Saunders Waterford watercolor paper is a British-made watercolor paper, one of the best paper brands in the world. Its price is between Arches from France and Baohong Artist Paper From China. Although Waterford’s price is lower than that of Arches, according to my personal experience, its performance matches Arches.

After using Baohong Artist (hereinafter referred to as Baohong) watercolor paper for a period of time, I tried out Waterford. My strong feeling on Waterford at the very beginning is the identity in its characteristics .

First of all, in terms of texture, Baohong seems denser and having more gum on its surface. When I drawing, Baohong paper feels firm when pencil sliding on its surface, while Waterford feels good giving the feeling of soft and loose surface.

Comparing water absorption, Baohong soaks water slower, while Waterford does faster. Attention, the water absorption here refers to the ratio and speed that water penetrate into paper. When the surface of Baohong looks dry, its inside is basically dry, while, Waterford internal still contains more water even its surface seems dry. This is a big difference which influence the output when continuing to paint.

When papers are not completely dry, the impact of spattering water on the Baohong paper is not big, but the brim of water spot on Waterford paper is distinct. Therefore, you should pay attention to avoiding water spot or utilize water stain to make special effects. Essentially, to exploit this feature between the two kinds of paper is basically to control water.

The texture and the characteristics of water soaking on the backside of Waterford paper is quite similar to its front surface, which means that the back side of Waterford is useful for painting as well. The backside texture of Baohong is much lighter than its front side, that makes its back side not as easy to store water, and the water soaking characteristic is not as good as the front.

In terms of color rendering, I feel that when Waterford paper absorbs water, the pigments penetrate into paper with water. Therefore, more pigments should be used to achieve the same color value compared to Baohong which retains more pigments on its surface. When I started using Waterford after used to Baohong, the color value was likely to be lighter.

The different characteristics among the watercolor papers are mainly due to the differences in paper’s materials and manufacture techs. For 100% cotton watercolor papers, I think it is meaningless to discuss the difference of quality, but only the alteration in characteristics. After a period getting used to a brand of paper, you can get good painting effects eventually.

But when shift to other paper brand after having been used to a paper brand, it takes time for adaptation. I was lost when I used Waterford for the first time after painting with Baohong for a while. Now I am gradually accustomed with Waterford.

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