Volta Voloshin-Smith - Watercolor Snacks: Inspiring Lessons for Sketching and Painting Your Favorite Foods

Paper is probably the single most important part of a joyful watercolor experience. Too often, Ive bought cheaper paper and was disappointed because my watercolor paintings did not look the way I wanted them to. For this reason, I highly recommend investing in paper over other materials because the right paper will enhance your experience and will only add more joy to the process.

Typical watercolor paper comes in two types: cold press and hot press. Hot press has a very smooth surface, with almost no tooth (or texture). This paper will dry fairly fast. Cold press paper has a slightly textured surface and wont dry as fast because the paint will pool in the textured surface.

Watercolor paper also comes in various weights that essentially indicate how thick or thin a paper is. Water-color paper is measured in pounds (lbs.) and typically ranges from 90 to 300 lbs. The standard and most common weight youll see is 140 lbs. Most papers that are less than 140 lbs will buckle when wet and may even tear, thus ruining the whole experience. (If you do end up using paper that is less than 140 lbs, for example 90 lbs, then be sure to be judicious with water usage). Even 140 lb paper can buckle a bit but its manageable and given that well be working on food illustrations and not applying a lot of water onto the paper, you shouldnt need to stretch the paper. If you choose to stretch your paper, one common way of doing so is to use washi tape around the edges and attach it to a hard board. This will prevent some of the buckling that can occur.

My favorite brand of paper to use in my watercolor workshops, and even for client illustrations, is Cold Press Canson XL Watercolor Pads 140 lbs. A pad of this paper will have one of the edges glued together, which allows for easy tearing once youre done painting. This particular brand also comes in a large pad size of 18"24", which is what I buy because the price is better and its easy to fold and tear the large sheets into smaller sized sheets (and tearing gives us those nice, deckled edges).

Tip:When Im working on a painting, I like to finalize my pencil sketch on copy paper (or any paper just to practice on). I then use a lightbox (or my window) to trace the sketch onto my watercolor paper and then I get to painting. This allows me to work out the kinks in my design and do all the erasing on the copy paper instead of doing it on the watercolor paper. This way, I am less likely to damage the watercolor papers surface if I end up changing my mind and doing a lot of erasing.

My most used and overall favorite brush for food paintings is a water brush pen. Its essentially a brush that holds water inside its barrel, which gets released when you squeeze the barrel. My reason for suggesting a water brush pen is so you can work on your food paintings while youre out brunching with your friends.