All you want to know about black watercolour paper

[@joanbennettnyc]

Thank you so much for this. I'm in the middle of a job on this paper and was looking for advice. One thing I like about your videos -- beyond their clarity and speed -- is your directness that you enjoy the process as you work. Often, I feel other creators are saying "see how smart I am!" ... and usually they're not and it's showing. You, on the other hand, have a GREAT presentation style. (AND ARE SMART! whew!)

[@LizChadertonStudio]

thank you so much! I know I don’t have all the answers, but it’s fun to share the ones I do have!

[@beenadevicr]

I painted on black paper with watercolour paints, and I struggled so much:(:(. I wish I had watched your tutorial and now that has given me confidence. I had to layer so much of paint. Thanks Liz

[@LizChadertonStudio]

Have another go, it can be really effective

[@rubyfisch5077]

I love that! Thanks for the experiments Liz. My daughter bought a nice 100% cotton black paper pad for me for Christmas, and now I don't have to waste it so see what paints I should use. I've got some cheap watercolors that I had already put in the bin to go to the thrift store, but I took them out and they worked really well. Especially because they had a lot of neon and metallic colors (which I rarely use) and I didn't see the point in hanging on to them. It just goes to show that the minute you throw something away because you haven't used it in a long time, you'll find a use for it. It satisfies the paint hoarder in me. lol

[@LizChadertonStudio]

Yes, hoard that paint and supplies! Every so often challenge yourself to use something you haven't touched for a year. I have stuff from 20 years ago 'you never know when it might come in handy'

[@karindw6384]

Thank you for the explanation of why cellulose paper rips when removing masking tape. Such a simple explanation but it explains so much! Love this video altogether.

[@LizChadertonStudio]

Yes, it’s all obvious once you know!

[@jackycox536]

I have accidentally ordered black watercolour paper, just opened it and thought ah! A quick search for ideas and you’ve come up trumps yet again, thank you Liz.

[@LizChadertonStudio]

ooop! but if a shock! I have some huge sheets waiting for more experiments. I really enjoyed using titanium white and then floating in the colour. it seemed to work!

[@jackycox536]

@@LizChadertonStudio after getting over my initial ‘oh no!’ I’m quite looking forward to playing. Do love trying something new 😊

[@LizChadertonStudio]

@@jackycox536 Great attitude!!!

[@colleenmcchesney1482]

Wow that’s a great amount of testing for the black paper. I am pleasantly pleased with how the results came about. I am surprised by the fact that the high quality paint did not work as well as the student grade paints. Gorgeous final painting! Thank you for sharing this wonderful informational video with us!

[@LizChadertonStudio]

since here, I’ve been experimenting with painting with white watercolour and charging in colours, which has worked well. and also black watercolour canvas…

[@1toshi32]

Currently in the process of painting a lighthouse on black paper. I'm just using white gouache and having to do so many layers. I soaks right into the paper if you've got a really wet brush and doing layers with the gouache is hard because you virtually take off the bottom layer as you go over it. Very frustrating. I like the cheap paint set you have so I'm about to purchase it from Amazon because it looks like it would be better than the normal watercolour and gouache paint on black paper. Thank you so much for making this video.

[@LizChadertonStudio]

hope you enjoy them. They are quite gluey. you might be interested in my watercolour on black workshop: www.lizchadertonstudio.co.uk/painting-the-light-watercolours-on-black

[@kathleenthompson1569]

I should have watched this before asking you about paints on black paper, it has answered my question fully. Thankyou again.

[@LizChadertonStudio]

glad that answered things

[@aaronanderson4443]

G’day Liz from Melbourne Australia. Some great information- thank you.

[@LizChadertonStudio]

Hello there! Never made it as far as Melbourne…

[@NavyAssassinOnBLAST]

Great video, Liz. I'm seeing many seasoned brilliant urban sketching artists using toned & colored papers or collaged colored/printed papers in their urban sketches. I think the various opaque whites & colors are popular with those artists.

[@LizChadertonStudio]

that’s funny! yesterday I was making a film about collage with urban sketching!

