Arches Cold Press Watercolor Paper Review

Arches manufactures more sizes and weights of artist grade watercolor paper than any other paper company I know of. It's marketed as professional artist grade watercolor paper. I generally have a roll of huge Arches in stock as well as a few blocks!

Arches Cold Press #140 is my goto paper. It's the one I take blocks with me on painting trips in varying sizes. I'll usually bring a rough press and a cold press on any painting outing. Then I'll start varying the sizes.

I use cold press as my happy medium paper. If the painting has lovely colors but also has some interesting textures, cold press will give me both of those.

The Arches factory was founded in 1492. Paper is still made in the original factory in Lorraine, France. Paper is made from 100% cotton rag and natural gelatin sizing. Paper is made on a cylinder roll, so there are 2 natural deckles and 2 torn deckles on a full sheet. Paper is air dried.

Arches is owned by Canson. Arches is made at the same French mill as BFK Rives paper.

Arches manufactures more sizes and weights of artist grade watercolor paper than any other paper company I know of. It's marketed as professional artist grade watercolor paper. I generally have a roll of huge Arches in stock as well as a few blocks!

Positives

Arches is a good, all around workhorse paper. Arches hot press is not extremely slick and shows colors well. Cold press is not extremely textured and the rough is not very rough. Arches is a basic, reasonably consistent paper for most work.

The really great thing about Arches Cold Press versus a student grade paper is the sizing is heavy enough to let you really work with the paper. A less sized watercolor paper only allows for one or two washes before it starts looking worn. If you're reasonably careful, you can paint 50 washes on Arches paper. It only breaks down if you scrub it while it's wet.

So go for multiple washes and lifting on Arches!

Negatives

Well, sometimes you want a really slick hot press or a rough with a lot of tooth. Arches doesn't have the interesting texture of handmade paper. But it also doesn't have the price.

Arches is well known for smelling like cat pee when wet. Frankly, that smell doesn't affect the painting. Mostly the smell will show up if you're soaking paper to stretch it, not when you're painting.

Sometimes the sizing is patchy. You won't know the sizing is patchy until you're doing a wash and it shows up in blotches of extremely saturated or resistant paper. Awful. You usually can't return it either - because you've "used" it. That can be unbelievably frustrating, but it also rarely happens.

The quality control of most watercolor paper companies is well, sketchy. If you buy enough paper, you'll end up with some bad batches.

Value

Arches is a good, basic paper. There's nothing exciting about it, but it usually delivers consistently. If you're looking for a basic workhorse paper, Arches is ideal.

I would not buy watercolor paper in less than 140# (300gsm) weight. Everything I said earlier about multiple washes will no longer be true. A 90# paper will only give you 1-2 washes at best and forget scrubbing or lifting.

If you're on a budget, buy full sheets (22" x 30"), cut them into quarters or eights, and paint on the fronts and backs of the paper. Unless, of course, you paint a "keeper." The more you paint, the better you'll paint, but practicing on lesser quality paper will just lead to frustration.

A full sheet Arches Cold Press #140 is the best value paper you can get as a student - or as a professional!