Hiya. Yep, I’ve been absent for a couple weeks. I have good reasons, promise! Let me explain myself before I get to the review of Expression Watercolor paper.
So, I got all my testing done for my six month review after my cancer surgery and YAY I’m totally healthy, cancer free and doing great. So ya, that happened. :o) Lots of doctor appointments and even a trip to Victoria (that takes from eight in the morning until eight at night to get there and home). But so well worth the poking, driving and undressing. I’m darn thrilled to have them all say all things are positive. WHEW!
Then there’s the Zig Zag book from Hahnemühle. Oh boy, did I underestimate the TIME it would take to complete this 5″x5″ book. When I did the 2″x2″ it didn’t take that much time. But HELLO, it’s only two inches square! Silly me, what’s the difference between 18 pages in succession and 18 loose pages?? NOTHING. I’m telling you, really, it probably took me LONGER because they’re connected. But holy heck Batman, was the time and effort worth it! (here’s a little video of one side in it’s black & white stage.)
Ok, so I’ll be showing you my Zig Zag book starting TOMORROW when I’m also putting up an amazing GINORMOUS Giveaway. Yep. So tune in tomorrow when you can enter to win your own Zig Zag book AND some Expression watercolor paper, which is what I’m talking about TODAY. You’ll have to hold your horses and anticipate ALL the wonderful things you could win. (hint: it involves Hahnemühle paper, Zebra pens, watercolors and swag from ME including but not limited to… , Ehem… a “Don’t Drink The Paint Water” mug. I know you all love that mug! Oh and Bumble. Don’t forget to mention the damn bee, he pouts if I forget to mention him!)
Ok, so all about Expression watercolor paper. It came out last year, before the whole cancer thing blew up and I never did get to review it. I’ve painted on it several times and at first I really didn’t take to this paper. But, yesterday I did discover a great quality that some of you might REALLY appreciate about this paper (look to the last bullet point). So let’s dive in.
Expression Specs:
- 140lb/300gsm
- 100% Cotton
- Cold pressed
- Comes in blocks & sheets
- Surface sized, suitable for all wet media
- Acid free, light-resistant, extreme longevity
- Natural-white, colors stand out excellently
- Wet paint can be easily corrected/removed
Wet paint can be easily corrected/removed.
When I was painting the parrot tulips below it was easy to get either hard edges or blooms as I worked the paint. I found that I could simply scrub back a hard edge and rework any blooms. Even if the paint had mostly dried! Now, some painters would hate this. It means that there may be a tendency of paint to lift if it’s not completely dry. Also, if you use more invasive techniques with layers, you might find you disturb the lower layers if you’re too forceful.
That’s what I found at first. I used to put thicker paint down in one layer. Now that I’ve started using several thinner layers that I let dry in between, I actually love this paper! I can rework it over and over if I don’t like a section. That even applies to staining colors. I love the brilliance and strength of staining colors like phthalos. Even these lift. Not entirely. but they do lift more than they do on other papers.
So the lesson here is if you find you wish you had more control over what you see when you get hard edges or blooms, try this paper. Since Expression paper is fully cotton and 140 lb, it’s good, sturdy paper. The colors are obviously wonderfully bright on this paper. I mean LOOK at those colors on the tulips! Some of the watercolors I used were: Holbein bright rose, bright violet & pyrrole red, Da Vinci red rose deep & leaf green, Winsor & Newton Sanguine and Schmincke sap & transparent orange.
One last point.
As you can see, pen and ink works beautifully on this paper, (see the daffodils above). I find that even though it’s a cold pressed paper, the Zebra technical pens glide beautifully over it, allowing very specific detail. There is no feathering before or after I paint. This is good paper at a great price.
Amazon:
Susan C
Oh, what wonderfully good news! Hooray for a positive 6-month review!! I’m beaming.
Love the peek at the ZigZag book, and that new paper sounds good. Thank you.
Laura
Hooray for your good news! How exciting and wonderful. Those tulips are totally awesome. Thank you for sharing.
Jean Marmo
These are just gorgeous! But, most exciting is your cancer free news. Believe me, for I have experience not once but twice, you will eventually be able to relax and live and sometimes even forget. It has been 22 years since my last bout. Thank you for your inspiring art!
Chris
Awesome news! Cheers to you! And thank you for the great contest 🙂
Linda Kunsman
awesome news dear Jenn- so very happy for you!!!! Brilliant paintings as always, and your lettering is just as superb!
Little Wandering Wren
What fantastic news – I’ll happy dance to that!
Wren x
Jennifer Rose
those tulips are gorgeous! the colours are perfect
and good review of the paper and yay for the positive cancer review 😀
Christine
Have you noticed how like Rennie MacIntosh these tulips are? I absolutely love themand I am also in the cancer survivor club. Six years now, although I have my fingers crossed