Stonehenge Aqua Watercolor Paper Review and Demo
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ต.ค. 2024
- Stonehenge Aqua is here and its a high-quality, 100% cotton artists grade watercolor paper with some bold claims of having all the best qualities watercolorists have come to expect. I do a quick little spring landscape demo to test out those qualities.
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Stonehenge Aqua 140lb. Cold Press Block 10"x14" - amzn.to/2oOsqAM
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Pebeo Drawing Gum - amzn.to/2oqufkw
Rubber Cement Pickup - amzn.to/2o7M0cj
Sterling Edwards 1.5" Blending Glazing Brush - amzn.to/2ouxJSy
Silver Brush Black Velvet 1" - amzn.to/2oOl9B0
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Princeton Neptune #1 Rigger - amzn.to/2oOg2AO
Creative Mark Mimik Kolinsky #8 - amzn.to/2oOoBvb
Stonehenge Aqua Samples (no longer free from their site) - amzn.to/2oOPkYL
Marty Owings Stonehenge Aqua Review
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Artist Morten Solberg - www.mortenesolb...
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Love the way you use different shaped brushes and techniques in your watercolor paintings. Grateful for you offering your expertise and time to teach others.
Wow I can just sit a watch you paint all day. I learn so much from your techniques and watching how you apply, remove, lift, and blend the watercolor paint on the paper. Thanks for sharing this & giving me some more inspiration for painting.
Every time I watch you I learn a new technique, you are one of my favourites!
Yes!! I love Morton Solberg's work! I was just thinking of him during this video and was blown away at the shout out. Thanks so much!
I love this paper! I use it all the time!!!
Your style and take on what colour to use where is what draws me back... Time and time again...
Love your work 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏😍😍
really enjoy how the paint flows and how you left your white areas. Color with the composition makes the painting depth on going. Steve you make it look so easy. Thank you for demonstrating
MaryAnne Looney thanks MaryAnne!
I have also really enjoyed using this paper. I find it’s much easier to get a gradient on this paper than others I’ve tried for some reason. Also the black aqua paper is the best black watercolor paper I’ve ever used if anyone else out there likes to paint on black occasionally, I highly recommend it.
Glad you tried it and liked it. Also glad you mentioned Marty's review, it was crazy and amazing all he did to it then he painted on it too. I tried and loved the samples. Thanks again.
Thanks, Steve. I never miss your videos because I always learn something new!
Thank you for your reviews, which are my go-to reviews as I learn watercolor. Your presentation and knowledge are so helpful, that even when I visit other reviewers, I come back to yours to double-check !
So grateful for your videos. It is wonderful to have product reviews.
the way you work is so intuitive and spontaneous, I love it. I'm a major perfectionist in my own work so that's a skill I definitely want to work on.
Very nice and interesting technique...Thank you for NOT doing what some people do: painting with some pathetic musical background with NO verbal instruction as to what the painter is doing. We're not psychic. As usual, you put out great instruction videos.
Wow… 😮 you make this so easy! 😊
You sir are a Watercolojr master. I never thought I would like working with that paper but you are making me want to try it!
Hi Steve - Turns out we both like the paper! Not surprised it's pretty darn good, especially when you consider cost. Your painting was great as always and I learned something new with the masking fluid. Thanks for the shout out my friend. Hope you are well.
You're welcome Marty. Thanks for watching!
Loved this review--thank you! One of my favorite things about this paper was how easily I could use scraping back effects (damp paper) and xacto "scrapey highlights" on dry. Hands down the best paper I've ever used for those two.
Cool! Thanks for the input. Yeah I'm loving how robust it is.
Dude. Your palette is prettier than any of my paintings. :D
Have you tried the Hot pressed? Here my review. I bought the hot pressed. Bucking and and blotchy affects. The pigment wont even seep into the inner layers at all on the block or even after stretching. When I pulled off the low tack tape it tore the surface of the paper right from the block. I tried stretching and the tiniest attempt to lift color tore the surface of the paper. I don't know what kind of sizing they have used but this paper is not strong or hardy. Just a little water weakens it. It wont take masking well either because the top layer of the paper peals off when you remove the masking. This is supposed to be cotton paper and its hard to believe. Maybe the cold pressed is nice but the hot pressed is not hardy at all.
