I recently purchased a Strathmore 500 series Mixed Media 190 gsm vellum surface sketchbook and roll and below you can read my review about this particular paper.
Strathmore’s 500 series papers are advertised as this manufacturer’s most expensive and of the higher quality papers.
I bought this time a relatively light paper at 190gsm and I chose to buy a mixed media paper as I’m big fan of vellum or vellum like paper surfaces.
The Strathmore sketchbooks come in wire and hard bound versions, I chose a hard bound ( about) A5 ( 5×8 inches/ 22×14 cm). Here is with one of my favourite stickers on its front cover.
The sketchbook has a very strong binding that allows it to lie completely flat when is opened.
The paper now ( the thing that we are most interested for) is …… WONDERFUL.
It is internally and externally sized so it doesn’t buckle even with very heavy washes though it is very light in weight and dries relatively fast and completely flat. Colours and inks don’t bleed on the underside and so you can use both sides of all the pages of the sketchbook.
The paper has a very beautiful rather bright white colour and the vellum surface is rough enough to use it with pencils but not so rough if you want to use it with inks ( don’t forget that this is a mixed media paper). It absorbs nicely watercolours, neither too much but nor too little, so you can lift colours but work in layers too.
Below are some sketches that I made in this sketchbook just to get an idea.
I was so satisfied from the paper of this sketchbook that I ordered a roll of the same paper.
The rolls are about 8 meters wide and 1,08 cm high. I bought mine from Artist Papers store in England. They didn’t have it in stock so I left my email to notify me when it is available ( which they did pretty soon).
I have to say the best for this store as they’ve sent me the paper I ordered very quickly and by FedEx courier ( as I asked them for, as recently we have an issue here with parcels that get lost on their way) without further shipping charges. An excellent store; if you want to buy any Strathmore papers in Europe buy them from them. ( support Brexiters! )
Bellow are some paintings I made on this paper:
And to conclude:
Strathmore 500 series Mixed Media 190 gsm paper is an excellent paper, and for sure what its manufacturer advertises.It doesn’t buckle though it is light in weight, it doesn’t lose its sizing, it absorbs nicely watercolours, while it can be worked with all other media and it has a nice bright colour ( that I personally like much).
I haven’t manage to find yet any cons. If I find any I’ll inform you.
Thank you for reading my review.