Being both writer and artist I've been hit with a double whammy when it comes to paper. I obsess over it. I collect it, make it, crumple it, origami it, hoard it and get paper cuts from it. For the writer, it's the look of a poem on the page, or a stack of pages making up a manuscript.
For the artist, the feeling is more visceral. Weight, texture, color, ability to handle media. I have hot press and cold press watercolor and illustration papers. I have more kinds of printmaking paper than I need, but find myself using the same mid-weight, cream colored sheets over and over again. I bought some Thai paper, but it's so pretty I'm having a hard time printing on it. The same with some Japanese papers, they are subtly beautiful, and could be framed without an ink stroke on them.
I've gone as far as making my own paper from scraps of other papers, mostly from printmaking. I shredded, soaked, stirred, and played with the resulting pulp, feeling all the while like an ancient chemist. A bit extreme for connecting with my ancestors, but it was very sobering to consider the long process in ancient times, and the value paper had. No running to Wal-Mart to
buy more if you made a mistake.
For the artist, the feeling is more visceral. Weight, texture, color, ability to handle media. I have hot press and cold press watercolor and illustration papers. I have more kinds of printmaking paper than I need, but find myself using the same mid-weight, cream colored sheets over and over again. I bought some Thai paper, but it's so pretty I'm having a hard time printing on it. The same with some Japanese papers, they are subtly beautiful, and could be framed without an ink stroke on them.
I've gone as far as making my own paper from scraps of other papers, mostly from printmaking. I shredded, soaked, stirred, and played with the resulting pulp, feeling all the while like an ancient chemist. A bit extreme for connecting with my ancestors, but it was very sobering to consider the long process in ancient times, and the value paper had. No running to Wal-Mart to
buy more if you made a mistake. Which is why I think I have a fascination with illustrated manuscript pages. It combines the best of both worlds, writing and painting/printmaking. Too bad I don't have the patience to actually sit and produce something similar. I did a few scrolls and whatnot for reenactment, but my first love is still graphic design, and printmaking. Like writing a sonnet or villanelle, sometimes sitting and forcing myself to produce something in the 'old style' resets my brain. I have more patience for creation, when I start remembering all the work that used to go into it. Like the creation of a poem or story, art for me is more about process, and less about a commercial end result. Probably why I'm not rich and famous, but I can live with that.
