Strathmore Visual Journal Bristol Smooth 5.5"X8"-28 Sheets -460350

I worked at the art supply store at my art college years ago, in the 90s. My school collaborated with a local paper company to put out a variety of school-brand sketchbooks. One of them was a spiral bound book, 11" x 14", with a heavy cover and back. And the paper was 100% cotton watercolor paper, 140 cold press. There were around 25 pages in them. They were the best sketchbooks, and an incredible buy. (I can't remember what they cost, but if I found them affordable as a student, they were not expensive.) I wish I had somehow been able to stockpile them and store them in an art supply bunker, but those sketchbooks are now a thing of the past.The next best thing to building a time machine, and going back to buy one of my alma mater watercolor sketchbooks, is buying one of these. Strathmore 460-19 500 Series Visual Mixed Media Journal, Vellum, 9"x12", White, 34 Sheets.These are my requirements for a good sketchbook: spiral binding, so I can fold the pages all the way back without them getting weird, and tear the pages out easily if need be. The paper needs to be 100% cotton so it will stand up to multiple eraser scrubbings and multiple water applications without pilling. It needs to be of a decent weight so it doesn’t tear under the erasing and water. It should have a generous amount of pages. It has to tolerate a variety of mixed media. And- it needs to be affordable.I work wet on wet a lot. I use water soluble graphite to draw the basic design, and have to do a lot of erasing because my drafting skills aren't the greatest. Then I go in with water-soluble chalk pastels, gouache, ink, more graphite, and sometimes acrylic paint and water soluble colored pencils. I spray the paper with water for wet on wet, and will spray the work in progress and sometimes rinse off as much of the image as I can, and then go back in and work on it some more. When its finished, I will spray the work with either Workable Fixatif or Crystal Clear to seal in the media. Or I will put on a layer or two of polymer medium. I like to keep the work in the book. I do put glassine between the pages. But the paper gets loaded with media, and layers, and plastic- and with the exception of a little tearing at the top or bottom of the page, the books stay intact.I don't know how the paper is sized, or have any other information on them. I just know they are amazing, and I'm happy they exist.Strathmore, if you are listening: I'd really love an 11" x 14" size of one of these.I highly recommend this sketchbook. Treat yourself to one. Under $20. 100% cotton paper. The paper makes a big difference, and won't quit on you, or pill, or tear. I have tormented the pages of these sketchbooks, and they keep their integrity. I'm really glad I found them.

I have bought these multiple times over the past few years and I absolutely love them. I've taken the smaller one backpacking/hiking/on planes. It's small enough to paint while flying or in a tent when it's raining.The one in the pics has pressed flowers in Alaska and brought them safely back on a plane with the help of a binder clip. The pages stained a little bit but the paper held up. The second pic had deep purple stains from the flowers and you would never know thanks to a white paint pen. Maybe some minor creasing but once I started painting it smoothed out completely. That's definitely outside recommend usage and it took it like a champ. If anything the stain just shows how well it holds pigment.The paper is really thick (140) and has enough durability and texture to paint on both sides. That's uncommon with most watercolor paper. Huge win, especially for traveling. I tend to use the little one for travel and the larger ones for sketching. They're cheap enough that I don't feel guilty just sketching on them. Then if I want to paint it later I can because its good paper.The cover is surprisingly durable as well. Having a hard cover means the pages don't bend in transit. Like I said these are hands down my favorite sketchbooks. I'm rough on my stuff and I know I can trust these with whatever I put them though.

This 140 lb watercolor journal was under five dollars when I first started watercolor a few yrs ago and I only used it once. Now I’m really into quality art supplies and I decided to draw and paint my grandson a tiger and figured it wouldn’t turn out well so I didn’t use my Arches paper, let me tell you I was blown away on how good it looked! It’s a thick quality 100 percent cotton paper. You will not find a better journal with this kind of paper at this price, even with it being around nine dollars now, it’s still a steal! Just buy it! I plan on buying 10 more