Review: Hahnemühle Cézanne Hot Pressed Watercolor Block

[Sandra Strait]

You can read my full review of Hahnemühle’s Cézanne Hot Pressed Watercolor Block at my Life Imitates Doodles blog.  All of my recent reviews and giveaways are due to Hahnemühle’s generosity. Please consider visiting their Facebook page or website to learn more about their wonderful line of products.

Specs

Block: 10 Sheets; -24 x 32 cm/9.4 x 12.6 in; Glued and Gauzed
Paper: Natural White; 300 gsm/140 lb; Hot Pressed; 100% Rag; Mould-made; acid free; lightfast; age-resistant; surface-sized; Works well for watercolour ,lavis, gouache, tempera and acrylic.

Look & Feel

Hahnemühle Watercolour Blocks are both glued and gauzed on all four sides with one unbound corner (see photo).  This hot pressed Cézanne  paper was easier to remove from the block than any of the other papers I’ve reviewed in this series.  Most likely because the paper is stiffer.

The block comes with a front cover that is very like a glossy magazine stock, and it has a heavy cardboard back.

The paper is surface sized, which makes it easy to lift color and keeps colors brighter. Because the paper is hot pressed it is smooth to the touch, almost like a vellum or high-quality cardstock, but if you look at this scan of a painted section, you can see the texture that the eye (and the fingers) don’t pick up.

Performance

Because hot pressed paper is smoother, I decided to start my tests with value studies, using flexible nylon-tipped brush pens.  The lines were nice and crisp.  I did get the usual marker-type streaking where I overlapped the ink – more a pen thing than paper thing.

Before drawing my value studies, I taped off the sections.  During the painting, I painted over the tape to see if there would be any damage when I pulled it off afterwards.  There was not.

I really soaked the paper when I painted the building study, and it did buckle, but not enough so that the paint pooled.

On the bottom of the painted version, where shadow meets tree, I did destroy the paper by lifting color, and repainting.  It did well for hot-pressed.  I’d put it at high medium.

 

Next I tested for granulation. There was more granulation than I expected from hot pressed.  The colors were nice and bright, which I did expect.  Since I had already established the damage limts in my value study, I decided to leave this alone, and keep it for a drawing background, later.

Next, I splattered both my cheap and expensive masking fluids, quite liberally, painted over it once it dried, and left it overnight.  Both masking fluids peeled off so easily, that I looked to make sure I hadn’t used the wrong paper.

The masking fluid test made me think of clouds.  I decided for my final painting, I’d use this as a background, and painted a poppy.

Overall

The Hahnemühle Cézanne Watercolour Hot Pressed Block has mould-made 100% cotton paper with surface-sizing. It allows more granulation than I’ve seen with most hot pressed papers, and the color flows very well.  Pen and marker work beautifully on this making it very suitable for line’n’wash work.

[Susan Cuss]

Thank you Sandra for this review. I haven’t used hot press paper very often, but I do like the granulation on this Hahnemuhle paper, and I hope to try it myself. It’s nice to know what to expect.

[Sandra Strait]

I agreee!  It’s so cool that we have the chance to try a block through Doodlewash’s DO points!

[Anonymous]

I’ve been waiting for this review! Thanks.

[Sandra Strait]

My pleasure. Truly!

[Anonymous]

What kind of watercolors did you use for your tests?

[Sandra Strait]

For the value study of the trees, I used the Schmincke Limited Edition set.  For the building study and granulation test I used Daniel Smith Primateks.  For the masking fluid and poppy I used the Da Vinci 12-color travel set & Da Vinci Cobalt Blue.