Watercolors on Copy Paper

Maybe because art was her passion, my mother very consciously gave my brother and me quality art supplies to work with, even when we were quite young children.  She gave us each our own red sable brush.  Winsor Newton watercolors to share.  And good paper, not kid stuff.  The good paper was important, she said, because if we produced something that we wanted to keep, the paper would be worthy of the painting.  But, as well, using quality goods was also important for helping to promote our self-esteem.  So, both my brother and I turned to painting early on, even, as I remember, when we were somewhere around four and five years old.  (My mother also bought me a set of oil paints when I was six and showed me very carefully how to wash out the brushes afterwards and clean off the palette.)

Okay, what I'm getting around to is that after I took up painting again when my adult years took a turn, I got out some good brushes, paints, paper, and set to work.  (I'm talking about watercolors here; I also did oils, but that's a different story.)  But though I turned out some satisfactory pieces, there was something about the paper I didn't like.  The picture lacked the brilliance I wanted ... and the paint just seemed to sink into the paper.  Until one day I decided to use what I would call crummy paper--in fact, copy paper which we used to call typing paper.  You know, just regular 20-pound 8½" x 11" paper. 

Using this freed me up.  Since it wasn't "good" paper and I could simply toss it afterwards with no remorse, I could crazily slop around to my heart's content, not worrying so much what the outcome would be.  I didn't even mind that the paper puckered when it got wet; I liked those places where the paint then pooled.  I even found that the paper was "acid-free for archival quality."

For want of a subject, I did a series of flowers from my garden.  

Here are some.

Pansy

Balloon Flower

Another Pansy

Day Lily and friends

Sweet William

Yet another pansy

Don't switch to copy paper exclusively, but try it for a change and see if it isn't liberating.