I’m only a fairly recent user of Arches Watercolour paper. I’ve wanted to use it for a fair while. The only reason I hadn’t used it before this year was the cost. One of the ways I used to solve this issue was watching out for discounts.

Earlier in the year, I visited Eckersley’s Art & Craft store. It is located in my local area. I was looking to buy some watercolour paper. I considered buying Fabriano, which I had used before. Then, I discovered there was a sale on Arches watercolour paper.

The only thing was that the A4 size had sold out. So, I purchased an A3 pack. Then, I cut each sheet in half to use. Problems solved!

The painting below is the first time I have used the Sumikondo Japanese Watercolour paints with Arches watercolour paper.

Material list as follows:

• Arches Cold Press Watercolour paper A4
• Sumikondo Japanese Watercolour paint
• Neef & Aquawash brushes
• Colours:
  • Sky: Blue-Black
  • Mountains: Blue-Black & Purple-Black
  • Trees: Green-Black & Blue-Black
  • Plain: Yellow Black (watered down)
  • Grasses: Yellow Black

The composition was from my imagination and it certainly was fun playing around wet-in-wet.

Till next time!

Written & painted by David Johnson

11 November 2024