This is some awesome watercolor paper! I have worked on Arches ever since I started using watercolors but then Hahnemühle sent me a block of their Cézanne watercolor paper. The paper is hot pressed, 140lb/300gsm watercolor paper and I’m absolutely HOOKED. This is such a beautiful paper to work on. The paper is mould-made of 100% cotton rag. It is natural white, acid free, lightfast and extremely resistant to aging which means it has excellent archival qualities. The ten sheet block is glued all around the edges except for one corner, this allows the artist to paint on the paper and avoid it buckling. To detach a sheet you just slip a palette knife under the sheet and run it along the edge. I used an old gift card to do the same slicing movement as I couldn’t locate my palette knife, lol.
This Cézanne paper comes in several sizes and surfaces. Each surface, rough, cold pressed/matte and hot pressed comes in four sizes:
Paper Size Chart
HOT PRESSED or COLD PRESSED or ROUGH | |
BLOCK | (sizes are approximate) |
9″ x 12″ | |
13″ x 16″ | |
14″ x 19″ | |
SHEET | |
22″ x 30″ |
For those of you new to watercolor, the difference between cold pressed, hot pressed and rough paper is the amount of texture. If you tend to love detail and pen work in your watercolor paintings you’ll love hot pressed paper like I do. It has a small amount of tooth to grab the pencil crayons and other media (watercolour, lavis, gouache, tempera & acrylic) enough to beautifully lay down color consistently. Cézanne watercolor paper allows my pens & watercolor to move flawlessly over the surface. This gives the artist more control.
On the other hand, there are some things that work better on cold pressed paper, like landscapes and granulating watercolor. For instance, my cartoon moose that I did for my aunt’s logo probably would have had more “life” with cold pressed paper. His coat would have had a little texture if I remembered to use cold pressed paper with some granulating colors. A paint that granulates, “drops” bits of color into the dips in the cold pressed paper. As pigment leaves the suspension in water, a textural look appears in the painting. It works beautifully in skies, trees, rocks etc. At the moment I don’t do landscapes but Hahnemühle just sent some cold pressed Cézanne paper for me to try. I’m looking forward to expanding my skills and exploring granulation. The timing is perfect as my friend Kate is sending me a bunch of Daniel Smith Primateks that are made from genuine stones like amethyst and Lapis Lazuli.
As I painted, I found the colors moved beautifully over the surface sized paper. I painted using Da Vinci watercolors (cherries, above center), daniel Smith (abstract Thank you card, above left), Winsor & Newton (moose, right) and Schmincke watercolors (roses in Ball jar, left). I then used my Faber-Castell Albrecht Dürer watercolor pencils to create the unfinished Crayola drawing below. Each and every kind of media worked brilliantly on this paper. The pens glided over the surface and allowed for sharp edges and no feathering. Seriously, what can I say? I’m in love with this Cézanne watercolor paper.
I tend to try something in a painting then pick the color up and try something else. I found this worked wonderfully on this paper. Like any other paper, staining colors did leave a little color residue but I had no trouble rewetting an area and lifting the color our without damage to the surface. As I’ve told you before, I work very wet. I found that, although I had removed the paper from the block, there was no major buckling at all even though the cherries were excessively wet as I kept dropping color into each cherry.
Two words come to mind with Cézanne paper, consistent and reliable. I can work as wet as I want and I can be sure that my watercolors will flow seamlessly over the surface sized paper. This paper allowed my paints to shine and since I’m all about the brightness and clearness of color, I sure appreciate a paper that celebrates that. Hahnemühle’s Cézanne watercolor paper is a joy to paint on, I have a new favorite paper. It’s a good thing I had run out of my old favorite as I now don’t want to paint on anything else!
Happy Valentine’s Day To all my readers!
Learning: About Zebra Pens. It’s such fun trying new products!
Hoping: That I get my new hearing aids this week! I’m so sick of saying, Pardon me and What??
Anticipating: Choosing a WINNER for my huge Hahnemühle Valentine’s Day Giveaway. Only hours to go so ENTER NOW.
Planning: To read a book this week. I’ve been working too hard and need a day off! I see coffee and chocolate in my future.
Loving: My friends, you know who you are and you enhance my life in inordinately wonderful ways with your generosity of spirt and knowledge. Thank you for sharing your friendship with me.
Bekki
The Cézanne sounds like a dream! I’m a cold press girl most of the time because I like the unpredictable line quality of pens on cold press, especially for botanical sketches and landscapes. One other fun thing you can do with cold press is use an exact-o blade to (carefully) trace where you would normally ink. Once painted, ink seeps to those lines and stops. Thanks for the review–I’m always happy to hear about new papers and painting supplies 🙂
Alice
great review, Jennifer! I too am playing with my Cézanne! and loving the results so far. nothing as cool as moose, though <3
victoria
Beautiful art Jennifer! Such stunning florals( sooo pretty)…and those cherries are sublime! Wonderful review, lots of fab info, sounds like excellent paper to create with! Wishing you a magical wkd ahead.
Victoria
Lisa Russo
What gorgeous paintings! The paper sounds wonderful. I very much enjoyed your review.
denthe
Those cherries are amazing! It’s like a picture, so beautiful and lifelike. You are very knowledgeable about everything watercolor. I’ll definitely be looking back through these posts when I feel like using watercolors again! Thanks for the review! Have a great week xxx
Linda K
You always give such wonderful reviews but really, I am all about your GORGEOUS art!!! Those cherries-OMG! I am honored to have a bit from you. Happy PPF!
Marie-OR
I have to try this Cezanne paper once I am doing better watercolor work! Thank you for the review! Your paintings are just beautiful!
Mandy Snow
Wow…you’re work is wonderful….and great info on the different sorts of paper…you’ve written it a clearly…I never really knew all the differences and how they worked with the paint so thank you….happy ppf…(#7)…x
Neesie
What a great review Jenn. It definitely needs me to look into it in more detail… if you see what I mean. I’m going to have to try it, once my current supply runs low.
Gorgeous artwork to accompany all of the details and the different effects that can be achieved.
Thanks for sharing your view. I really value your opinion.
Good luck with the hearing aids xoxo
Jackie P Neal
Jenn, great review!
I have another watercolorist friend that loves Cezanne’ as well-between the two of you, it sounds like a hit!
I saw those cherries on FB and omgosh- “they truly look good enough to eat!” ~my cherry loving husband’s words! I agree and also love each of these paintings here- that Mason jar is amazing!
congrats to the winner of your giveaway!
Happy Sunday!
Nicole/Beadwright
Wow your art is amazing. I am just starting with watercolor and find it very difficult. Thank you for all the information on paper. That helps so much.
Irma
Thank you for your review of this paper. I have used Arches forever but recently, it seems different! I am anxious to try Hahnemühle but first I will have to find some. I looked at their web site and was very intrigued by the pastel paper as well. Your little paintings are delightful and the Cherries …..awesome! I am hoping to find that you have compared DaVinci watercolors to Winsor Newton and Daniel Smith which are the ones i use.