What to use instead of Fabriano Artistico?

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.

• News about Fabriano Artistico and Classico 5 - and two new papers
• A Meeting with Fabriano about Hot Press Paper​​

"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