#artist #acrylicpainting #paperart
Hi everyone, its Kelsie. Alright, lets talk about something. Ever notice how nice those pieces of artwork look on instagram or tiktok when the artist rips the painters tape off. There is this beautiful border with this lovely painting on it. Ever noticed how straight the paper is? Yeah me neither. Until I tried to paint one on watercolor paper and it was bent as all get out. I did weigh it down with loads of paint, but still. Hello. Its watercolor paper, it totally should have been able to handle it. Wrong.
So then I got angry and threw the painting. I have anger problems. But then after my fit I started researching different types of paper. Turns out there are tons of different types of paper for different types of paintings. There is paper for oil painting, water color, ink drawings, and gel painting (which is totally a hint for a future video).
Each type of paper is made for a specific purpose, so you can use your Molotow markers on watercolor paper and that’s okay, but you run into problems. Like in that example, the paint from the markers balled up and left paint turds on the paper. If you try to use regular copier paper, good luck my friend. Your painting will turn into soup.
Okay you get my point, so I was on the look out for some paper that I could paint on that wouldn’t roll up into a tube when I painted it.
So first up naturally for me was the cheapest. It was Royal & Langnickel Artist Paper Pad. 8 dollars on amazon. But then the reviews were flat out horrible so I figured I needed something that isn’t as cheap. I'm not trying to waste my eight dollars, I could get a super expensive coffee for that 🤣🤣
Also, I didn’t want pallet paper. I have pallet paper and it’s shiny. I was under the impression that no one really painted on pallet paper because it’s so shiny and thin and flimsy. It’s poly-coated so it’s coated with a laminate material so it’s really shiny. It has a waxy surface. But I guess if push comes to shove you could paint on it? You could also paint on tin foil, or a potato. But is that ideal?
Canvas paper is nice. It’s textured just like a wrapped canvas so there are divots in it. I got the strathmore canvas paper from hobby lobby and its a grey tone, so its not white. There is no bleed through because it’s really thick and it does give you that textured look. I don’t think you could wrap it around stretcher bars because it’s not as strong as cotton or linen. It’s nice, but I wanted something white and not as textured.
Also something to consider is whether it is acid free. Acid free means that the paper was made with alkaline paper making technology. If it’s aside free it will last a super long time without becoming yellow or breaking down. So I definitely wanted acid free.
I ended up with the U.S. Art Supply Acrylic Paper. It was 9 x 12 so that was big enough for me. The paper is really thick and the textured surface is supposed to act as an adherent for the paint so you can add layers without it wrinkling, bleeding through, or bending onto itself. It was $20.00 on amazon and I got two pads so a total of 24 sheets.
So anyway, I hope this video helped you pick out which paper would work best for what you want to do!
