I Tested The Strathmore 400 Series Hardcover Watercolor Art Journal for 45 Days. This Happened

[@HelenAveryArtChannel]

Please Subscribe, I Could Use Your Support! 🌷Strathmore 400 Series Hardcover Art Journal (Jackson's) tidd.ly/4hnG3PM If you want to see a Hahnemuhle or Talens review, please give this a like and subscribe! Thanks for watching, I appreciate you!

[@victoriabarrientos3280]

Yes more journal reviews please

[@HelenAveryArtChannel]

Yay, I have so many, happy to oblige!

[@privatename8228]

Yay! Finally KZbin showed me a watercolor artist from Canada! I swear I've watched 100's of watercolor videos in the past month and a half but none from my own country. I don't know why. So happy to find you. Great video. Subscribed.

[@HelenAveryArtChannel]

Yay! We Canadians found each other! The only other Canadian I can think off the top of my head is @EmmaLefebvre but it's all either British or Americans I see too (not that I don't love them too but it's fun to find someone from the same place, I agree!)

[@OkieSketcher1949]

@@HelenAveryArtChannel -Years ago I saw several people using watercolors en plein air in Banff and Lake Louise. I cannot say they were Canadian but they were working in Canada.

[@HelenAveryArtChannel]

Oh yes! There are so many of us in real life but I think my audience member who commented here means not many Canadian watercolorists with KZbin channels :)

[@OkieSketcher1949]

@@HelenAveryArtChannel - Probably true. However, I love going through local art galleries and I have browsed through several in Banff and Calgary. While watercolors are not as plentiful as oils there are several in most every Canadian gallery I have gone to. In fact, I have one hanging on my wall completed by a Canadian artist. My parents purchased it back in the 1980’s.

[@HelenAveryArtChannel]

That's lovely to have your parents' art from the 80s up on your own wall. Art is so transcendent. I love that. Thank you for sharing this info, I had never thought of it that way (though I have noticed the predominance of oils and acrylic over watercolour).

[@louisebacon-ogden5032]

I have been painting for a while now. A few years ago, I got into journals. Got one from a thrift shop (for gently used art materials) and it had no name (at least, visible). I guessed it was multi-media paper. Even a gentle use of w/c was not very satisfying. I use it for pen and ink or graphite. I do paint LOOSE! So, at our local art store I got one for around $20...and it is a Strathmore. It contains no cotton (400 is the best in their series) but I really like it...for some of the reasons you gave. My cover does not look like yours. I have thrown mine in a cloth bag, not my purse, to transport it. I must admit, I have a special place for Strathmore paper because my home town had a factory there. I even worked there! I also do some teaching and recommend Strathmore. Though I love 100% cotton Arches, I do not ask students to start with such expensive paper. I USE the paper I ask students to have and do like the results. Thank you for the review. I have watched and listened to many so I feel more confident when I shop for art supplies.

[@HelenAveryArtChannel]

Thanks for sharing your experience and the history with the Strathmore factory! It’s so fun to see how people use the same materials with different takeaways. I really must look for a gently used art materials thrift shop in my city, a genius idea if ever there was one. You're very welcome for the review, I appreciate you taking the time to leave this thoughtful comment! Happy new year!

[@elizabethwarick3042]

Agree with you about the Strathmore watercolour paper as opposed to Canson XL. I took a watercolour course during the summer and suffered through the recommended XL until the end when I decided to try out different papers. Strathmore is superior. I looked at that journal about 20 times in Michael's but I wanted a cotton journal to take away with me on a trip. I wanted a landscape format and ordered one online but then I went a bit crazy in an art supply store and ended up picking up a Hahnemule square. I love a square book. Ended up taking that one because it was lighter and more compact.

[@HelenAveryArtChannel]

This is all relatable and none more so than "I went a bit crazy in an art supply store"...hahaha! I too am one for careful consideration at Michaels: they don't seem to sell that many journals for watercolor other than this one, where I live, and perhaps elsewhere. Good thing it's such a nice one! I love my Hahnemuhle, I got the tiny portrait one...but my gosh did I overpay...also relatable, I bet! Thanks for the comment, Elizabeth!