Hi bought mg Azo Green as on of my birthday treats. What a colour green unless watered down then it's yellow. I find it great for trees, mixed or not. It's taking ages to dry for my travel palette.
Thanks for recommendation.
Marty's video on this is amazing.
G'Day Steve thank you for your review. Love paper! I have so much but yet I love trying new art supplies. I just have to try it now! I've viewed Marty's review on this paper a while ago and was very much entertained and informed.
Love your paintings! God bless you! Thank you so much for your videos that have so much great information.
I was learned long time ago, stopped, now i learn again. Thank you!
Great video! Played around with a sample recently in a store. An employee was singing its praises but I didn't end up getting it then. Now I want to go back and get some!
I am a little late to the party but I saw this test and picked up a couple of cold pressed blocks of Stonehenge. This paper is internally and externally sized with synthetic sizing where as Arches is internally and externally sized with gelatin sizing. Arches is also double sized externally off the machine. This is not true with Stonehenge paper according to their engineers. Stonehenge is sized externally on the machine only. I suppose this makes Arches a tiny bit more durable to taping and lifting. But I paint from blocks so I don't need to tape to stretch and I try not to scrub so much that it jazzes up the paper.
All that tech talk said, I did some paintings with it and I liked Stonehenge a lot. I especially liked the fact that it is much less expensive. Indeed I got two blocks for the cost of one Arches block. It was on sale but still that was a good savings.
I like Arches and use it. But now I have to ask myself what is the real benefit and is it worth paying the extra cost? Thanks for doing this review. I think you saved me some money!
Appreciate your sharing your talents. Good job!
Hi Steve
I recently found you and subscribed immeditely. I have watched many, many of your videos and look forward to watching more. You are very talented, a terrific teacher and a humble and amazing human. Thanks for everything.
Thanks for mentioning the "vignette" technique. I have been wondering if it had a name. Now I know! :) Good video as always.
Thoroughly enjoy your demos and chat. Thanks. Caz
I finally ordered this to try out myself. I love Morten Solberg's work.
Always a joy to watch you create and the learning process is a plus. Thanks for all your tips, demos and for sharing your talents...
You have a great personality 😊 thanks for sharing
Another great review and fantastic painting - love the paper and always trust your comments:-) .. and you're right, Marty's 'test' of this paper was absolutely hilarious - i think it would make a great advert for Stonehenge! LOL :)
I loved the entire video, bu what really amazed me was your wonderful way of creating the background mountains at the end. Thanks for your very inspiring videos.
I purchased the A4 lightpad based on your review. I used it today for the first time. Worked perfectly!
White space is like resrs in music.
Love the painting, I'm going to have to give the paper a try. Thanks Steve.💞💫
I used Stonehenge papers for printmaking back in my college days (2003ish). Wonderful paper.
Love your work and teaching. also I like the colors in this spring painting. I have always wanting to paint the dramatic dark sky color with the bright
tree color. I will try it. thank you
Thank you for the nice review Steve! I simply must try it!
Love your style. Have used your lifting technique to create depth and value changes. Invaluable! Thank you. Someone mentioned the thumbs down - I've heard most of those are from a bot (script) someone created that's always running in the background. Seems people reach a certain threshold (subscribers/views maybe) and their channel gets added to its list. There are probably lots of them out there. We can just focus on the great content available on this amazing platform.
Interesting! Not heard about that. Doesn't matter. I don't pay attention to them.
Thank you so much, for sharing your insights and talent in TH-cam world. To help, and assist newbes, and seasond watercolorist alike. Happy Arting 😃☝praise the Lord!
Before you even mentioned his name I thought of Morten Solberg's work as I was watching the beginning of this video. I love this technique of vignetting.
