How Wet Can it Get? My Review of Canson Mi-Teintes Touch part 2

'Into the Sunshine' 8x10 pastel ©Karen Margulis

purchase with Paypal $145

First layer of pastel before the alcohol wash. Canson Touch Flannel Grey

I love wet drippy underpaintings! So one of the reasons I was excited to try the new Canson Mi-Teintes Touch paper was it's ability to take a wash. It can handle both water and solvent based underpaintings. I tested the paper with a watercolor underpainting and an alcohol wash. My criteria for a paper to rate high in wet underpaintings is that it must dry flat with no waving or buckling. I also like the surface to allow for drips, blooms and happy accidents to occur. My favorite surface for underpaintings has been UArt. So how does Canson Touch compare?

• The paper seems very absorbent. It takes the water and alcohol washes and grabs onto it. I didn't have much dripping or blooming. This can be a good thing if you like your colors to stay put but I like to see more 'happy accidents'. I haven't tried turpenoid so I can't comment on the results of a turpenoid wash or oil stain. (I'll report on this soon)
• The colors remained vibrant as they dried. I was working on grey paper and I will be trying the white next. My wet underpaintings are always more luminous on white.
• Buckling....I would rate the paper in between Uart and Wallis for buckling. For both the watercolor and alcohol wash, the paper waved slightly but dried flat without me doing anything. For a second watercolor I tried getting very wet and drippy and I even spritzed extra water. This sample did buckle more and dried slightly wavy. I put it under a heavy book for an hour and it flattened out. I rarely have any buckling on unmounted Uart so it has become my favorite. Keep in mind I was working on unmounted paper. The board and mounted paper will react differently.

Overall I was pleased with how well the paper performed with wet underpaintings. I want to try some turpenoid washes and oil stains but I would definitely add it to my favorite paper list. As a side note, my pastel class tried the paper out in class last night and everyone was very pleased with their results and will plan on using it again.
I recommend the following merchants who now carry Canson Touch:
Dakota Art Pastels
Blick