Watercolor Wednesday with Schut-18 #Exaclair #Schut #Watercolor

Each Wednesday for 22 weeks, I'll be sharing artwork that was done on paper from a Schut Papier sampler.  I'll be giving you a little information about each of the papers.

Schut Noblesse, Cold-pressed, medium fine , 300 gm2/140 lbs
Both of the paintings I'm sharing today were done quickly, with a large brush and washes.  On the second painting I used a Pigma Micron for detail.  Many cold-pressed watercolor papers are too rough for a fabric-tipped pen, making it hard to get crisp lines and wearing down the pen tip.  I think the tooth of this paper would wear a fabric tip down so I used an older pen.  While  I couldn't get a truly sharp, crisp line, I could come close, and I was able to get a variety of textures depending on how I held the pen and the amount of pressure.

The outcome of my tests:

• The Noblesse paper is smoother than many cold-pressed papers I've worked with, but not so smooth as to seem like hot-press.
• The paper is about average for lifting color, and re-applying paint.  It will pill if you aren't careful when lifting.
• Washes move well, though not as far as I expected.
• Paint dries fairly quickly and hard lines form easily.
• There no chunks or pills if scraping is done with reasonable care
• Some dimpling does occur with very wet washes, though they disappear when the paper dries
• Does well with both masking fluid and masking tape
• Pencil blur but don't disappear entirely.
• A variety of line textures are possible when using a fabric-tipped pen such as the Pigma Micron.