When I was an art student at The American Academy of Art the only surfaces that we were taught to use were Arches Watercolor Paper and Cresent Watercolor Board. Both were very good papers for students to work on because if you painted a bad wash, you could scrub away the wash and try again. Most other papers were too soft to
scrub on and scrubbing a soft paper would ruin the surface.
Many years after the Academy I had always used Arches and had never veered away from Arches.
At my Illustration job, I started experimenting with Strathmore Bristol board and that became my paper of choice. Since then I also painted watercolors on a wood surface covering the wood panels with Watercolor Gesso Ground, another surface I have come to enjoy.
The reason I am telling you about the different surfaces I
used is that as a teacher, I feel that my students should not get caught up in only using one surface. I feel when a student is creating they should know how all the surfaces work and feel and as they progress in watercolor they can decide which surface they enjoy the most.
There are 4 different types of watercolor surfaces,
coming in 3 types of textures, Hot Press, Cold Press and Rough
1. The papers
2. The boards and
panels
3. The watercolor canvas
4. The plastic synthetic papers
Paint this ground on most any surface and you can then do watercolors on that surface. I paint it on masonite making my own watercolor panels.
I feel that students should first use the best quality paper they can afford. It helps a great deal for a student to learn on a quality sheet of paper. A good quality paper is more forgiving and easier to use. After a
student picks up on how to use the medium of watercolor, they can then experiment with new surfaces.
When experimenting with new surfaces, don't do a painting, instead focus on experimenting with simple washes, big and small, try wet-into-wet for soft edges and try wet on dry for hard edges. try different techniques and use frisket and salt and anything else you normally do when painting in watercolor.
Remember to practice first on a new surface before diving into a work of art.
Don't forget to prepare your paper surface before painting. Prepare the surface by washing off the surface with water and then wiping the water off, then letting it dry. The reason for preparing the surface is to cut some of the sizing in the paper, this helps so the sizing doesn't bleed into the watercolor, making the colors lighter and chalky looking.