Great review, Steve, I have been looking for a good alternative to Arches, because one of my suppliers told me to buy up as much of Arches as I could before Jan 2017. Apparently a large art supplier purchased the Arches and increased the price by 30 percent here in Australia. I have requested a sample of Legions paper to try it myself before purchasing in bulk. I will be waiting a while, as Legions has had a great number of requests for their samples as a result of reviews. I think Marty Owen's review would convince even your studio pal to purchase Legions papers! Your review is the icing on the cake for me. Thank you yet again for a great review.🖐😊
If you can get it at a reasonable price do so. Stonehenge Aqua is amazing paper.
Really fantastic demo. I really like Stonehenge it really is a tough paper. Thank you
Informative video as usual.
I liked your fluid style.
Finally, I understood what artists meant by Stonehenge papers. Still have to figure out what PastelMat is!!
Great review. It took a long while for this paper to be available in UK at a reasonable price, but it is now.
I picked up four 140lb. 22 x 30 sheets. I've been working on getting used to this paper. Stonehenge Aqua paper is very affordable for it performance level.
Appreciate the comment around 8:55 re: white space. Really good information for us noobs, along with the review of the paper.
for the one of us looking for a affordable alternative to arches, artist grade 100% cotton paper I think this one is one of the best options, thanks
Bee 100% cotton paper is a good value paper also. amzn.to/3lrhIe4
@@mindofwatercolor Thank so much I had looking so much throug all the Amazon options but I live in another country and to test is so difibult I had heard about bee paper but after searching could not find a good option but this one you send me looks great, thanks one more time
Great to see a paper coming up close to Arches! beautful demo, btw, Steve.
I think it's a lot less expensive than Arches. I'm excited about it. I've used their 300 lb sheets and thought they were excellent.
Just received my sample of this paper looking ,forward to using it now tfs.
Thank you for this nice time with your wide experience in water colors, I wish to show you some of my work, but don't know how to up laode it
Beautiful Steve-thank you.
wish i could paint like you. so creative
Thanks, love your style!
Oh wow. What a good cost and good review
Juat beautiful - thanksso much.
I Like it....Ketchup, Chinese Food...works for me. Looks like a Great Paper!
Great video Steve! 😆 Marty's video review was awesome. I had gotten some samples back in December of this paper and I really liked the cold press #140, I haven't tried the other two...yet. 😉 I still want to try the canson heritage, but I'm waiting to see if it comes down in price a little bit. I hope you have a great weekend! 🤗
I can tell you right now that with the price difference, I would choose Aqua in a heartbeat over Heritage. Canson Heritage is more than double the price for a same sized block with only 5 more sheets on the block. I like the lifting qualities of Heritage but Aqua is a winner for sure. Its going to take the WC world by storm probably based on the performance/price ratio alone.
The Mind of Watercolor Awesome! I will just stick to Stonehenge Aqua then, that was easy enough. 😉 Have you tried the W&N lifting medium? I saw a cheap Joe's video on it last night & was a bit curious.
Valarie Connell /DrawingWithFire yes, never found it very useful myself but I'll check out the video.
The Mind of Watercolor Julie doesn't use it she just talks about it. I have bought so much lately I think I will skip the lifting medium. 😉
GREAT PAINTING ⭐️
Love your videos. Thank you so much for sharing!
as always, fantastic and informative
Thanks for this video, I really enjoyed it, always do. God bless,
I’ve been painting on Stonehenge for a while now and I’m disappointed in the performance of the paper surface. Lifting color, or taking off masking fluid, or removing artist tape (even after heating with a heat gun) pulls off the top layer of the paper. Yikes! I’ll go back to Arches and maybe return to Stonehenge in the future for a painting when I’m not lifting paint, using masking fluid, or taping my paper to a sketch board.
Totally agree. Maybe Pebeo won't take off the layer. I tried both WN and Daniel Smith.
Thank you for warning me.
I learn from all your videos. I started on january 2018. Could you mention using wax resist . I tried it with waterfalls and some other water ponds Worked good so far. But Not Everything.
I loved this tutorial thanks
Thank you 👍
thank you for sharing nice painting
I look forward to your review of the Hot Press version of this Stonehenge Aqua Watercolor Paper. I would like to know your thoughts of using Cold Press vs. Hot Press paper.
