SpeedballFluid Hot Press Watercolour Block 8 x 8", 15 Sheets, Painting Journal, Paper Sketchbook, Watercolor Art Pad

This was smaller than I envisaged but that’s my fault. The block itself is good. Its better for wet on dry but will do wet on wet without much warping, as it is in a block, if you leave it to dry completely before removing it from the block.

I really like this paper and this will probably be my go-to brand for affordable blocks. I'm only halfway through this block so far but I've been experimenting with it as much as I can to see what it can and cant do.The paper is bounded only on 2 sides instead of most blocks which are bounded 3 full sides and most of the 4th. I, however, haven't had to deal with much buckling. The paper does warp a small amount, as do most papers, but the warping is so minuscule a day under some books will straighten the page out.It absorbs water at a fairly slow pace. This is a plus or minus depending on how you paint. If you prefer faster drying times, you might want to invest in a hairdryer or something. I personally really like painting wet on wet so the fact that I can wet the paper, without it being soaking wet, and still have the paper damp by the time I've wet a large area fantastic. I have a few brands of paper that dry so fast I learned that I cannot do wet on wet backgrounds because it usually dries before I've finished wetting the whole area.This probably goes with the point mentioned above but I haven't experienced peeling yet. A lot of my paintings will have 5-8 wet on wet layers but so far the paper here hasn't peeled on me. Granted, I think a reason for it is because of it's slower drying time, as I usually have to essentially soak many of my other papers in water to have it damp by the time paint is applied and like I said above I do not do that with this paper.Fun fact, washi tape will tear the paper. It seems kind of odd that I would think to tape the edges of a block since part of it's gimmick is that I wouldn't need to. However, I still like having a clean white boarder around a lot of my paintings. Usually I'll use washi tape instead of regular masking tape because it's much easier to remove and I've had less experiences with washi tape ripping or taking the paper with it. To my knowledge, this is the only paper I've managed to do that with so far. I've learned to either give up my white boarders or premeasure and pencil in a boarder whenever I work with this specific block.It takes graphite pencil very well. I've even spent a page seeing how it handles a full graphite drawing with blending and it didn't really affect the absorbency or the texture (or in the case of hot press, add a texture) of the paper.Overall, I personally think this is a fantastic block. It works well with my personal painting preferences and it's not so hard on my budget that I'd feel like I wasted money if I spent a page or two experimenting or worse yet, had to start a painting over. There's obviously better blocks out there but that pretty much comes down to if the price is worth it to you or not.

If you are looking for smooth texture then this is the product. However I am not very happy with how it was packed since the papers got folded slightly on the corner.

This purchase was my first foray into hot-press watercolour paper and I'm very impressed.The price on this was unbeatable, and the size is unique. The paper is very durable, and 'mistakes' with watercolour can easily be blotted off and scrubbed out without any damage to the paper. I'm really impressed with the quality of this block given the cost.I'll be buying this again, I recommend picking up this block.

I really like “hot press” because of the smoothness; works great with stamps. Will always have “hot pressed watercolour paper” in my w/c stock. “Fluid” is reasonable and works just fine.

Paper is heavy enough for acrylic paint. Paper stays relatively straight. Paint dries very quickly which is sometime good, sometimes not good. No wet on wet painting but no waiting for paint to dry.