Kristy Phillips
Last year, I stumbled across the hot new thing in the watercolor sphere: black watercolor paper. It was offered by Legion Stonehenge, so I decided to give it a go. Most artists would use gouache on black watercolor paper since it is so opaque. Other artists have used acrylic paint because the paper is much thicker for heavier applications. I tried for a hot minute to use watercolors on the paper, but since they are mostly transparent (even the opaque colors), it didn’t look good. I decided against using acrylic or gouache. I was stumped. What to do with this paper that I’d bought?
One day, I started testing other mediums on it and liked the effect that art crayons and colored pencils had. Oil pastels also produced a fantastic texture. I settled on dry mediums and got to work on a series of landscapes. This series has been like getting back to my 8 year old days of scribbling on the floor.
After completing several pieces on black watercolor paper, here’s what I discovered:
· Using tinted paper gives you a first layer. This can help artists who are intimidated by the white expanse of a blank sheet of paper.
· This also gives you a base color with which to build up layers. In the case of the black watercolor paper, this may help to give you more neutral or moody colors from a brighter pallet. I personally used a lot of earth tones, so this wasn’t too much of a change in color.
· A darker toned paper will also help brighter colors stand out. If you choose to leave some of the background bare without medium, this will allow ice blues, juicy oranges, and bright white stars to pop out.
· The moodier atmosphere I get from the black watercolor paper is fantastic. It’s a little harder to get a sunnier day from this paper, but that’s okay. Most of my landscapes have dramatic seas and skies, so for me, this works well.
· One of the drawbacks some artists will note when working with dry mediums on watercolor paper is the texture of the paper leaving flecks behind. Watercolor paper is not for smooth applications of color unless you are using a wet medium. I personally don’t mind the additional texture. The art crayons had the patchiest coverage, even with several applications, due to its wax based make-up. Colored pencils, depending on their composition, fare better, though the oil-based pencils leave more pigment and less patches behind. Oil pastels are best for complete coverage and the creamier the consistency of the pastel the better. Speaking of layers…
· Another thing to consider when working on watercolor paper with dry mediums is the increased occurrence of lifting. I can only put on so many layers of crayon and colored pencil before the color beneath is removed by my pencil or crayon, exposing the black paper underneath. While I don’t mind the speckles of paper when applying a rough coat of color, when I want to build layers in other areas, having the color come off is a little frustrating. I’ve learned that when this happens, it’s time to bring out the big guns and find an oil pastel of the same color to smoosh onto the page. This almost always works. Moral of the story: try not to put too many heavy layers on watercolor paper with your dry medium if you can help it. And if you have to, have some creamy oil pastels on stand by.
So far, I have only practiced on landscapes with the black watercolor paper, as I wanted to use big blocks of color and to not have to worry about tons of detail. I would like to move on to animal portraits next and, if I’m feeling brave, perhaps a human portrait or two near the end of the stack. These pieces have let me create more stylized landscapes, which helps to make them my own. If a structure was put in, it was in the simplest of forms. I looked for landscapes with interesting movement, overlap, and negative space.
The following are a list of the art supplies I used on the watercolor paper: Caran d’Ache Neocolor I art crayons (not water soluble), Caran d’Ache Luminance colored pencils, Derwent Colorsoft colored pencils, Faber-Castell colored pencils, and various oil pastels (Cray-Pas, Loew-Cornell, Caran D’Ache, and Sennelier). Each of the three brands of colored pencils have their merit. Faber-Castells are smooth and have a large variety of bright colors. Derwents have some unique muted colors but the lead tips tend to break more often. Caran d’ Ache are by far my favorite. They have the smoothest application of color, they never break or leave as much debris when coloring, and they are oil based rather than wax based, avoiding the shiny finish by displaying a rich matte layer. They have a wide selection of earth tones in addition to their brighter colors. The only drawback with Caran d’Ache is the cost: they are some of the most expensive colored pencils on the market! I recommend picking a few primaries or your must-have colors to start with to see if you like them before investing into a larger collection.
I understand that watercolor paper is not the best surface for most of these dry mediums. Once I have used up the black watercolor paper, I plan to try different papers to see which surface is my favorite for pencils, crayons, and oil pastels. These could include surfaces like pastel paper, Bristol board, and mixed media paper. This is newer territory for me. I’ve spent the past 3 years building up my skills with watercolor paints and tools, but very little time with other mediums. I would like to really focus on the above dry mediums for the next few years because I’ve found I love working with them! In addition to stand alone pieces, I can also learn to combine them with my acrylic or watercolor paintings in the future for more mixed media work.
Have you had a chance to try out the black watercolor paper? What are you thoughts on it? To be honest, my first reaction was “what’s the point?” Watercolor is a transparent medium by design and the white of traditional paper is used for highlights and to show off the glazing and granulation unique to watercolor paint. A dark tinted paper defeats all of that. However, I can certainly say there is a place for the this paper. For those who prefer wet mediums, it’s a great place to emphasize brighter colors on a paper that can absorb water. For dry mediums, it displays speckled textures. Depending on your medium, there’s bound to be a purpose that will fit this paper. Sometimes, it takes a little poking outside the box to come up with a use for otherwise strange supplies!