+Linda Kandrac preference mostly. Crisper details and quicker drying comes with hot press usually. Cold press is better for textures and handles wet washes a little more evenly, also dries slower. Cold press is the usual all around choice. You just have to try them and get the feel of both see which you prefer.
Your shirt is so cool! Where did you find it?!
Very informative and enjoyable, thank you! If you were to choose between Fabriano Artistico and Stonehenge Aqua, which would you prefer? I am also tempted to ask how Stonehenge would compare with Saunders and Moulin Du Roy.
hope you don't mind I am going to try this
Love u and your humor. Are you using any reference material to paint from? Would you show us what reference material your using? I cannot compose out of my head.
I want to try Stonehenge Aqua.
As a professional full time artist, i tried this paper in blocks. Not very impressed. The colors dry duller than arches papers which appear only if i use an ox gall medium as a prep for a particular technique. The paper isn't very absorbent in the core and would expand slower than the arches paper, but the surface sizing is weak: the surface would show the slightest scratches caused by handling either by your nails or other objects once you introduce a wash and it dries with it. Some fine lints protrude on surface once you begin reworking on wet areas of paint and masking roughen the surface making the applied paint gritty and rough in texture. Long time users of arches and saunders would not be swayed to change to this brand.
Three years late and a dollar short. I’ve been using a block of Stonehenge cold pressed and liked it. However, last night I did one with a yapped boarder and fairly extensive masking job. When the paining was half done I tried to remove the masking and had extensive tear out. Then removed the tape, again tearful. The paper was completely dry. So, no more using taped or masked. Too bad I like the paper otherwise.
Yep, I say it all the time when it comes to tape and mask. Always test first. Some papers can't take it.
Thank's for share .
Question if I may:
I love how alive and vibrant the wet-on-wet "blooming" technique looks, but when the piece is dry, the vibrancy and texture disappears and ends up looking dull and flat. Are there any tips to preserve the liveliness?
Yeah its typical with watercolor. I've known a couple watercolorists to glaze or varnish their watercolor afterwards but I don't prefer to do that.
ContainedFire Try playing with a little Gum Arabic added to your paint, or on the paper first, or added after, etc. Experiment with it. Try honey, blending medium and/or glycerine too. Even the same pigment on different papers can appear subtly different. Try hot press (sorry to mention it here on a cold press vid). I feel it seems to help the paint reflect(?) brighter perhaps. But then it’s a different animal altogether. Pic your poison and Enjoy! Cheers.😊🐝
Hard to judge the texture from the camera distance, but does that coldpress surface really have a very regular, diagonal grid?? It especially looks that way under the background trees.
huh. My wc starts out looking every bit as blobby as yours -- except your stuff turns into actual trees. Mine stay blobby. Not fair. If I try to do anything more to it, it just turns into a mush puddle. There IS a really sweet and rather towering stack of assorted nice papers multiplying ferociously in a corner of my craft room but... shouldn't I wait until my blobs stop looking like blobs first?
OOPS WHY WOULD I EVEN ASK THAT QUESTION :P I can just hear you now telling me to stop wasting my time with the cheap stuff. :P But imma cheapskate, and it's painful to insult nice paper with blobs! Maybe after I get TWO towers of nice paper? My hoarding tendency always kicks in, clearly I need more paper, then it'll be okay to waste some. Sure.
Anyway, thanks for the vid Steve, always helpful!
You said it Jasper, not me. Do this. Take just ONE of those good sheets and portion it off into small sections. Practice a tree on the cheap stuff then repeat it on the good stuff in one of those sections. Do this on both sheets for practice and see what you think. When you see the light about great paper you won't back.
When I try to do a smooth wash with this paper, it pills up. Everywhere. Free spatter textures? Unwanted though lol.
Right. I like it less than I used to for sure. It takes washes nicely but doesn’t hold up to abuse very well.
That one person had to peep close enough to your painting which made his nose gently touch the dislike button.😐
LOL! Good one. I don't even look at the thumbs down anymore. They don't even include them on the mobile apps. I guess they don't understand how to unsub. 😳
Became a patreon member of you :). Though it is hardly a contribution but still wanted to contribute something as a thank you :).
