Hello there
Hope you're doing well in your corner of the world.
As promised, today's post is short and sweet, *and* a complete change of tempo to those of recent times.
I've finally had chance simply to mess around with watercolour again, and I discovered something that's new to me. Drumroll please... It's that...
*You can use watercolour/(watercolors in the USA, I know) on thin card packaging* (as demonstrated in the picture below).
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| Autumn Leaves on Packaging Cardboard (Sakura fineliners and Inktense washes used) |
I first had an inkling that this might work when reading an out-of-print book on Archive.org. (If you haven't discovered this *amazing* free site by the way, it's a treasure trove in itself, and an especially good source of written and pictured art lessons in book form). But I digress.
The book itself was actually about papercraft, and not art at all. I've even forgotten its title, as I actually read it a few months ago.
But it mentioned in passing that all paper of a weight above a certain number (which I think was 250gsm, but don't quote me on that) was actually classed as a thin type of card.
The book itself was actually about papercraft, and not art at all. I've even forgotten its title, as I actually read it a few months ago.
But it mentioned in passing that all paper of a weight above a certain number (which I think was 250gsm, but don't quote me on that) was actually classed as a thin type of card.
As the best watercolour papers are usually 300gsm and above, this got me thinking. Could thin cardboard be a suitable (and very cheap, accessible and eco-friendly) substrate for watercolour?
The experiment
The experiment
This week, when I finally had enough time to devote to fun experiments like this again, I tried it out on the next piece of available piece of thin card packaging that came into the house.
Lo and behold, drawing and painting on it actually felt smoother, more fun, and easier to use than a lot of the usual watercolour papers. It was able to take loads of washes without buckling, dried quickly, and gave a lovely smooth, bright result.
For someone like me, who only ever thought the "official" type of paper would work, this was a total revelation.
Cautions
I should also add some words of caution here. I have no idea whether this works on all types of card, or whether I just got lucky. Time will tell.
Obviously, this is also best suited to practice work too, or things you plan to scan into a computer anyway (more on that soon). There is, by definition, nothing archival about it.
Obviously, this is also best suited to practice work too, or things you plan to scan into a computer anyway (more on that soon). There is, by definition, nothing archival about it.
Finally, to be exact and technical, I was using Derwent Inktense watercolour half-pans, which are a little to different to other watercolours, and a water brush.
Finally
Finally
But if this sounds interesting to you, and you fancy playing around with the freedom of painting on something you were only going to recycle anyway, why not give it a go and/or suggest it to someone you know?
(It was so much fun here, that I'll definitely be doing it again, and will update you on progress).
I promised you a short post, so that's probably more than enough from here for now. As ever, thanks sooo much for being here, and enjoy your week.
More soon.
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.png "Back cover of the 2025 calendar")
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.png "\"The Butterfly Bush\": July's Calendar Image")
.png "\"Bright Yellow Daffodils\": March's image")
.png "\"Nasturtiums\" (the image for October)")