What materials does each artist use for their creations?

Updated: Feb 12, 2023

A popular saying in Spanish says "cada maestrillo con su librillo" (each teacher with his booklet)

And so it is! nothing more and nothing less!
Each artist have different ways of approaching their creation. 

The way of each artist works it is a divine comedy; their secret rituals when they arrive at their studio, the way to align the paint on the color palette, the way to start the journey it is part of the happiness of being an artist.

Today I would like to share one of these rituals in terms of the materials I choose for my drawings.

I am very fussy when it comes to selecting the art materials for my work, and of course the paper it is not an exception and it has to be PERFECT!

because I always want to offer highest quality in my work, and to achive this all the components are very important.

I am talking about the "Craft paper of Capellades"

This story began 150 years ago, when Capellades became one of the main paper mills in the country. There were ragpickers, carpenters, mule drivers, workers of all kinds and families from rural areas in search of a better job.

The raw material used to make the handmade paper was not cellulose, was cotton. This was collected by a ragpicker, who after visiting villages and farms, sold the rags and fabrics that he got to the mills. Here, the workers cut by hand each piece of clothing to get small scraps of cloth. The next step was to shake the fibers of these remnants in a drum, a task that often fell on girls because of their height. Subsequently, the pieces of cloth were poured into a tank with water and bleached with ash (the detergent of the time). The mixture passed to the water mill, where it was beaten and crushed until a lumpy mass was obtained. Filtered by hand by the master papermaker, each sheet was pressed and prepared for drying.

Stacked sheets of paper