Description
Handmade wove paper in a rich blue tone. This paper is made from coloured linen and cotton rags, with the rich colour of the paper coming directly from the hues of the rags themselves. Using rags to make coloured papers gives them a depth and subtlety that cannot be replicated with dyes.
Blue paper made from indigo dyed rags emerged as a popular support for drawing and printing in Venice in the sixteenth century and it quickly spread across Western Europe. Popular with artists ranging from Jacopo Tintoretto to JMW Turner, blue paper provided a surface with a nuanced mid-tone which allowed the creation of strong light and dark contrasts and an exploration of the tonal effects of light and shade.Â
This rich shade of blue was popular with the Rococo artist, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, whose drawing of Bacchus (c.1751) in red and white chalk on blue paper, is seen here. Ideal for drawing, printing and bookbinding.
Full Royal sheet of handmade paper with four true deckle edges and watermarks of the Paper Foundation’s ‘House’ emblem in the bottom right hand corner.
Heather James –
I’ve just finished a watercolour on this paper, unstretched, it absorbs phenomenal amounts of water yet dries back out nearly flat, and interacts well the paint, pooling it as it dries and interacting with pigments. I bought it thinking I’d use it for pastel sketches, but having now done 2 watercolours using their linen papers I’m a convert.