Trying Hahnemühle Papers for Pen & Watercolour

Trying Hahnemühle Papers for Pen & Watercolour

So when I came across the Hahnemühle stand at the Urban Sketchers Symposium in Toulouse and saw they were giving out small A5 paper samples, I was delighted. It gave me the chance to pick up a few different papers and try them properly with my usual pen and watercolour approach, without having to commit to buying a whole sketchbook first.

The six I picked were the ones I most commonly see in art shops, so I knew they were papers I could realistically get hold of again if I liked them. I wasn’t entirely sure whether they were all intended primarily as watercolour papers, but they all felt like a reasonable quality and weight for the sort of pen and watercolour sketching I do, so I thought I’d give them a try.

I usually prefer hot press paper, so I deliberately chose a few cold press options as well. I’d always tended to associate cold press with a noticeably rougher surface, but one of the things I learned from testing these papers is that cold press doesn’t automatically mean heavily textured. Some of the Hahnemühle cold press papers have a much finer grain than I expected, which made them far more suitable for detailed pen work than I’d assumed.

The six papers I chose to test were:

• Hahnemühle Sugar Cane Watercolour — 290 gsm

• Hahnemühle Bamboo Mixed Media — 265 gsm

• Hahnemühle Agave Watercolour — 290 gsm

• Hahnemühle Expression Watercolour — 300 gsm, 100% cotton

• Hahnemühle 300 Watercolour — 300 gsm, cold pressed

• Hahnemühle The Collection Watercolour — 640 gsm, 100% cotton

Since coming home, I’ve looked up how Hahnemühle describes each of these papers and what they’re designed for, and then compared that with how I actually found them to use with pen and watercolour.

Sugar Cane Watercolour — 290 gsm

Hahnemühle says: This is a cold-pressed watercolour paper made from 70% sugar cane fibre and 30% cotton. They describe it as suitable for watercolour, gouache and wet-on-wet techniques, with good stability and the ability to take plenty of water without excessive curling.

What I found: This one surprised me. It was lovely to draw on with pen and handled my watercolour washes really well, with only a little warping. I’d happily use it again, particularly for smaller urban sketches.

Bamboo Mixed Media — 265 gsm

Hahnemühle says: This is a mixed-media paper designed for a variety of drawing and painting techniques, including watercolour, acrylic, pastel, charcoal and red chalk. Hahnemühle says the surface allows colour to flow well while maintaining good colour intensity.

What I found: I was a little more cautious with the amount of water I used because it’s a mixed-media paper, but I really enjoyed working on it. It has a lovely surface for drawing, took the washes beautifully, and felt very easy to work with. I’d definitely be happy to use this one again.

Agave Watercolour — 290 gsm

Hahnemühle says: This is made from 70% agave fibre and 30% cotton and has a cold-pressed, very even surface. They describe it as suitable for all kinds of watercolour techniques, particularly glazing, and specifically mention that washes and corrections can be made easily.

What I found: I really liked the surface for pen — it was smooth enough for detailed linework and felt very pleasant to draw on. The difficulty for me came once I started painting. Because I build colour in layers, I found the earlier washes reactivated and lifted more easily than I wanted. That could be a real advantage if you enjoy lifting and correcting, but for my way of working it made the paper less predictable, so this probably wouldn’t be one I’d choose for my usual pen and watercolour sketches.

Expression Watercolour — 300 gsm

Hahnemühle says: Expression is a natural-white, 100% cotton, cold-pressed watercolour paper with surface sizing. It is designed for wet-painting techniques, with colours remaining bright on the surface, and wet colour can be corrected or lifted relatively easily.

What I found: This is getting much closer to the sort of paper I usually work on. At 300 gsm and 100% cotton, it behaved pretty much as I would expect a good quality watercolour paper to behave. The cold-pressed surface was much finer than I’d expected, so it still worked beautifully for detailed pen work, while handling wetter washes and layers really well. It felt reliable, took the paint comfortably, and is definitely a paper I’d be very happy to use again.

Hahnemühle 300 Watercolour — 300 gsm cold pressed

Hahnemühle says: This is a mould-made, natural-white watercolour paper available in cold-pressed and rough surfaces. It is intended for a wide range of watercolour techniques, including wet-on-wet painting, smooth washes, crisp-edged colour and dry-brush work, as well as gouache, tempera and acrylic.

What I found: I expected to like this one, and I did. It was fabulous for pen and ink and happily took wet washes, stronger colour and several layers. I didn’t feel as though I had to be overly cautious with it, which is always a good sign for the way I like to work.

The Collection Watercolour — 640 gsm, 100% cotton

Hahnemühle says: The Collection Watercolour 640 is a mould-made, surface-sized 100% cotton paper available in cold pressed, rough and hot pressed surfaces. Hahnemühle describes it as having a particularly durable surface for demanding watercolour techniques, with fibres designed not to lift or loosen even with multiple layers of colour or the use of masking products.

What I found: This turned out to be my favourite of all the papers I tried. At 640 gsm, I half expected it to feel almost like blotting paper and simply drink up the paint, but it didn’t behave like that at all. It took wet washes beautifully, gave me plenty of time to move the paint around, and the paint lifted well when I needed it to. I struggled to get the colour of the building quite right and ended up removing some of it and laying fresh colour back over the top, and the paper took it all. Even with repeated lifting and re-wetting, the surface stayed intact with no pilling. It really did feel as though it could take everything I threw at it. I absolutely loved using it. It is a premium paper, and one I would definitely choose for commissions, work I intended to frame, or any sketch where I wanted a really substantial, high-quality surface.

I’ve really enjoyed testing these papers, and one of the biggest things I’ve taken from it is not to assume that a paper will behave a certain way just because of its weight or surface description. If you ever get the chance to try individual sheets or samples before committing to a whole sketchbook, it’s well worth doing. It gives you a much better idea of what actually suits the way you work — and means you can spend your money on the papers you know you’ll really enjoy using.