Despite painting birds in watercolor for years, I’ve only illustrated two types of gulls! Out of hundreds of pieces of art, that seems crazy. I’ve done a Herring Gull and a few Ring-billed Gulls, which could be renamed the “French Fry Gulls.” On top of that, I’ve never painted a single tern. I just have a lot less familiarity with these guys.
This painting was definitely outside my comfort zone, not because of subject material or the complexity of the composition. I was just working on a watercolor paper that I haven’t used in ages. Your painting style and technique really does rely on the quality of your surface and your familiarity with it. Changing that up can make for some problems, or at least some surprises! Having run out of my “go to” hot press paper, I did this watercolor on a block of cold press Arches paper that I had lying around. The Arches is substantially rougher than the Kilimanjaro cold press paper, maybe twice the bumpiness, if “bumpiness” is an actual word. It is crazy bumpy compared to the hot press paper that I prefer. Even when transferring my sketch to the paper, I knew I was in for an adventure.
The good: This paper absorbs a wash beautifully and predictably, with a long open time. I love that. In that way, it was definitely better than hot press paper.
The bad: As soon as I was done with background, I realized how much I dislike working on highly textured cold press paper. All those bumps just get in the way of controlled brushwork and detail—at least for me.
It wasn’t long before I changed my goal from making my usual highly detailed paintings to planning on going a lot looser. Once I wrapped my mind around that, I was fine. The lack of detail meant I could suggest more than I rendered and could wrap up the piece pretty quickly.
So here is my quandary: I seriously don’t like the rough texture on this Arches cold press paper, yet I have 19 more pages in the block. Do I work on a bunch of quicker, looser paintings, and then go back to the hot press? I haven’t decided. I think I’ll try another quick one next to see where it leads me, and then make a decision.
Have you tried painting on Arches cold press paper? Do you prefer hot press or cold press? Let me know below!
