The exquisite velvety surface of this coated sheet is produced on Rives BFK 100% cotton paper. A mixture of two grades of silica, methylcellulose, liquid adhesive, chalk, whiting and water is hand brushed on the paper. Several passes are made to achieve an incredibly smooth, even surface. The resulting surface is like very fine sandpaper. The coating is clear, with coloration coming from the BFK papers. The Townsend paper is completely archival and will handle light water base washes and also solvent base washes.
- The BFK Rives paper give a nice cushiony feel. I am a fan of paper rather than stiff boards.
- The hand applied ground is very smooth and even yet has nice tooth. I got about 50 layers of soft pastel in my layer test.
- I like the way the texture of the paper shows through and give the painting a textured look.
- If you are a fan of smooth blended areas you will need to put down several layers before you can blend.
- I like that the paper can accept a water or solvent based underpainting. I tried watercolor and alcohol wash with good results. There was very slight waving which 15 minutes under a heavy book flattened the paper right out.
- The paper is available in white,cream,grey and tan. This is actually the paper color since the ground is clear.
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Use it for Watercolor Underpaintings: The paper absorbed the watercolor like a sponge so there was little dripping and blooming. This can be good if you want control however I like the unpredictability of the wet underpainting and found that I wanted more drips and runs. The colors did dry nice and bright on the white paper. Drying time was slow....my 8x10 watercolor took at least 1/2 hour to dry. GOOD NEWS....no waving or buckling. The paper stayed flat and dried flat.