[@esilabet]

Thanks Liz for this video, very informative... I use to work with acrylic rather than watercolors, and black canvas was my base for years. I use make the background a deep mat black using blackboard paint - very nasty stuff, but the finish is just soooo beautiful. So painting on black is my ''normal workflow'', I've just done a year of watercolor, so working light to dark is pretty new to me. black to white suits my style of shading the best, I prefer to add light rather than add shadows and having the light reveal the shapes directly with voloume. Anyway, I feel I don't have good vocabulary to talk about those things... Thanks for the demo, very nice to know.

[@LizChadertonStudio]

it’s the perfect way of describing it 😊 you might enjoy this surface by the sounds of things.

[@nicholascross5809]

Thanks for sharing this. You have encouraged me to experiment! Best wishes Nick

[@LizChadertonStudio]

that’s the nicest thing to hear!

[@mjpete27]

Hullo Liz, I purchased a pack of the Stonehenge Black watercolor paper 22x30 10 sheets for $5.99 ! I was looking for a less expensive surface for soft pastels. I did try some watercolor paintings but found that gouache with metallic or pearlescent colors worked best. The black paper does ok with pastels but if you coat the paper with clear gesso I have found that it works very well for soft pastels! If you do more testing of dark or black papers, you might use a Posca paint pen in white, much like you used the black line on the white paper. It does give you the overcoat information with your different paints. Good luck and I look forward to seeing your slower paint along version! Take care, be safe and enjoy your day!

[@LizChadertonStudio]

gosh, that’s a good price! I have done a watercolour painting and used clear gesso before adding pastel. it gives a great tooth, so that sounds like a good solution. yes, I thought paint markers might be good, but even Posca are that opaque. I wondered about jelly roll pens fir doing reverse pen and wash. all sorts of possibilities!

[@gailahitt9738]

Great demo! You have opened up new possibilities for me for the black watercolor paper. I have painted on it with metallics, white pen for highlights & using lots of layers of artist watercolor but only a couple colors r opaque enough. Will be experimenting more. I did like using it & the effects I got. Would love to see a larger painting as u suggested. 😁

[@LizChadertonStudio]

I’ve prepared a couple of black watercolour canvases, which might be my next experiment.

[@gailahitt9738]

@@LizChadertonStudio Great! Looking forward to seeing that. I have yet to try watercolor on canvas but it is on my list!

[@pamelahunt236]

This is really helpful! Daniel Smith's iridescent and duochrome work ok on the black paper I used (cover sheet of the Arches Pad) but I am definitely going to get some black watercolor paper and see how they work on that! I may have to find myself some less expensive paints that are more opaque! Very interesting!

[@LizChadertonStudio]

never tried the DS duo chrome. watercolour paper should help the paint move properly due to the sizing and you should be able to layer better without it pulling. Let me know how you get on!

[@maryannprzybycien2013]

My first experience with black watercolor paper was using gouache. I use Stonehenge aqua coldpress, 100% cotton and I love it.

[@LizChadertonStudio]

I’ve finally got hold of full sheets of the Stonehenge so I’m planning some big paintings.

[@krisyoungsteadt9139]

I've painted a couple of successful watercolor paintings on black 90 lb. Stonehenge printmaking paper.

[@LizChadertonStudio]

I’m guessing you stretched it first?

[@krisyoungsteadt9139]

@@LizChadertonStudio I taped the paper to a board and painted wet into dry for the most part. They are on Instagram if you want to take a look.

[@vikkibarnes7221]

Thanks I learnt a lot and will give it ago

[@LizChadertonStudio]

Have fun!

[@nancylemon4120]

Thank You Liz, Loved this video. I am a huge fan of yours, just recently found your channel. May I ask one favour? I know its difficult to find affordable & stable camera supports but every time you work on the surface of the desk, the camera wobbles slightly. Sometimes more, sometimes less but as a result I find myself getting slightly nauseous. Thank You Liz, please continue to put out this marvellous content! Cheers

[@LizChadertonStudio]

funnily enough, I got a new support for my birthday in July, so hopefully no wobble in the latest few films!

