What to use instead of Fabriano Artistico?

31/1/2017

I'm getting a lot of enquiries from botanical artists as to what progress has been made with "the Fabriano Artistico story" and the major change in how the paper behaves.
Below you will find

the story so far
my recommendations for how to find a new paper; and
a brief review of an alternative surface - vellum.

Fabriano Artistico and Botanical Art - the story so far

Fabriano Artistico has been much favoured by botanical artists for very many years. For many years it has been a surface which stands up to the demands of those wanting to create very precise paintings of botanical specimens

Then something changed. You may not have read my previous posts on this topic.

"Fabriano Paper - an update" by Katherine Tyrrell (SBA Winter Bulletin)

Plus I did an update for the Society of Botanical Artists Winter Bulletin - an extract from which summarises what has happened since the meeting with Fabriano last summer.

Fabriano have done some trials since the meeting. To date they have been unsuccessful at identifying what needs to be different to produce the old surface. This means no prospect of a change back to the old surface in the near future.
We’ve now agreed to go through the same exercise with St. Cuthberts Mill. They recently produced two new papers as a response to the problem. This Mill only produces fine art paper and has an incentive to produce and/or refine paper to meet the needs of a group of artists with specific requirements.
Fabriano Paper - an update (SBA Winter Bulletin)

Recommendations

My recommendation to people needing a replacement for Fabriano Artistico is as follows.

YOU NEED TO EXPERIMENT!

The reason for this is that the way that YOU personally work makes a BIG difference to whether or not you like a paper.

You should TRY:

different makes of watercolour paper
different weights of paper - they can perform quite differently
BOTH SIDES of the paper. There is no one right side - there's only the side which works for you! :)
testing paper at different times of year - environmental factors can also make a big difference to how watercolour paper behaves (and you should make a note of your environment when testing)
Vellum - it doesn't misbehave!

Remember you don't need to do a full-on botanical artwork to test watercolour paper! You just need to use the botanical painting techniques you commonly use when creating your paintings.

I'm going to create a NEW Page about watercolour paper for botanical artists on the website. This will document what people have been saying about different watercolour papers. However I'm going to need them to also describe how/where they work so this may take a little time...

I'll also be asking artists at the upcoming RHS Botanical Art Show what they're using - particularly those whose work looks really good on paper!

In the meantime...

Vellum

Amongst full time professional botanical artists, I've noticed a very significant move from Fabriano Artistico to vellum. Botanical artists are visiting or contacting William Cowley & Sons a lot!

Vellum is also of course a very traditional surface for botanical painting used by very many famous botanical artists in the past.

I focused on created a new page all about Vellum which has been developed since the Fabriano Artistico "crisis". This includes:

What is vellum and the different types of vellum;
How to paint on vellum including a summary of tips; and
Suppliers of vellum and pumice in the UK and USA

There are two major bonuses to working on vellum:

It does not degrade like paper can do (if not well protected) over time
Colours painted using watercolours read much better on vellum compared to paper. As a result paintings can have more impact when seen across a crowded room - or botanical art exhibition!

and two significant considerations:

vellum is more expensive than paper
vellum usually needs to be mounted to look good - and that requires some expertise. (All Rory McEwen vellum paintings are mounted on boards - as are the new small works on vellum by Fiona Strickland - see below)

"Almost Over" Watercolour on Kelmscott vellum 8.5 x 11.75ins (21.6 x 29.8cm) (artwork size). 13.5 x 16.5 x 1.37ins (34.5 x 42 x 3.5cm) (framed size) Copyright Fiona Strickland

REFERENCE:

Fiona Strickland exhibition at Park Walk Gallery - Fiona now uses Kelmscott vellum for small works - you can see a mounted and framed example above.
Brigid Edwards's exhibition of new botanical paintings on vellum - Brigid has been using vellum for a long time

Left to right: Artichoke, Plane Tree and Parrot Tulips copyright Brigid Edwards

5 Comments

Killackey, Kathryn link

23/5/2021 07:20:21 pm

Hello,

Thanks for your detailed information on watercolor paper. I was wondering if there was ever any resolution to the issues with Fabriano? I seem to have inadvertently recreated the discovery and dismay many botanical illustrators went through in 2016. I have always painted on Arches HP but purchased some Fabriano Artistico HP (both 140 and 300 lbs) in Canada last year. I had heard it was good for graphite and wanted to try it. Since I had it to hand, I also painted 3 medium sized watercolor paintings, mostly dry brush but also areas of washes. I couldn't figure out what was happening with my washes, especially heavier ones. I could see the paper surface breaking up and clumping, resulting in a grainy, fuzzy look when dry, as if I had seriously scrubbed and overworked the paper. I googled and discovered all the blog posts on the issue but can find nothing after 2017. Have I somehow purchased 5 year old stock or was the problem never fixed?

Thanks, Kathryn

Botanical Art and Artists link

25/5/2021 09:43:54 am

Things have moved on - but the problem has still not been resolved.
Sounds to me like you've got a batch of the paper which generated all the original complaints about the deterioration in quality and it no longer being fit for purpose for botanical art.

I'd recommend you abandon it and go back to Arches if that's what you used previously - and then selectively try some of the papers which others have tried when trying to find a substitute for Fabriano Artistico.
Check out this page - where I periodically post reviews of different papers. https://www.botanicalartandartists.com/botanical-art-paper.html

Killackey, Kathryn

25/5/2021 02:33:07 pm

Thanks for the update. How frustrating! I will go back to the Arches and start experimenting with the other papers in your post. I've also solicited suggestions from the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators listserv and received several suggestions. Thanks again.

Cindy link

25/4/2022 08:02:59 pm

I work at an independent art shop. A customer brought this issue to me the other day. Obviously, the changes in Fabriano Artistico occured sometime around 2016. Seeing comments above, one has suggested moving back to Arches Watercolor paper (or your blog mentions other papers to try).

The customer who informed me about Artistico noticed we had Fabriano Artistico blocks in the shop with the words "Enhanced" on the product. She commented other botanical artists had seen this "Enhanced" version and wondered if it worked better.

I reached out MacPherson's Art, who is the distributor in the US. I was informed, "Since then the new changes have been fairly cosmetic (regarding Old Artistico to New Artistico). The watermark is now in the corner and there are four deckle edges instead of two. These are both features that artists prefer. The paper is still being made in Italy as it has been since 1264. The only change that I can think of that may have happened is that the sizing is now vegan based instead of animal based, maybe that is the difference." The rep reached out to a former Savoir Faire employee, as Savoir Faire was the distributor to Fabriano paper before they merged with MacPherson's Art in November 2020. This gentleman basically said it was a batch issue and that it shouldn't be a problem. Some people have commented that the newest production of the hot press has a slightly different tooth, but that he has found it to be very enjoyable to use.

Have you tried the New/Enhanced Artistico papers? Thoughts on it?

Ps. Since I'm not a botanical artist, this history of papers changing and how people have reacted to those changes has been very interesting.

26/4/2022 07:59:14 am

I've not yet seen a botanical artist commenting that the new version of Fabriano Artistico Enhanced is the same as the original paper.
Those who enjoy using it may be those who never experienced the original paper.

I've heard the "batch issue" excuse so often it has lost credibility. If a paper manufacturer can't quality assure batch quality then they just undermine their reputation as a paper manufacturer.

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