Recently I got some new art paper in a subscription box that I get and decided to try it. It was a very weird experience and I just can’t help but talk about it.
The paper I got is Boris marker paper by Borden & Riley. I got a small little pad of 20 sheets that are 4 inches by 6 inches. It’s fairly translucent and has a smooth...like extremely smooth. It almost feels like parchment paper but even that isn’t quite right.
This paper did not bleed through to the back whats so ever. I didn’t matter how much color I was putting on the paper it didn’t go through. I was using mostly alcohol based markers (which bleed no
other) and a brush pen for the line art.
The weirdest thing about this paper though was the fact that the ink wasn’t drying or settling into the paper like I’m use to. It would stay damn and was extremely slow drying. The alcohol markers rooms about 30-40 minutes to dry down to the touch and the brush pen which is water based ink took over an hour to dry down. It was mind boggling because I’ve never had a paper act like that and it was very difficult to get a hang of. I even smudged the ink a bit because I didn’t realize that a spot was still wet. What was cool, was that even when the inks seemed dry I could go over it and blend the old ink with what I was putting on top of it. I mean I was even able to lift some of the color up with a blender marker to lighten colors (you can see in the rose the two tones of fine and that was where I lifted the most color).
This was absolutely not what I was expecting out of this paper, I don’t even really know what I thought would happen with it because I had never heard of this paper. I was use to traditional marker paper that is nothing like this. Marker paper usually acts like a thick paper so it doesn’t warp when the ink is laid down but it does bleed a bit and dries fairly quick. You can blend markers on paper, but it not like this. This is almost paint like in how you can blend colors on the Boris paper.
It’s been a few days since I did the piece I’ve shared in this blog and it still blows my mind. The color has darkened a bit more then from when I took the picture. It’s not any insane amount but enough that it is noticeable when I look back at the picture.
I absolutely love that I was able to try out this paper. My subscription box is one of my favorite things that have come into my life, especially may artistic life. I constantly get new things to try or supplies I have and continue to add to my collection. It makes it so I don’t have to go out for supplies as often. I probably would have never gotten to experience the Boris paper if it hadn’t come in on of my boxes. I live in a small town with only a Hobby Lobby for art supplies. Even when I go out to larger cities and go to different stores I’ve never seen this paper before.
It’s so unique and so different. I can hardly wait to do more work on this paper and see exactly what can be done with it. It’s giving me that rush of inspiration and motivation that I was needing lately. Editing old artwork is only interesting for so long. Mask making can only be done for so long before you just can’t stand looking at the materials anymore. Even updating my website in different ways has gotten old and I love working on my website. I was even having some artistic blockage because I just couldn’t figure out what to do.
This piece kind of shows that with it just being a simple old school traditional tattoo portrait. I had to go back to my roots for it and just let myself work with just the limited color palette. I got lucky, the markers and brush pen I used for this artwork came in my most recent art subscription box. I had taken them with me to work, to use on my overnight shift at my “day“ job. It was perfecting timing honestly. Here is to more adventures with new supplies. I’m definitely going to keep working with this paper for some pieces because it’s so interesting. I want to know what else it can do, how far can I go with it.