I’ve been working on Harmony watercolor paper since before my cancer surgery so I thought it was high time I reviewed it. Ok, long story short, I LOVE this paper. Yes, it’s made of alpha-cellulose which means it’s part of Hahnemühle’s Akadamie line of student grade paper. But seriously, if “student” grade paper is this good, maybe we should have another category for paper that is not made of 100% cotton but IS great paper. Usually I’m all about “use the absolute best you can afford” but seriously, this is GREAT paper so why not use both kinds, artist grade AND student?
Harmony Watercolor Paper Specs:
- Natural White watercolor paper for all wet media
- Alpha-Cellulose, part of the Akadamie line
- Surface sized, acid free, light resistant, archival
- Comes in Sheets, Blocks, Spiral Bound & Rolls in all three surfaces
- In a HUGE amount of sizes (Sheets 50cm x 65cm, 70cm x 100cm, rolls 60cm x 10m)
Size | Content |
---|---|
A4, spiraled | 12 sheets |
A3 | 12 sheets |
A3, spiraled | 12 sheets |
24 x 30 | 12 sheets |
30 x 40 | 12 sheets |
40 x 50 | 12 sheets |
7″ x 10″ | 12 sheets |
9″ x 12″ | 12 sheets |
10″ x 14″ | 12 sheets |
12″ x 16″ | 12 sheets |
I was really shocked to find I was in love with the texture of the ROUGH Harmony. I painted warthogs and sunflowers on this paper and find I think of pulling it out every time I paint. That’s something. I have a serious selection of paper and if i’m thinking, Hmmm, maybe Harmony then I must REALLY like it. The above gourds is one of my favorite paintings.
Harmony comes in spiral bound pads of the three textures, hot pressed, cold pressed and rough. This is really rare. Usually spiral bound can be found with cold pressed paper. It’s much harder to find hot pressed and even rarer to find rough. So, it’s lovely to be able to fall in love with a paper and be able to get it in all textures. Although it is common for an artist to fall for one texture over another, I’ve found I love the two I’ve tried, HP and ROUGH.
The Texture of paper, many times, is dictated by the kind of art you’re going to do. Hot pressed paper is great for botanical paintings and work that you want to be highly accurate and smooth. For instance, this paper would be great for lettering and pen & ink work as the tips of the brush pens and technical liners won’t be damaged by the texture of the paper. Rough is great for waves, sand, sky etc where the texture adds to the landscape. Cold pressed is the work horse of the paper industry as it can go both ways. I find with my fruit paintings that it gives just enough texture to a pear to make it look more lifelike.
With the above “Photo Bomb” painting, I chose the HP paper specifically because I knew I’d be doing very intricate details to render the look of the cherry dropping into the milk.
I usually go for cold pressed paper, as I said above, the workhorse of the art world. But with the Harmony I have so far only tried the HP and ROUGH. Since I love both, I can’t imagine not liking the cold pressed paper. We’ll see, I can’t wait to dig out a niche and try it soon. GO HERE If you’d like all the buying options for Hahnemühle paper.
HEADS UP!
Do you want to win some Harmony hot pressed paper and a HUGE amount of other stuff?? Well, I’m doing a giveaway this week so head on over HERE to enter. You can also add another chance to win by heading over to my Instagram feed and following the rules on my 1000 Follower Giveaway post. Good luck!
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Hahnemühle Harmony Paper – Just Add Water Silly