Winsor & Newton Paper & Brush Review

The journal sent to me was the 5" x 7", cold pressed 100% cotton paper, 300gsm/140lb spiral bound with 15 perforated sheets of paper for easy removal from the pad.

Winsor & Newton Professional Watercolour Paper is a luxury paper made from 100% cotton and is naturally acid-free and archival. It is cylinder mould made, and contains no optical brighteners. It is both internally and externally sized for excellent artistic results. This paper is available in a 5×7-inch spiral journal, spiral bound cold pressed pads, individual sheets, and blocks. It is available in Hot Pressed, Cold Pressed and Rough surface textures.

Title: "Cherries In Love

I was very pleasantly surprised with this paper. I haven't used cold pressed paper for several years so I wasn't sure how the water would move on it. I found that it was delicious, fantastic paper and even though I threw a LOT of water at it and really worked the paper, it didn't even buckle. I work wet, even if I don't put a background in, the subject is usually SOPPING wet as I drop paint in. It's the way I work. This paper, with it's sizing, took all I could throw at it. With the leaves here's what I did:

Leaves In Salt

• Wet around the leaves, then added...
• Payne's blue grey + Moonglow + Carbazole Violet WET
• Added salt, let dry.
• Painted, scrubbed, lifted, repainted, relifted, rewet, glazed and reglazed the leaves
• Added drop shadows
• Added highlights
• Added pen + Ink

I seriously worked that paper. It held up as well or better than any paper I've ever used. I love this paper. Now, let's talk about the Winsor & Newton Series 7 Kolinsky sable brush. It's a size 4. Both paintings were done using is almost exclusively. I needed a size 1 brush for the stems of the cherries and the leaves. This is a beautiful brush and my very first professional brush that is NOT a travel brush. I finally have a handled brush that is more than three inches long!

I found slight differences between the brushes I normally use and W&N Series 7. This brush was a little softer and didn't hold it's point as stiffly when saturated. I actually appreciated this as it moved the water around very smoothly and gently. It also held a lot of paint. If I want a strong point when very wet, I would move down several sizes. The Series 7 held paint beautifully, although I did have to make sure it had enough liquid in it or the bristles would separate from one another. In other words, this brush is NOT a scrubber, it's wonderfully soft and delicate and when fairly empty of paint, made crisp lines that were responsive and thin. I would certainly purchase this brush if I liked working fairly wet and dropping paint into wet on wet. It would do dry brush techniques but that's not it's strong point. If I were making a Christmas list, I would want the No 0, 2, 4, 6 & 10 of this brush. I get the feeling the Series 7 would be a spectacular studio brush set and the larger size, like a 10 or 12 would make in incredibly juicy wash brush. They are worth their price.

Thank you to Winsor & Newton for sending me their beautiful watercolor journal, series 7 brush and professional watercolor tubes. I truly enjoyed working with your products. I recommend your company for it's truly professional products. A painter would not be disappointed.

Amazon.com carries the Winsor & Newton Professional Watercolor Paper as spiral bound pads that come in four sizes. Click here to see sizes and pricing.

DickBlick carries the Winsor & Newton Professional watercolor blocks and sheets. They also have the NEW journal I've been talking about and testing above. Or get this 5" x 7" spiral bound journal at Jackson's Art Supply, they also have this paper in many sizes as blocks of bound paper in hot press, cold press and rough.

Best,

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