Paul Rubens Qiaomei Watercolors & Cold-Pressed Cotton Watercolor Paper - a Paul Clark-inspired day. 

UPDATE: The listing for this paper on Amazon says that it is 100% cotton. Also, looking back at my painting today in the sunlight shows an absolutely beautiful finish. It's very flattering to the paint - it looks soft and smooth. ♥ One more thing, it looks like the tube set only comes with 24 tubes, not 36. I'm quite curious to paint with this paper and paint again.

Nice looking palette - the wells really do look ceramic in the video. Your painting is lovely! 😊

Thanks for the sout out! I can relate to the wanting to paint, but not knowing what to paint. It's common in winter for me. I either I had advice. Hugs ❤

Looking back, Paul Rubens stays consistent with beginner friendly paints! I think they go further on nice cotton paper! Always a pleasure seeing you on my YT feed Miranda!

This is so stunning, I love it ☺☺☺

I’ve never used any Paul Rubens products, great to see you putting these through their paces Miranda! 😍

Sure wish Paul Rubens would sell the empty palette. I really liked it. Thought your painting was gorgeous. Maybe you can train Jack to dig holes for you to plant in! Seeing him like that brightened my day.

Hi, Miranda. Well, Jack likes dirt. Lol. The paint looks fine. It is very pretty.

I love the painting

Beautiful painting! I’ve enjoyed creating several Paul Clark inspired projects myself, in addition to following along with several of his lessons. I can definitely relate to having the urge to paint and not being able to think of something… am always happy for inspiration from online lessons when that happens. I think sometimes my brain is too busy to relax enough to be creative.

I love that glitter paper. It’s so pretty.

Nice review of the paints which are lovely! I really enjoyed your artwork too, that little doggy is too cute! I'm in love with my Baohong 100% cotton paper and I'm loath to go back to my cellulose paper after it's gone, I never knew painting on cotton paper would be such an utter pleasure, it's amazing! :D

I bought this set from Amazon, primarily for the rare pigments, but I really loved the palette! I liked the paints but wasn't crazy about the burnt sienna. I love the PR glitter paper! Thanks for a great review!

congrats on 6K subs miranda!

Hello!

Ty for sharing this review with us. I loove this painting and love Paul Clark. You did an amazing version of his painting. Lovely, I understand what you mean where your saying you want to paint so much but just don't have an idea as to what to paint. I'm not great as drawing so there's that too lol. I will sometimes go to coloring books and just work in them until I find or think of something. Maybe that can help a bit? Worth a shot. Have a great day and thx for sharing your bloopers and pups. It's always fun!

I am in the same boat, want to paint but have no ideas! Two things help me. One, I look at old paintings ive done, like years ago and redo them with my current skillset. Always a fun to see how much you have improved. Two, just paint! sounds silly but i just pick two colors and make a mess. Sometimesthey turn in backgrounds sometimes they turn into bookmarks and sometimes i paint over them with black and pretend it never happened! Then the solid back makes a nice background for gouache flowers. Hope that helps! Love your videos ❤

Miranda, what brand of tape do you use? I bought the 24 tube set. They’re ok. Not overly impressed. I think I would like to try Qor paint.

Enjoyed your review. Well done.

I wish they sold that palette without paint, so I would buy the palette and the tubes and fill it myself... that would be nice.

Cute painting. I was howling with laughter at your cat getting involved at the beginning 😂 I love the look of that palette - I saw the frugal crafter and Helen Cryer's review of these and they do look like a nice wee set. I'm trying to keep the want monster in check until I save for a full set of Neopastel oil pastels so I'm having to be super strict with myself (spoiler: I am impossible to keep in check 😂)

Beautiful painting!!❤

Qiaomei as in "Ciao!"

I love the painting:) I’m interested in trying some other watercolor paper besides arches, but it just works so well! The Paul Ruben’s small sketchbook i have is wonderful. I don’t have any other Paul Ruben’s stuff though. I think I should try some in the future😅

Wow! The painting is so nice even if the paper ripped. I know how you feel about wanting to paint but blanking out about what exactly to paint. I mostly paint birds and when a monthly challenge ends, I just kind of space out about! Sometimes I just look through a coloring book, then print off a page on watercolor paper so I can just color it in. :) Thanks for reviewing these paints.

