Arches Watercolor Pad 9x12-inch Natural White 100% Cotton Paper - 12 Sheet Arches Watercolor Paper 140 lb Cold Press Pad - Arches Art Paper for Watercolor Gouache Ink Acrylic and More

Even watercolor beginners should use Arches in my opinion. It is expensive but so worth it. Watercolor painting requires you to manage the water and this paper will help you do that. It will also make everything you paint look more vibrant. Highly recommend!

Perfect for for watercolor excellent

I really like this watercolor paper but its hard on the budget.

Arches deserves its sterling reputation; it takes water beautifully, with only slight buckling that flattens as it dries. However, it is inferior to a very few others of its kind in one aspect: Lifting. Therefore, one star off.

Great paper for a beginner artist!

I am a beginner and I’ve been trying to learn how to work with watercolors for quite a while and was always discouraged. I thought I wasn’t grasping water control until I bought this paper. It was the paper that was hindering my progress. After using this paper, I realized that I had to use more effort towards water control on my beginner pads. Arches just drinks up the watercolor and allows time for me to charge and blend as needed. I finally can create paintings that look nice. Going back to my cheaper water color paper, I understand what additional I need to do to get the paint to lay properly. Arches just makes for a much more pleasant painting experience. Glad I learned on cheaper paper, but Arches helped me see that I did know what I was doing.

As somewhat of a beginner at watercolor painting, the Arches paper made a huge difference. The most important investment, in my experience, is in the paper. You have some control over the paint and the brushes, but theres nothing you can change about the paper to improve your watercolor. Worth the money for sure.

Don’t even think about using a cheap paper. Cotton paper makes all the difference.

Ive never found any watercolor paper comparable to Arches brand paper. So dont even try anything but.

Arches cold pressed paper is the best paper. I use it for all my finished pieces. It may not be the most affordable paper but it is so worth the money. I do use another brand for practice, so if your a beginner you may only want this paper for finished work.