Did I hear you say, "It's my faaavorite" around 8:55? Shout out to Richard Christy? 😊
Yes, but I don't know who Richard Christy is.
Ahh ok... he's one of the guys on the Howard Stern show... from Kansas and says "That's my faaaaaavorite" from time to time... Sounds exactly the same as how you said it.
BTW, REALLY enjoy your channel. I've been drawing and watercoloring for a couple years now and have learned a ton! :-)
I'm wondering if you ever used Stonehenge 300 lb. I used it for a wet on wet and my drawing disappeared. I couldn't seem to get a sheen or gloss on the page no matter how much I wet it. It turned out it was so wet, it took over night to dry and wasn't even completely dry the next morning. I had put tape on the edges of the paper and the tape actually began to tear the paper. I got my hairdryer out so I could remove the tape safely, and the tape continued to rip the paper all around. I was in shock and so disappointed in this paper. I've never had this happen before with Arches or even cheaper brands of pulp watercolor paper. Have you ever experienced the likes of this, and could it have been something I did? I would appreciate any advice.
Yes, I've used it. Stonehenge Aqua. It does tear for sure. Some watercolor papers do with both tape and mask. It's why I always recommend testing first. I've never been able to use masking fluid successfully with Stonehenge. Otherwise it's not too bad.
@@mindofwatercolor you can’t beat Arches! I’ll be a lot more careful with the rest of it. Thanks for getting back to me so promptly.
I like the cold press Stonehenge a lot, it performs really well. The hot press, not so much. It’s too smooth for me. I think it would be great for people who work in very fine detail, illustrators, botanical artists maybe - but for me, no. Still searching for the perfect hot press.
Hi Steve, Really enjoy your youtube series. What's your favorite brand for watercolor sketchbooks?
Right now I would say Kilimanjaro and Bee since both are 100% cotton.
The Mind of Watercolor thanks for the quick reply!!
magnifique !😍
Beautiful painting Steve. I'm waiting for this paper to come to Europe. You mention and reviewed Canson Heritidge but do you ever used Canson Fontenay?
Nope, sure haven't. Never even seen it.
For anyone who is curious four years later.... this paper no longer seems to be made by Canson. Could not find on their website.
When I see block paper only glued on two sides I wonder why not glue the other two? Is there big glue savings in manufacturing blocks? I'd feel concerned paint from the top sheet might crawl underneath since they are open and figure I might as well buy sheets and tape. One of these times it would be nice to see comparisons of all papers you've tested in order of preference as I trust your illustrious opinions, and I'd never call you out over Arches pronunciation as I have no clue as to how it's actually pronounced regardless of being partly of French descent! For fun, I put a little Americanized French accent flair to that name anyhow. Oui!
R w
Is it glued four sides?
Nope, top and bottom only.
How does the price compare with Arches?
Cheaper. I'm a little less enthusiastic about the paper now than when I made this video. It doesn't do well with mask at all. Still a good paper though.
Hi Steve! Great video! I have a question. I love to paint wet on wet and it seems like the 300lb Arches paper is the perfect paper for me after using it a few times. But I would like to start painting larger than what they have in blocks. I like using the blocks so I don't have to deal with stretching. Is there another paper that is similar to Arches or Stonehenge that comes in blocks that are larger than 12x16 inches? I'm trying to avoid wasting a ton of money trying out different papers, so if you have a recommendation that would be a huge help!
larger areas of masking fluid tore the paper badly for me even thought the fluid was only on over night. Very disappointing.
The Dick Blick website doesn't mention whether this paper is sized internally and externally. I am looking for a cheaper alternative for Arches for a handmade watercolor sketchbook, do you think this paper could be painted on the back as well as the front?
Yes I think so, but not sure.
Is this 100 % cotton or cellulose please?
100% cotton
My masking fluid (WN) is not all that fluid. I see that yours is easily controlled, where mine is more like blobs. I had an older bottle, then tried a new one with the same results. Can this fluid be diluted for more control? With water or....? Thanks for all you do, Steve. Luv your work/demos. ~jerry
It can be thinned a little, but you run the risk of it soaking into the paper and leaving rubbery residue if you thin too much. Test on a scrap of the same paper.