Today I’m sharing my thoughts about another sketchbook in my Hahnemuhle Watercolour Book review.
As I’ve mentioned in my previous posts, we all paint in different ways so a sketchbook that one person loves may not suit another. Also, some people like to have one sketchbook on the go whilst others like to have many! I always have several on the go at the any one time. I’m always on the lookout for the perfect sketchbook but I haven’t found it yet!
Hahnemuhle Watercolour Book Review
They contain 30 sheets giving 60 sides of fine grained paper to paint on. The acid free paper is 200gsm in a natural white. I believe they are available in a landscape format in A6, A5 and A4 sizes and also a portrait version for A6 and A5.
Things I like about this sketchbook!
There are lots of things I like about the Hahnemuhle Watercolour Books!
https://www.hahnemuehle.com/en/artist-papers/watercolour/watercolour/p/Product/show/17/800.html
I have several of these sketchbooks in both in portrait and landscape formats. I like the sturdy hard back covers which look smart with a black linen effect cover.
They feature a rubber band to keep it closed and secure when not in use. A band is something that I do like on sketchbooks especially if it’s one I take out and about. It helps to protect the pages when I’m popping it in my backpack along with all of my other walking bits when out for a day’s walking.
Because the paper is 200gsm I find the watercolour books fairly slim and not too heavy making them comfortable to hold.
The books are stitch bound opening completely making it ideal for painting spreads. The paper has a nice fine texture on both sides that I find good for both my watercolour and pen sketches. The paper seems to accept fluid wet-in-wet washes well, as shown in the background on my teasel study. I find the colours can be blended and merged together well.
I quite like this paper when building up a sketch by layering watercolour washes, leaving each to dry completely before adding further washes. Below is a section from a sketch that I painted in this way. I first painted light washes of several colours gently blending them together to achieve soft edges. Once dry I built up the foliage and berries in another couple of layers using both positive and negative shapes.
Even though the paper is 200gsm I find it dries reasonably flat, the band around the closed book does help. Although I don’t mind if my sketchbooks are a little wavy, in fact I feel it can sometimes add to their appeal and beauty.
I personally really like the Hahnemuhle Watercolour Book paper for both pen & wash and pen/ink sketches. The surface has enough texture for me to create expressive marks in pen without it being too textured which I find can make it difficult to produce fine marks. Because of these positive points I decided to use an A5 portrait watercolour book for my first Inktober a couple of years ago.
If you’d like to watch a short flip through video of my Inktober sketches sketchbook please click here.
Things I’m not so keen on about this sketchbook!
As you can see there are a lot of things I really like about the Hahnemuhle Watercolour Book. So you might be asking why it’s not my perfect sketchbook and what I’m not so keen on?! That’s a very good question! There is only a very slight negative thing that I can say about these sketchbooks, and that is that they are only available in A sizes, A6, A5, A4. I’d really like it to also be available in a square or squarer format. I’d also quite like the A4 to also be available in portrait format rather than just landscape.
My overall thoughts on my Hahnemuhle Watercolour Book review.
So in conclusion this is probably my favourite small sketchbook at the moment. It’s one I can see myself using again in the future.
To watch a short flip through video of one of my completed Hahnemuhle Watercolour Books please click here.
It would be great to hear if you have used this sketchbook or have any thoughts about it.
If you would like to see more of my sketchbook studies please click here.
The next sketchbook I’ll be reviewing is a Strathmore 500 Series Mixed Media Sketchbook, look out for it on Monday!
Happy painting,
Ingrid
You can see more of my daily art activities on my Facebook and Instagram pages.
Hi Ingrid, I like the look of this watercolour book and the linen effect cover with elastic to keep it closed. You sound quite positive about it so I might try one in the future.
Stay safe
June 🎨
Hi June, I do find this a useful small sketchbook. Although an elastic band to keep a book closed isn’t essential I do quite like having one. This is especially useful when popping a book in and out of bags if taking a sketchbook out and about. If you do get one in the future I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.
Stay safe, Ingrid