don’t pay over CAD$14 for it I’d recommend it as practice paper. If you are looking for 100% cotton paper, Winsor & Newton has a small coil bound paper pad for about the same price, which I have reviewed here.
