Welcome to the FLOAT-YOUR-PIGMENT Newsletter #241, Black W/C Paper

 

 

A couple of months ago I wrote a newsletter about the Stonehenge Aqua black watercolor paper but I decided it would be a good idea to bring it up again because I have been asked a lot of questions about this paper. I have also heard comments about the paper and some of those comments were incorrect when describing what the paper was.

 

One thing I heard another artist say was that they had used black watercolor paper before but that I believe is incorrect because this is the first-ever 100% cotton, sized in and on the surface, cold press, black watercolor paper. There have been other black papers before, just not 100% cotton that is sized in and out and that now comes in 140 and 300lb cold press sheets and pads.

For 2-1/2 years I have helped Legion Papers test their Stonehenge Aqua white and black watercolor papers. 
At first, I had the same reaction that I see most watercolor artists have, their reaction is how can you use transparent watercolors on black paper. It's actually quite simple, you can use white watercolor paint when you need to get a white area onto your paper. When you start with a white sheet of paper all the white is already there so it only makes sense when you use black paper to get back to the lightest white of your paper you will have to use white paint.

Using white paint is what gets the transparent watercolorists up in arms and gets them confused about why they don't know how or why they would use black watercolor paper. Using white paint in watercolor has been frowned upon for years and years and when most students are taught about how to use watercolor paints the use of white and also black have been banned from the palette. I felt the same way for many years after being taught that white shouldn't be used. But now that there is a black watercolor paper on the market, white paint is the best way to get the white light back into the black watercolor paper.

A few students have asked me why would I use black paper when I can get great darks and black by just painting in the blacks or darks. I say why not, I like trying new materials and the black gives a new look to a watercolor painting. I find if I do a painting where there are more darks then lights why not start with the black paper because it is less work to put in the few lights if everything that is dark is already done because the paper is dark from the get-go.

How do you use the black watercolor paper, the answer is, use it just like you would the white paper but you will need to add white to your palette or at least have some opaque colors available on your palette. When the paint dries it usually gets 20% lighter on white paper but on black paper it will get 20% darker. The actual handing of water to pigment ratio is just like working on white along with doing wet-into-wet washes. Keeping things transparent is even while using white is done just like you would when working on white, the outcome is just different because you are working on a dark paper.

Go ahead give it a try!
David