The notebook for traveling artists

There are pads, blocks, and bound books already on the market for watercolor. Our #320 Watercolor Journal is something a bit different: a spiral watercolor notebook with an extra-heavy-gauge coil binding and a wraparound paper cover that's bound into both sides of the spine. This design makes the notebook easy to carry without damaging the art inside, and you can tear out pages without damaging the rest of the book.

It's the perfect notebook for sketching from the train, because you can simply fold the cover behind the book and start painting. The 24 pages of heavy (140#) watercolor paper, plus the two soft paper covers together, provide a solid surface when you're working without a table. You can even work while standing up, e.g. at the art museum, making quick sketches to watercolor later.

Hot press paper that handles all media

We use strong, smooth, German-milled, 140# (300 gsm) watercolor paper for this notebook. We've chosen the specific paper stock intentionally: it is firmer and more heavily surface-sized than other 140# watercolor paper we've tested, which means that our Watercolor Journal can accept fountain pens, metal dip pens, pigment pens, and any other drawing medium you can think of.

Naturally, you're going to watercolor in this book, but if we could recommend one other medium to try with it: our Optimist Pigment Ink, which dries waterproof and can be layered with watercolor. (We also use Optimist to write the model number on the back cover of each Watercolor Journal.)

It's nice to know that the paper in this book is made from 100% FSC/PEFC-certified wood, which comes from sustainably managed forests where 3-4 trees are replanted for each tree harvested. The sizing used in this paper is vegan, unlike the traditional gelatin sizing used by some manufacturers.

The specs

Each #320 Watercolor Journal has 24 sheets of 140# (300 gsm) hot-press paper, milled in Europe and bound in St. Louis. The cover is 100# paper in deep blue (cover paper milled in Michigan). The solid metal spiral coil is 5/8" diameter and .062" (1.6 mm) thickness. A box is included, and each notebook is wrapped in tissue before boxing to protect its edges in transit. Each notebook is hand-stamped on the bottom back cover, with the Federal Color model number written in white Optimist Ink.