Swatch Book

 

A few years ago I took a couple of sheets of Fabriano Artistico watercolour paper and broke them down to make this little book. It gives me a page size of 190 x 170 mm, and about 24 leaves (48 pages, front and back)

The paper is pretty heavy, about 380gsm I think, and has a pronounced tooth. That makes it a bit problematic for the sort of drawing I do, but it is excellent for watercolour wash.

I'm using it primarily as a swatch book, with examples on each page of various watercolours that I've acquired, so that I can see at a glance how they behave, while keeping the resulting swatches protected from the light.

The examples shown here are Schminke 787 Payne's Grey, and Winsor & Newton Cotman Sepia.

This is a pretty crude and amateurish binding, but I've learned a lot since then. I'd do better next time.