Tuesday's Tips and Techniques for Watercolor Painting

Paper Quality 

I cannot stress enough how important paper quality is when it comes to watercolor painting.

Here is a recent sample color chart I created.

The large piece of paper is Saunders Waterford 100% Cotton Rag, Archival, Acid Free, 140 lb. watercolor paper.  It is awesome!

The little strip of colors contains the same exact high quality MaimeriBlu watercolor paints as in the far left column of the larger sheet.  Notice the colors are not as rich and dark.

The little narrow strip of paper is a synthetic watercolor paper.  It has the texture and feel of watercolor paper but it does not react like 100% cotton rag.  It does something odd to the paint.

If you're just learning to paint, stick with the good stuff, it will make the learning process more enjoyable.  Inferior and cheap paper & paints will only frustrate you as you are trying to learn techniques.