As I’ve said many times, I LOVE MY Hahnemühle GREY BOOK!! The paper in this toned sketchbook is just awesome. No, you can’t paint in Greybook as it’s not made for watercolor but holy cow, the hand of this paper is wonderful. You get eighty pages of 120gsm grey toned paper bound into a beautiful hard cover book. The cover is truly luxurious and looks expensive, it comes in two portrait sizes, A4 (8.3″ x 11.7″) and A5 (5.8″ x 8.3″).
I know this terrific paper can be used for pen and ink and also pencil and markers but all I’ve done is use my watercolor pencils on it! I’m addicted to how wonderful the pencils look on this paper. This apple was done with layer upon layer of my Faber-Castells. This paper just takes it all, I could have done another dozen layers without any problem with burnishing.
I’ve talked about Hahnemühle’s GreyBook several times here and here and a friend of mine, Kate Powell also reviewed the Greybook here. There are other reviews like this one by Pedro Alves on Hahnemuuhle’s blog. Jackson’s Art Supply Blog also did a comprehensive review of the Greybook using art from several artists. There’s another review here.
I do have some cool news for those of you interested in Da Vinci’s Spectacular watercolor paint. They are coming out with NEW 8ml tubes soon. This is really great news for those of you who want to try out their paints. It allows you to get more colors to try before you go bigger and purchase their 15ml tubes or Da Vinci’s 37ml big mama tubes! Da Vinci’s prices are truly spectacular, especially since, in my humble opinion, their paint is one of the best brands on the market. I now have two brands in my studio palette. Da Vinci is my main brand and I also have some Schmincke Watercolors that I love. If you’d like to look at Da Vinci’s entire line of watercolors then look at there 15ml tubes. All their colors are represented there. There will be seventy-seven 8ml tubes and there are now eighty-six 37ml tubes to choose from. The full line has 105 watercolors.
Full List Of Da Vinci 8ml Watercolor Tubes
Da Vinci Paint Co. ships for free if you purchase $49 worth of their products. They also have a generous dot card with twenty-four of their colors. (The dot card includes the following colors: Cadmium Yellow Lemon, Hansa Yellow Light, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Hansa Yellow Deep, Da Vinci Orange, Cadmium Red Light, Da Vinci Red, Quinacridone Red, Red Rose Deep, Opus (Vivid Pink), Ultramarine Violet, Da Vinci Violet, Cobalt Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Cobalt Turquoise, Phthalo Green, Hooker’s Green Light, Leaf Green, Yellow Ochre, Quinacridone Gold, Burnt Sienna Deep, Terra Cotta, Burnt Umber and Payne’s Grey). Da Vinci watercolors can also be purchased on Amazon.com.
suzanne linch
Great article, thank you.
If you love paper like I do, your in for a treat.
I have now a small selection of Vintage Papers, handmade.
Pop over and take a look:- http://www.vintagepaper.co.uk/
Have fun