Test Drive- Fluid Watercolor Paper, Part 1

The last time I was in my favorite art supply store I came across a new brand of watercolor paper blocks that I hadn't seen before.  Brand named, "Fluid," the red covers caught my eye right off the bat.  While in Albuquerque this week I purchased some to see how they are to paint on.

Fluid's covers are attractive enough to make you WANT one.  Or two.  

Considerably cheaper than other watercolor blocks, Fluid's paper is not as toothy as Arches.  However, it feels like better paper than is usually found in watercolor sketch books.  Arches watercolor blocks are sealed on all four sides to keep the paper from buckling as you paint.  Fluid's are bound top and bottom.

A pretty good shot of the tooth of the paper, it looks like travel sketchbook paper.  

The first thing I tried was how it would handle mask.  I put a bit down and let it dry.  It came up with no problems.  I love to use mask so this is great news for me.

The mask test.  It handles mask perfectly. 

Several of Fluid's blocks are sized long for landscapes, making them the perfect size to throw into a travel bag and go.  We spent time on the bird refuge this week, so I thought I'd give this paper a test drive on a scene I liked at the refuge.  It would involve layers, washes, mask and small details.

The initial drawing of my scene.  

It is smooth for drawing the layout lines onto.  I erased in several places to see how it would handle that.  It didn't pull up fibers as I erased and later when painting over these spots they didn't accept the paint differently- bonus. 

This photo is a great illustration of the way the paper buckles when it's wet.

When I put the first sky wash down, the paper immediately buckled.  Arches 140 pound blocks do buckle a bit when they are first wet in a wash, too, so this wasn't totally unexpected.  Just for the record, I get less buckling in my Moleskine travel watercolor book.  However, the paint didn't lay down smooth into the wet paper.  It tends to sit on the surface in a snit, not knowing or caring where it ends up.  

The paint, sitting on the paper and beginning to run into the drying areas, causing a cauliflower effect.

There is another thing worth mentioning about the absorbency of the paper.  As I mentioned above, it's not absorbent.  This can cause some great effects or terrible ones, depending on what you are after.  In my tree areas, it caused cauliflower effects but I liked them- they added texture.  

So far, as a studio paper, Fluid isn't up to par.  However, as a travel sketch paper, it's acceptable. Be sure to check back in tomorrow to see how the final piece turned out.  

Thanks for stopping by! Alice