Paper and Canvas

WATERCOLOUR PAPER

Watercolour’s are a difficult medium to work with. Using quality materials makes the experience much easier and the first place to start is with the paper. There are two philosophies when it comes to beginning watercolourists and the choice of paper. One thought is that a beginner should start with an economy grade paper so that they don’t have to worry about wasting paper if the artwork doesn’t suit them. This can encourage practise and experimentation without inhibition. The second perception is that lower quality paper can be too difficult to work with and cause too much frustration and dis-encourage a beginning watercolourist.

Watercolour paper is generally made from either wood pulp, cotton or a combination of both. Wood pulp based papers are machine made and tend to be less expensive. Wood pulp papers can vary in quality tremendously - from ‘economy’ grade up to a ‘student’ or ‘leisure painter’ grade. The better quality wood pulp papers are buffered with calcium carbonate and are acid-free with either a hot, cold or rough finish.

Blended and cotton based papers are generally mould-made or hand-made. They are usually more expensive because of the cost of the raw materials and cannot be mass produced like machine made paper. They are also of a better quality. Cotton fibres are stronger, more absorbent and durable than wood pulp. All the highest quality watercolour papers are manufactured from 100% cotton and mould-made. They are chlorine and acid-free and generally have been buffered with calcium carbonate and subjected to mould resistant treatments to ensure archival quality.

Blended papers create a bridge between the cotton and wood pulp papers. These papers possess all the attributes of pulp and cotton based papers and suits all applications for artists, students and beginners alike.

Magnani Acquerello 100% Cotton Fine Art Watercolour Paper

The Magnani name has become synonymous with the production of production Fine Art Paper in 1404 since . During they first the began 18 th century, the Magnani name became a hallmark of quality and luxury with the rich and famous of the time becoming customers of the Magnani mill – Napoleon Bonaparte chose Magnani paper for his wedding stationery when he married Maria Luisa of Austria.

Acquerello is an incredible sheet which features one of the strongest surfaces ever created for painting with watercolours. It is free from optical brighteners, internally and externally sized, pH neutral, acid and chlorine-free for maximum archival quality. Colours are easily lifted and reworked as needed. Made entirely of 100% cotton on slow rotating mould machines using marking felts of an exclusive Magnani design. The traditional off white colour compliments and dignifies virtually all art giving it a real rich look. Use for all wet media including watercolour, gouache, acrylics and pen and ink. Use in mixed media applications by combining washes with pencil, pastel, charcoal and crayon. Magnani Acquerello is available in 3 finishes – Portofino (Hot Press), Italia (Cold Press) and Toscana (Rough). All Acquerello papers are 300gsm

Double Externally Sized Magnani Acquerello

Magnani has recently introduced double-sized versions of the Portofino, Italia and Toscana papers. In addition to the traditional internal and external sizing, the double-sized versions have been extra sized externally manually through a gelatine bath. This gives the papers a performance equal to that of the benchmarked