Cold Pressed Paper (Not): The Versatile Surface Most Watercolorists Choose

Ask a watercolorist what paper they use and the answer is almost always the same: cold pressed, 140 lb, 100% cotton. According to Dick Blick's buyer research, cold press is the default for 80% of watercolor painters. Catherine Frood of St Cuthberts Mill, which produces Saunders Waterford paper, puts it simply: "We sell far more of that than anything else. It's just a good all-rounder." The reason is not complicated. Cold pressed paper hits a middle ground between smooth and textured that works for almost every watercolor technique. It has enough tooth to grip pigment and create natural granulation, but not so much that fine detail becomes impossible.

Cold pressed paper, also called "Not" (meaning not hot pressed), is watercolor paper that has been pressed through cold felt-covered rollers during manufacturing, leaving a lightly textured, pebbly surface. The texture is moderate, falling between the smooth surface of hot pressed paper and the heavy texture of rough paper. The surface has small bumps and valleys that cause pigment to settle unevenly, creating natural granulation and soft edges without any special technique. Cold pressed paper is the most versatile of the three standard watercolor paper textures and the most widely used.

This entry covers how cold pressed paper is made, its history, why it dominates watercolor practice, and how to get the most out of it.

How Cold Pressed Paper Is Made

After paper pulp is formed into a sheet, the wet sheet is pressed to remove water. For cold pressed paper, the sheet passes between rollers covered with felt. The felt has a textured surface that imprints its pattern onto the paper. Unlike hot pressed paper, which passes through heated metal rollers that compress the fibers flat, cold pressed paper is pressed at ambient temperature through the felt, which leaves the surface with a soft, irregular grain. The result is a texture that looks and feels slightly bumpy, with gentle peaks and valleys across the sheet.

The specific texture varies between manufacturers. Arches cold pressed has a pronounced, almost wavy grain. Fabriano Artistico cold pressed is slightly smoother. Saunders Waterford cold pressed has a more even, consistent texture. These differences are real and affect how paint behaves. A painter who switches from Arches to Fabriano will need to adjust their technique because the same wash will granulate differently on each surface. The Russell Collection guide notes that the difference between Arches and Canson Montval cold press is immediately visible when you compare how paint handles on each.

Why Cold Pressed Paper Dominates Watercolor

Cold pressed paper is the most popular watercolor surface for a practical reason: it works for the widest range of techniques. The moderate texture allows for smooth washes, controlled blending, layering, glazing, dry brushing, and a reasonable level of fine detail. It is forgiving for beginners because the texture masks minor irregularities in brushwork. It is capable enough for professionals because it produces the granulation and soft edges that make watercolor distinctive.

The texture of cold pressed paper does something specific that smooth paper cannot. When you lay a wash on cold pressed paper, the pigment settles in the valleys of the surface while the peaks catch less paint. This creates natural variation in color intensity across the wash, which is what watercolorists call granulation. The effect is particularly visible with granulating pigments like ultramarine, burnt sienna, and cerulean blue, which naturally separate into particles of different sizes. On hot pressed paper, the same pigments spread in a flat, even film without granulation. The Blick Art Materials guide explains that cold press paper's bumps cause pigment to pool in tiny valleys, creating natural granulation and subtle texture in washes.

Cold pressed paper also absorbs paint faster than hot pressed paper, which means you have less time to move pigment before it sets. This is an advantage for layering because each layer dries and sets quickly, allowing you to build up glazes without disturbing the layers beneath. For wet-on-wet techniques, the faster absorption means you need to work more quickly than on hot pressed paper, but the results are more texturally interesting.

History and Origins

The history of cold pressed paper is intertwined with the development of watercolor paper generally. In the 18th century, James Whatman the Elder developed wove paper at Turkey Mill in Kent, replacing the ribbed pattern of laid paper with a smoother, more even surface. This was a step toward the controlled textures that modern paper mills produce.

The terms "hot pressed" and "cold pressed" emerged as paper manufacturing industrialized in the 19th century. The distinction referred to the temperature of the calender rollers through which the paper passed. Hot rollers produced a smooth surface. Cold rollers, covered with felt, produced a textured surface. The term "Not" for cold pressed paper is British in origin and simply means "not hot pressed." You will still see it used on packaging from British mills like St Cuthberts Mill, which produces Saunders Waterford.

The major European mills that defined cold pressed paper quality were Arches (France, founded 1492), Fabriano (Italy, founded 1264), and Whatman (England, founded 1750s). These mills used cylinder mold machines that replicated the texture and quality of handmade paper. The cylinder mold process, developed in the 19th century, produces paper with a more irregular, natural texture than Fourdrinier machine-made paper. Most professional watercolor paper today is cylinder mold-made.

Key Artists and Traditions

English Watercolor School

The English watercolor school of the late 18th and early 19th centuries established watercolor as a major painting medium. J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) used cold pressed and rough paper for his landscape watercolors, exploiting the texture to create atmospheric effects. His The Blue Rigi (1842) shows how textured paper enhances the granulation of washes to suggest mist and distance. Thomas Girtin (1775-1802) and John Sell Cotman (1782-1842) also worked on textured papers, using the surface to create the soft edges and tonal variation that characterized the English watercolor style.

Modern Watercolor

Modern watercolorists continue to favor cold pressed paper. John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) used cold pressed paper for his watercolor landscapes and figure studies, many of which are in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Sargent's loose, confident washes rely on the texture of cold pressed paper to create the granulation and broken edges that give his watercolors their freshness. Winslow Homer (1836-1910) similarly used cold pressed paper for his watercolors of the Maine coast and Caribbean, where the texture of the surface contributes to the sense of moving water and atmospheric light.

Contemporary Practice

Contemporary watercolorists like Joseph Zbukvic, Alvaro Castagnet, and Thomas Schaller work primarily on cold pressed paper. The surface allows them to combine broad washes with architectural detail, which would be difficult on either hot pressed (too slippery for washes) or rough (too textured for detail). The Edinburgh Art Workshop guide recommends cold pressed 300 gsm paper as the starting point for all watercolorists.

Cold Pressed vs. Hot Pressed vs. Rough

Cold pressed sits in the middle of the texture spectrum. Hot pressed is smooth, with almost no tooth, chosen for botanical illustration and fine detail. Rough paper is heavily textured, chosen for expressive landscapes and atmospheric effects. Cold pressed is the all-purpose surface that handles most subjects adequately.

The choice between the three is a choice about how much texture you want in your finished work. If you want smooth gradients and fine lines, use hot pressed. If you want heavy granulation and broken, expressive washes, use rough. If you want a balance of both, use cold pressed. Most watercolorists keep cold pressed as their primary paper and switch to the others for specific projects.

How to Use Cold Pressed Paper

Cold pressed paper is the easiest surface for beginners to learn on because the texture is forgiving. Minor irregularities in brushwork are masked by the surface grain, and the paper handles a wide range of techniques without requiring special adjustments. For wet-on-wet washes, the texture helps create soft, diffused edges. For glazing, the faster absorption means each layer sets quickly. For dry brushing, the tooth of the surface catches the pigment on the peaks, creating broken, textured strokes.

For fine detail, cold pressed paper is adequate but not ideal. If you need to paint hair-thin lines or precise botanical detail, switch to hot pressed paper. For heavily textured, expressive work, switch to rough paper. For most subjects, cold pressed will do the job.

For more on watercolor paper generally, including weights and fiber content, see our entry on watercolor paper. For the archival fiber that defines the best paper, see our entry on rag paper. And for a deeper dive into painting practices, read our post on oil painting techniques to understand how surface choice shapes every painting medium.