Fabriano Venezia Watercolor Play

This morning I've been playing with watercolor in the Fabriano Venezia sketchbook to see how it handles how I like to work.......wet in wet and mixing color on paper.

Although the paper handles fairly wet applications just fine, it does dry slightly buckled on the back side of the paper and does not allow mixing color on paper very well.  This may be one sketchbook I only paint on one side of the paper because of how I apply washes.  I still need to play more before deciding.

This is comparing palms painted between Fabriano Uno (which I understand is no longer manufactured) and the Venezia sketchbook drawing paper.  Without the sizing I'm used to, it made mixing on surface difficult because the pigment is grabbed into the paper as soon as you lay it down.  The paper may stay wet for awhile but that doesn't appear to make much difference.  I also tried bruising lines and that didn't work either.  I figure if I really applied pressure, the wet paper would tear.

Uno watercolor paper with sizing - mixing color on paper painting wet in wet and bruising lines ....

Fabriano Venezia sketchbook - attempting to mix color on paper and inability to bruise lines....

I still like the paper but will take my working differently.  If I remember right, the handbook paper is similar and I like those sketchbooks as well.  I'll have to try the handbook again to know for sure as it's been awhile.