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Having run of steam with my drawing I have started obsessing about paper. There is something very appealing about a blank sheet of paper. It is like the promise of spring below a layer of snow. With me that promise can remain dormant for a very long time.

It cannot be any old paper though. Discovering large sheets of Fabriano Artistico Hot Pressed watercolour paper was a revelation. I have used other makes as I could not find the Fabriano anywhere near here and I hate ordering on the internet. In many ways I draw better on a paper with a bit more tooth. Drawing in chalk on black paper also suits my drawing style but black paper just doesn’t have the same appeal.

I finally found an art shop nearby that sells the Fabriano. The problem is they also sell Arches. Years ago, I had a sample pack of Arches watercolour paper which I loved, so I bought some watercolour pads. Later I went back and bought a very expensive sheet of 640gm HP Arches.

I’m not sure how I feel about drawing on the Arches paper. I feel a bit like I am having an affair. I also wonder If such a heavy weight watercolour paper is appropriate for drawing. Strangely my unconscious had something to say about it.

I dream that I have baked three pies. Two larger pies and a small pie which is for me. Instead of brushing the larger pies with milk I coat them in clotted cream, but oddly, the pies are already cooked. My dad tries some of the larger pie but does not say what he thinks. I have a feeling that the cream refers to the Arches paper which is also cream in colour. It is too rich, also very expensive. The smaller pie which is for me I do not coat in cream. I have finally found the perfect paper. Hot Pressed Saunders Waterford and it is not too expensive. It is the perfect pie for me.

As part of this paper obsession, I also have a box full of unused sketchbooks and Italian journals. I just don’t know what to do with them. The obvious answer would be to draw in them, but I am not a sketchbook user. When I do use a sketchbook, I tend to tear out the drawings and keep them separately. Perhaps I need to keep doing that until I have used all that paper.

In the past I created a hanging drawing that was comprised of separate drawings on tissue, pasted onto a sheer net curtain. I also like the work Witch by August Natterer that looks like it is composed of separate drawings. Witch with eagle, crocodile and cornucopia, 1911 - August Natterer - WikiArt.org  I could simply paste separate drawings from the sketchbooks together to create other works. My drawings already have this quality, separate drawings that exist together on the same sheet of paper. They are disparate elements that exist together the way they exist together in dreams.












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