[@blackbird3456]

The first time I used watercolour paint on a black background was on a white water colour with black gesso applied on it. I now have a small block of black water colour paper to paint on and I much prefer the black paper than a canvas with black gesso applied on for watercolour paint. Edit : By mixing watercolour the more transparent paint with white, you'll obtain a more opaque colour and it would show up more on black paper. I do have other black paper but for coloured pencils or white pen.

[@LizChadertonStudio]

Since making this, I've also used Black Daniel Smith watercolour ground on canvas, which is lots of fun. Gesso wouldn't be quite as absorbent. I've experimented more with floating colour on to washes of white watercolour with lots of success. I plan to do more for sure

[@blackbird3456]

@@LizChadertonStudio I have since bought black water colour paper. The black gesso was only to try and see how watercolour would look like on black paper and it was also for a painting project with acrylic. I now have a watercolour and coloured pencil to do on black paper.

[@LizChadertonStudio]

@@blackbird3456 good luck - hope it goes eell

[@blackbird3456]

@@LizChadertonStudio Thanks. I just ordered some solvent for blending my coloured pencils.

[@krabfingers8473]

I currently don't have any black watercolor paper, so I "made" my own! I used my waterproof black acrylic paint and diluted it to "dye" my white watercolor paper. You would think this would make the paper awful for watercolor paint but no. I think it's because I used scrap pieces of 100% cotton watercolor paper and it soaked in the plasticy surface that would otherwise dry on. I tried using cellulose paper for this also and it had the plasticy surface. I used my craft quality paints (lower than student quality, can't do many watercolor techniques with them) that are very opaque to paint on my DIY black watercolor paper. Looking at your student quality paints in the video, I suspect they are craft quality as well. I hope to buy metallic paints soon! Right now I have a sliver watercolor pencil and a gold watercolor pencil as my paints. I used an x-acto knife to cut away the wood and use the lead as "pans."

[@LizChadertonStudio]

Did you manage to get the paper deep enough black? I’m surprised it worked too, but glad it did

[@krabfingers8473]

@@LizChadertonStudioIt’s not pitch black but good enough for me! I just bought black paper from Clairefontaine too, except it’s their mix media line “Paint On.” I can’t wait to use it!!

[@LizChadertonStudio]

@@krabfingers8473 I'd be interested to know what you think. I'm not sure how watercolour will go on mixed media paper. In case you are interested, I've just launched a give away for an online black watercolour course - closes 30 Nov: forms.gle/au9ubKFsvWc9UMSp8

[@foreverlearningart]

Thank you!

[@LizChadertonStudio]

You're welcome!

[@sandraalain6987]

I love the nod to white brusho "why was this even invented?"

[@LizChadertonStudio]

But why? I just wish I knew 😆

[@elainetyrrell4669]

I have Stonehenge black watercolour paper and have found that masking fluid rips it to shreds. Very disappointing.

[@LizChadertonStudio]

Oh that’s not good. Stonehenge is cotton so it should be strong. This is cellulose and was fine. I find Pebeo drawing gum the gentlest masking fluid.

[@elainetyrrell4669]

@@LizChadertonStudio Yes it was Pebeo that I used which I like more than Schminke. The same thing happened on my white cold press Stonehenge paper.

[@LizChadertonStudio]

@@elainetyrrell4669 well I’m surprised and as I’ve never used Stonehenge, I don’t have any suggestions, apart from avoiding masking. What a pain!

[@gilliandalgaswright9124]

Maybe gouche

[@LizChadertonStudio]

I really love wet in wet effects, so you are right gouache would work perfectly but not give me the effect I’m after.

[@amybush9066]

Black has blue in it, that is why yellow looks green, pink looks more like purple etc.

[@LizChadertonStudio]

I'd never thought of it in that way.... thanks

[@eviehanlon1445]

Nice.

[@LizChadertonStudio]

Thanks!

[@mrsdee47]

I have had success in the past after mixing watercolour with gouache when using black paper.

[@LizChadertonStudio]

I find gouache doesn't have the movement of watercolour on the paper, even with more water. So I'm going to carry on experimenting as I love the wet in wet technique.

[@janemacomber3837]

I think this paper would be more suitable for Gouache paints.

[@LizChadertonStudio]

it would be perfect for gouache, but I would love to be able to get the movement of watercolour if possible