Jackson’s Watercolour Spiral Bound Pads are ideal for painting and drawing en plein air. Containing 25 sheets of cold pressed 280gsm gsm paper, they are suitable for watercolour, drawing, and mixed media work. In this Artist Review of the Month, Deborah Rackstraw tries out a pad for watercolour painting and shares her thoughts.
Artist Review of the Month: Jackson’s Watercolour Spiral Bound Pads
by Deborah Rackstraw
I absolutely love this pad. I originally bought Saunders Waterford as recommended by a local artist and teacher, but I didn’t take to the watermarking and so resorted to this one in haste – I’m so glad that I did!
Coming in at a fraction of the cost, it’s lovely to work on. So far, I’ve found that paint lifts easily, it takes a good wet wash, removing masking tape is easy, and the price is very competitive. I’m hoping they never go out of stock, and I will be ordering the smaller size pad for information-gathering work. I am currently working on the 11 x 15 in pad, but it’s also available in 7.5 x 11 in.
So far, I have used Jackson’s and Sennelier watercolours on it, but it also takes pen and ink very nicely, and graphite pencil lifts easily. I opted for a spiral pad because it opens flat, but the body of the pad is also just about firm enough to work from without extra support if need be. It contains 25 sheets meaning it holds a good body of work before needing to invest in the next one. I’ve found that wet colours mix well on it, and its slightly rough surface allows for both smooth painting and rougher brushwork.
Paler washes do tend to sink into the paper a little, meaning that if you’ve been quite clear with an initial sketch, it may still show through at the end of the work and is then hard to disguise. The paler colours also have a slight tendency to come out weaker than they seemed, but this is fairly easy to adapt to. I haven’t yet tried thoroughly wetting the paper front and back, as I prefer to keep it intact in the pad, but I imagine that removing individual sheets would be possible given the spiral nature of the binding. It has had a tendency to dry quite quickly, but painting in hot weather makes that unsurprising.
For me, the reasonable price has certainly encouraged me to paint more frequently and to try larger ideas without worrying about their success, which, as someone who only discovered the fun of watercolour recently, is priceless.
Painting by Deborah Rackstraw on Jackson’s Watercolour Spiral Bound Pads
About Deborah Rackstraw
Debs Rackstraw lives and works in Oxford as a Tutor in English Literature. She’s always enjoyed being creative, but only tried out watercolour two years ago, prompted by an interesting course in watercolour techniques at the local college in Sunningwell. She loves being outdoors and all of her work focuses on this, so that when she’s not out and about in nature, she can still be dwelling on it.
Further Reading
The Best Way to Transfer Images to Lino
Inside the Sketchbook of Lisa Takahashi
In Conversation With John Cogley, Daniel Smith
Shop Jackson’s Watercolour Spiral Bound Pads on jacksonsart.com
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