Product Reviews

"So Worried"

watercolour on terraskin

"So Worried" is the expression on this beautiful baby's face but it was also the expression on mine when I tried painting on Terraskin for the first time. For those of you who are unfamilar with terraskin it is a stable paper made from stone and non toxic resins. I was not sure if I would be wiping away paint with every new stroke of my paintbrush or not, hence the worried expression on my face. I was not sure if i would be able to get the ability to detail features with accuracy. Here is my first try at it and I would say it was quite a success. I actually loved it. This paper is stable and extremely forgiving and best of all very affordable.

This paper is water resistant, tear resistant, acid free, with no fiber. It is easy to cut accurately and although I have not tried it yet apparently you can emboss it or score it crisply and precisely. Terraskin is available in many different weights although I have only found one weight at the art store I go to, but now I am on the hunt for different weights.

The company advertises that it is good for oil painting, acrylic, charcoal, pen, pencil, inks, silverpoint, watercolour and paper cutouts. They also state that no trees, water or bleach is used in its production.

Here is the best part as a watercolour artist...You Don"t Need To Stretch It!!!!!!!!!!! This is a major plus for me as I seem to not be able to consistently get this right with traditional watercolour paper unless I use the really super heavy, expensive stuff.

There is some learning curve with this paper and I must admit there is some pickup of colour with brush strokes which is both a bad and GREAT thing. you can use a wet place to pick up or find highlights.

Oh yeah, there is another best thing about this paper and it is the colour you can achieve. It is vivid and luminous. I would say the pigmentation is very true on the paper and I think this fact increased the speed at which I finished this painting although I may have just got lucky...it happens although the moon, sun and stars have to be in proper alignment!...so I am guessing it was the paper affecting my ability to get the depth of colour I was looking for in my painting.

Thumbs up Terraskin!!!! I am a huge fan!