Hey Miranda, thank you for sharing! ❤ I’ve seen these paints a few times now. And a friend told me they are staining like ink.. or perhaps like the viviva watercolors.. what do you think? Have a relaxing sunday! 😊

I think you mean the the Non-frugal crafter.

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-J1skHVl6cjY.htmlsi=n82fXsC21QZ2xK7y Hi, Miranda. A mention of Paul Clark! One of my favourite ArtTubers, because he’s so down to earth and focussed on what he does so well - showing folk how to enjoy their watercolour experience (and without having to have masses of materials, brands, etc. Paul’s been using the same basic supplies / colours ever since I’ve known him, long before ArtTube took off.) _Cotton pulp?_ This is a term that seems to be catching on, but in making watercolour paper, cotton pulp doesn't exist! I’m not sure if it actually does exist outside of certain manufactures' misuse of the term, or if it actually can be made from cotton fibres, or what would be used for! Maybe they are misunderstanding the term, ‘cotton rag’, where the fabric has to be treated to make it ‘work’ for paper-making? Another misnomer: Cotton is actually cellulose, as it is made from the cotton plant! So one of my new pet irritations is since people here have begun calling wood pulp paper cellulose and therefore cotton paper, by their definition is _not_ cellulose. Whoever started this particular fad (relatively recently, as it was always 'wood pulp' a few years back) obviously had no idea that cotton is a plant, and as such, is cellulose(!!!), but sadly, it's now common. Grrr!!! There is an excellent article called _"Everything you need to know about watercolour paper"_ by Evie Hatch, at Jackson's. Incidentally, she uses the term, 'linters', so here's an explanation. _" Linters:_ Fine, silky fibres which stick to the seeds of the cotton plant after ginning - the process of separating the cotton fibres from the cotton seeds. Cotton paper can be made using cotton linters."_ And this from the Strath more folk: _"The terms “rag” and “cotton” are often used interchangeably. However, rag specifically refers to papers made with cotton textile remnants. At one time, it was common for papers to consist of 100% cotton rag. However, over time, rag supply for use in papermaking became tighter as the use of synthetic fibres in textiles became more common._ _"Today, most fine art papers are made from 100% cotton linters or a combination of cotton rag and cotton linters. Rag fibres are longer fibres compared to cotton linters so they do provide extra strength. Cotton linters are pure cellulose fibres that are by-products of cotton processing. Although the cotton linters’ fibres are shorter than textiles, they still offer outstanding strength and archival properties."_ I don’t understand that bit about _ “Rag fibres are longer fibres compared to cotton linters”_ because the cotton rag comes from the cotton plant in the first instance. but I suppose what they mean is that in making the cotton thread, obviously, it gets spun into long length, like wool, while in making w/c paper, it’s the raw, shorter cotton that’s used. I'd have sent that Arches paper back to where it was made, or at least contacted their customer services - my searches indicate that they are very ready to replace / refund because of this. I did a quick search for 'problems with Arches watercolour paper" and it seems that this issue has been around since at least 2009! It's just plain crazy that it is still a common problem in 2024. Meanwhile, I've seen too many of you decide that it was your fault, keeping it too long, or not in the right environment, and it makes me very sad. I also have a big issue with ArtTubers who insist that Arches is the one and only, the king of watercolour paper, and recommend it to all and sundry, when it simply isn't the best paper for everyone! Ok, I admit that ArtTube raises my hackles far more than I have ever experienced in my whole life! Why? Because so much of it is propagating mis-information, brand bias, and an overdose of reviews where the reviewer feels they can't talk about the cons of a product, because they are sponsored by the company, or the item in question was sent to them by the manufacturer, etc. And, of course, the feeding of the ‘Want Monster’ and following the latest ‘fad’ for fear of being left out. It's why I cut my subscriber list drastically. Though I do watch a variety of random art channels, if the video topic is something which interests me, it's mostly to be sure I'm properly informed. However, I'll always go searching for more information. Apart from its other benefits (eg helping others not to get caught up in the latest fad, whatever it may be, for example) It helps me to suppress my own ‘Want Monster’ (again, something I've only suffered from here on ArtTube!)!!! Oh, gosh! What a long post! Miranda, if you get to the end of it, well done!!!