Cheap paper first, and why 140lb matters
Okay. Last time we talked supplies. Now let's talk paper, because paper is where most beginners quietly sabotage themselves before they even pick up a brush.
Here's the thing nobody tells you at the store: paper is not paper. Printer paper, sketchbook paper, that pad of "art paper" that's really just slightly nicer printer paper — none of it can hold water the way watercolor paper can. And watercolor is, at its core, a water problem. You're moving wet pigment around on a surface and asking that surface to cooperate. Most surfaces won't.
I learned this the hard way. My very first wash ever, I used regular printer paper because I didn't know any better and didn't want to drive back out for "real" paper. I laid down water and color and watched the whole sheet warp up into this potato-chip shape right in front of me, corners curling like it was trying to get away from the paint. I taped the next sheet down, all four edges, feeling very proud of myself for solving the problem. It still buckled. Just a little less dramatically. At some point I stopped fighting it and decided buckled paper was going to be part of my personality. Honestly, it still kind of is.
What 140lb actually means
Watercolor paper gets labeled by weight, usually in pounds — 90lb, 140lb, 300lb. That number tells you how thick and heavy the paper is, which tells you how much water it can take before it gives up and warps or pills apart under your brush.
- 90lb is thin. It's fine for very dry, light sketching but it warps fast and it's not what we're using here.
- 140lb is the standard workhorse weight. Thick enough to handle a real wash without turning into a taco. This is what I want you buying.
- 300lb is thick like cardstock, barely warps at all, and costs a lot more per sheet.
For this class, and honestly for the next year or two of your painting life, 140lb is the number to look for on the pad. Don't overthink it beyond that.
Now, the actual opinion I want to plant in your head
Buy the cheap 140lb paper. Not the fancy stuff.
I know the fancy cotton paper looks nicer in the store, sits nicer, feels nicer under your hand. It is also expensive, and here's what happens if you buy it as a beginner: you get it home, you sit down to paint, and some part of your brain goes "this cost real money, don't mess it up," and you tighten up. You paint scared. You second-guess every brushstroke because you don't want to waste a four-dollar sheet.
Ruin the cheap stuff instead. Buy the student-grade 140lb pad, the kind that's basically wood pulp instead of cotton rag, and go through it fast. Learn what too much water looks like. Learn what a blown-out wash looks like. Learn what happens when you load your brush too heavy and drag it across the page (bless, we've all done it). None of that matters on a two-dollar sheet. It matters a lot on a twenty-dollar one, and that fear is exactly what keeps beginners from loosening up.
You will get more out of ruining ten cheap sheets than being precious with two good ones. I promise.
Practical steps for this week
- Buy a pad, not loose sheets. Cheaper per page and easier to store.
- Look for "140lb" or "300gsm" on the label — those are the same weight, just different unit systems, so don't panic if the number looks different.
- Student grade is fine. Look for words like "student" or "practice" on the packaging. Skip anything that says "artist grade" or "100% cotton" for now — save that money.
- Tape it down if you want, especially for a big wash. I use painter's tape on all four edges. It still might buckle a little. That's not a failure, that's just paper being paper.
- Cut or tear it small if the pad is big. A quarter sheet is plenty for practicing a wash. No reason to commit a full sheet to a technique you're just testing.
One note on the dry air here — a wash on cheap paper in American Fork sets up fast, faster than most online tutorials expect, because most of them were filmed somewhere humid. That's actually a decent reason to practice on cheap paper specifically: you'll blow through sheets while you get a feel for how quick things dry at our elevation, and it costs you almost nothing to do it.
Before next time
Grab a pad of cheap 140lb paper if you don't already have one, and don't feel bad if you use up half of it just messing around before class. That's the whole point of it existing.