Most of the watercolour papers we see today are that from the West. Not that they are no good but the exchange rates are certainly not in our favour.
According to my sources, the price of paper across the board will be up by at least 30 per cent next year. Some of the good brands are already up by at least 20 per cent if you were to frequent art shops.
Paper is something you cannot stock and if we know little of how to store it, then it will be investment down the drain as the paper yellows and loses its fine quality.
There are several Malaysian companies which produce good drawing blocks. Over the past three years, many ventured into acid free paper which is quite suitable for watercolour work. The grammage, too, is good at 300gsm.
Right now, the only market leader is Chee Wah Corporation which goes by the brand name CAMPAP. Others produce mediocre blocks for use in schools, which is quite a lucrative market. Chee Wah also produce good watercolour, oil and acrylic paper and boards. However, what little stock the have are usually sold out and it is quite tough to source for them, even in Kuala Lumpur.
For the sake of watercolour art and future of watercolourists, I hope there is a manufacturer who will be willing to produce good paper. Afterall, the material is right here under our noses in the orient.
1 comment:
Hi Editor of malaysian-watercolours.com,
I am very happy to find your comment in the website. It is the best moment for me especially this is time I am longing to acquire my 'child-hood' talent in arts especially in water colour painting.
I am a 51 year old man who has gone thru Science classes / degree and became an IT professional in the past 26 years, it was indeed a very pratical way to survive in a developing country in the 80's. Actually as a teenager, I had good score-cards in Arts during the secondary school days with great support from a very good Art teacher - Scoring As in Arts during form3 & 5. Till now I still very enthusiastic about water colur & art works.
Well, now it's golden opportunity for me to look up to your help in preparing for the next phase of career/hobby prior to my retirement. And infact, I did face a lot of difficulties looking for Watercolour class many years, trying to learn the true techniques and meeting up good Malaysian painters.
I would be more than happy to have such training or class in the weekend (around KL or PJ - Sunday afternoon is the best choice. I hope you can do a big favour to contact the right party for the setup of learning session.The fee of RM80 you have mentioned is pretty fine for me.
Please let me know the good news.
Best Regards,
Jeffrey Tan
emai: tanty037@hotmail.com
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