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4.5
This is a great size and decent enough quality that we've been able to have some fun with it as beginner/intermediate watercolor students. I will say, trying to do one of Paul Clark's tutorials on the northern lights... this paper just didn't hold up to the spray bottle and re-application of layers of color like the Bockinford or Arche paper does. But, for basic projects, this is our go-to paper.It’s great paper for the price and I highly recommend it for beginners and hobbyists. My only gripe is that the paper dries unusually quickly and unevenly for being 100% cotton. Otherwise it’s great!I'm rather new to watercolor, but someone suggested this paper. It is so much better than the Canson and STrathmore I had been using for practice!WatercolorFor all the papers I've used, I thought this might be good for scrap at least, but I hated it immediately. I was going to try to get rid of it, but it has properties I HAD to try to discover (though again: first impressions after a few days – what kind of company is making this stuff out of poor TREES?!)Now I've got some neat paintings and techniques (a few weeks later) and might actually buy more. I'm still not overly "fond" of it, though, but find it interesting.Cons: sucks the water and paint out of your brush. You really have to learn how to go at this "substance" (and I still don't have it down). Some paints work well on it: the more highly pigmented paints DO NOT, as the teeniest droplet of paint seems to multiply the water in your brush as it nears the Bee and suddenly it's as if the paper has sucked your brush dry and you've put down a "lazy" very wet wash with 4x the pigment splayed throughout the unintended "wash".However, after much frustration, I found it's MUCH more workable with diluted Cotman paints (probably any not as pigmented as QoR or DS). If you don't have expectations of it acting like Cotman on any other paper.It's inexplicable. I didn't think I could lift paint even with a knife (think razor blade scraping), until I tried the less pigmented paints. And THEN it lifted almost as expected. Also, the paper once "treated" with less-pigmented paints — a few layers to get your values down correctly, including attempts at "working" the diluted paint — seems to be able to let you maneuver the more pigmented paints over it. ??? It's a process. And I never thought I'd see a cheap "emerald green" (PG7 PY175) that I usually hate FLOW across this thirsty paper and suddenly look like a Sennelier teal that you have very carefully layered on a normal paper."TheFrugalCrafter" on YouTube uses this Bee paper sometimes (and hasn't mentioned these issues); I couldn't understand how she got it to work as she does (maybe she has a video on that), but she's got some beautiful watercolor art on this paper. I can see how people might become quite fond of it.This stuff might need it's own place on a periodic table of elements. I sure can't explain it. If you don't have a heart condition or other medical problems, yeah: try this stuff. I'm getting more. (Might slap myself as I do, but I'm getting more.)I purchased this paper for a high school watercolor course. I needed relatively inexpensive paper and 100% cotton. This paper was perfect! For a beginner, this is perfect. I did not try lifting, scrubbing or masking fluid as of yet. But it accepts paint very nicely and absorbs wonderfully.I tried the paper yesterday. It is A5 in size and costs approximately 40p per sheet. It works well with wet on wet and also wet on dry. It holds the water without buckling. Lifting paint from the paper is slightly more difficult than other expensive cotton based paper but, with a little patience, it can be done. I also found that I could use either side of the paper to paint on. The paper is thick enough for the paint not to show through on the other side.So I've been using this paper for several months and now I can give my opinion. I'm not gonna say it's bad, but it's definitely not great or the right paper for me. Blending is really hard, the paint won't move and lifting is pretty much impossible. Some people might actually like this characteristics but I prefer bockingford which has a similar price or might even be cheaper by the sheet. I like that the paper doesn't buckle and that it takes ink line work pretty well. It's ok for quick sketches, line and wash and it's actually great for gouache and oil pastels but it doesn't take many layers. You might need to adapt the way you paint to this paper. Finally, check it very well if you do buy it. Mine came with one sheet missing and half of the sheets with an indentation across the middle. I don't think the company has very strict quality control. The vendor was great and I got a refund. I'll see if I can post photos of different media. I might buy it again in the future for gouache and oil pastels but will avoid it for watercolurs.Worth paying for 100% cotton paper that accepts water colour without very little buckling. Will definitely be ordering moreLovely to paint on and just the right size for me.Typically I prefer very thick, almost cardboard like water colour paper but I've really been enjoying this. It's by no means filmsy, it has a decent weight and so far I've had no issues with the paper deteriorating with washes. I was pleasantly surprised with how much paper was in this bundle. Overall a nice brand and I'd purchase this set again.