[@lesleyegbert4807]

Our journeys with this sketchbook have been very similar. I've had mine for a long time and haven't used it very much. I did a few fairly dry pieces with Inktense or watercolor pencils, and just like you I thought, "Meh." Then, just the other day I had a watery mix of paint left over from another project, and I randomly applied it as a wash onto one of the pages of this journal. I was shocked at how even the wash was, considering I had to stretch the paint out to cover the entire page. Plus it dried completely flat! (Though I did tape it down before painting.) Looks like we're both viewing these sketchbooks with new eyes.

[@HelenAveryArtChannel]

Right? It's a shocker when you start to use it differently! If I were more intrepid it would be cool to see just how much it can take (though I feel that my experience layering on gouache, more watery watercolor and then more gouache was a pretty good test, lol!)

[@bustermaximus]

Since you were wondering, and others in the comments had the same question, Strathmore's cotton paper is 500 series, which they classify as "Premium". I think the 400 series is called "Best" because it's the best line of cellulose papers they offer. The 400 series is good paper -- I love the 400 series drawing paper -- but if there was any cotton in it, Strathmore would be bragging about it. Also, the difference in results between the Strathmore 400 and Canson XL is because the Canson XL is a lower quality paper. It's student grade, probably most comparable to Strathmore 200 or 300. Canson Montval paper is probably most comparable to Strathmore 400.

[@HelenAveryArtChannel]

Thank you so much for the breakdown, this is super helpful to know!

[@NightPhoenixPress]

I’m surprised this isn’t cotton paper in this. The 400 series is supposed to be the best stuff.

[@HelenAveryArtChannel]

Apparently there is a 500 cotton series. I didn't know, just learned it from a commenter here :)

[@NightPhoenixPress]

@@HelenAveryArtChannel You’re right, I actually have two of the 500 series books, not sure what I thinking.

[@MaZEEZaM]

That pad costs $65 AUD $35 USD In Australia.

[@HelenAveryArtChannel]

So that would be like $58 for me here in Canada. That's a lot! For what it is

[@lesleyegbert4807]

Hard agree on the absolute hideousness of the Canson XL product covers. I mean...Canson is an art supply company, right? They probably have aesthetically minded people on staff, or could at least find some with whom to consult. So how on God's green earth did they come up with covers like *that*? Garish colors, awful graphics...yikes. I'm looking forward to using up all that paper and never buying it again.

[@HelenAveryArtChannel]

Yes exactly, it's so aesthetically challenged...for an art brand? Walmart in Canada offers a dupe / cheater brand spiral notepad in basically the same cover colour, and even THAT is less aggressively ugly than the Canson. It even has a hard cover. Not sure this link will work for you but here's what it looks like www.walmart.ca/en/ip/north-shore-watercolor-paper-7x10/6000205448792

[@OkieSketcher1949]

I’ve been using Strathmore 400 Series Hardcover Watercolor Journals for several years now, mostly the A-5 size, but a few of the larger sizes like the one you showed. I do pencil sketches first followed by pen and ink. Once the ink is dry I erase the graphite and go back in with watercolors. Every book I’ve used has been great! I’ve had no issues whatsoever. Even when the paper buckles a bit all I need to do is close the book and put a heavier book on top. Normally the next day the buckled page is flat again. Around here these books are relatively inexpensive (although the costs have been rising here of late). I have not had the cover issues you mentioned on any of my books so I am wondering if you just purchased one of those “made on Monday or Friday” types (the types that were not manufactured to the specifications). When I go afield I keep my journal in a zippered bag with an over the shoulder strap. I use the same bag’s compartments to hold my pens and pencils, watercolor palette, and perhaps a tin of watercolor pencils. There it is relatively protected. When I get to my sketching site I simply pull it out of the case, draw, paint, let it dry, and put it back into the bag.

[@hameb00]

I think Canson expects people to break pages out of the notebooks, so why would they make the effort? Your point stands.