Review: Hand-book watercolour sketchbook from Global Art Materials

The hand-book watercolour sketchbook is part of the trav-e-logue series from Global Art Materials. It seems to be distributed in the USA currently.

It has a nice hardbound bookcloth cover with a rubber band to hold the pages together. Inside, on the back cover, there's a small plastic pocket that's quite useful for holding items like namecards.

There's also a ribbon.

It comes in four colours: ivory black, cadmium green, vermillion red, ultramarine blue.

There are five sizes:

• Pocket portrait - 5.5 by 3.5 inch
• Pocket landscape - 3.5 by 5.5 inch
• The square - 5.5 by 5.5 inch
• Large portrait - 8.25 by 5.5 inch
• Large landscape - 5.5 by 8.25 inch

It has 128 pages total. They are off-white, acid-free and slightly textured. The sketchbook can open flat easily, which is good for scanning.

There's no mention on the weight of the paper. It's thick enough for watercolour washes but too much will still give you paper warping.

The slight surface texture takes watercolour quite well. The paper is quite absorbent and yet does not bleed over to the next page. Because the water does not run across the surface easily, you can apply an even wash if you want to.

I've been using the hand-book for a few weeks now and have taken a liking to it. The quality is good and it's a handy sketchbook to carry around.

Highly recommended to sketchbook and journal artists.

Availability

Amazon.com

Search Jackson's Art Supplies (UK) too.