Pamplemousse BFK Rives Paper Watercolor with white and brown-black ink Click to enlarge

I don't know about you, but I've been around citrus all my life and I'd never heard the word "pamplemousse." Today, when I needed a subject for a quick paper test, I decided to use some grapefruit that were sitting on the kitchen counter.

I was rather surprised to find that pamplemousse is French for grapefruit!

After I did the kitten in the prior post, I decided I wanted to test out the BFK Rives paper a bit more. I really wanted to see what it would do with just watercolor without a lot of ink. Since I had also purchased some new waterbrushes (Pentel Aquash) and some new pens (Uni•Ball), I figured I'd test them all at one time.

First the paper...if you click to enlarge, you'll see some odd marks on the large (whole) grapefruit. I'm guessing that's something to do with sizing. Look at the edge of the fruit...see how the edges bled and feathered? I'm not sure if that happened because the paper wasn't totally dry or if it's a characteristic of the paper. Either way, I'm no liking it overly much.

The pens are both Uni•balls, one in white and one in brown-black. The white was great for reclaiming the lost highlights and section lines in the cut fruit. The brown pen was used for the journaling and border. No problem with bleeds or feathering on this paper.

The Pentel Aquash waterbrushes are fun to work with if you like long pointed brushes! I primarily used the large one and find it very generous with water. A little to generous at times. All the same, I'll probably be taking those to NOLA Live!

I'm going to try testing the paper one more time, but if I had to decide today, I'd have to say it would be staying home!

So what fun new art toys have you played with lately?! Do share!