Tidiness was never my strong point so I've been putting my studio store cupboard in order. One aspect of tidiness I am meticulous about though is storing paper. Watercolour paper is so expensive that any sheet with an Arches or Waterford watermark is placed carefully flat on a shelf to avoid at all costs any damage to the surface.
I've always used papers with a Not Pressed surface for the quick free splosh style that once had me in thrall for landscape work. Having now taken a serious interest in painting birds I've found that a more precise approach required. It needs a paper with a less pronounced grain. I was anticipating having to buy some Hot Pressed sheets which which would be more suitable. Then I made a lucky find when checking some sheets of Arches. There were some papers in the packet which were a different size - curious!
They were sheets of Fabriano 5 a paper that I haven't used for over 10 years. It has a smoother surface than NOT papers and I'd been convinced that watercolour landscape needed NOT surfaced papers. The widely used Bockingford paper only has a NOT type surface developed to suit Edward Wesson.
Fabriano5 is a 50% cotton paper and a web search revealed that Ken Bromley Art Supplies stock it. I think it should be fine for my purposes so I'll be giving it a go.
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