Soooo… I tried the new set of QoR mini watercolor pans again tonight. I did the same exercise, same paints, just used arches cold press watercolor block instead of the cheap paper I was using the other night. (And I made a pattern for the butterfly shape)
What I found was the color shift upon drying was much less noticeable, and the final result was much better. I’m going to try the same thing with daniel smith and schmincke I think.
I really do love the way these QoR paints move.
You can see the full review (part one)HERE.
You can see tonight’s attempt on the better paper yielded much nicer results:
ThreeSixFiveArt 
I can clearly see the difference – the tests on Arches paper are distinctly better. Just goes to show that quality paper is a must with watercolour. I’ve just ordered a job lot of Arches online. Having tried a number of good quality papers (and some cheap) over the last year, I’m going back to Arches and sticking with it…. !
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Yes, even though the shape of the butterfly is better in the second set, the paint itself obviously performs significantly better. I’ve got some 500 series strathmore I’m going to compare, and some fabriano. Both are 100% cotton and I think will work well. The arches I know never fails me. Cheap stuff is ok for some things but I’m quickly wishing I’d invested in a cotton journal. (A big hint about my next purchase!)
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I have a Khadi paper journal I’ve just started – that’s 100% cotton….
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I have a small square one of those I really like. (It has no cover! This suprised me, the photo showed it with a cover, but it was affordable and the paper is rather lovely!) It’s almost used up. And I wasted a lot of it on line drawings last year (??) I may go back and at least add some paint to them.
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