Fisher 400 Pastel Paper – A Review

Fisher 400 Pastel Paper - German Shepherds

If you would ask me –“what paper should I use to create my artwork?” – I would answer without any hesitation “Fisher 400 Pastel Paper”. I know it may sound like I am trying to promote the Fisher 400 Pastel Paper but this is absolutely genuine advice! And it doesn’t matter whether you are just a beginner or a professional artist, this art paper is definitely worth a try!

Fisher 400 Pastel Paper – My Favourite Paper

I can’t tell you how grateful I am to the professional artist and a very clever man – Tim Fisher for inventing the amazing Fisher 400 Pastel Paper! It took him over 5 years to develop a special paper which has got a very good tooth, is waterproof, has neutral HP and is archival so you can be confident your art will last for years!

I have been very lucky to discover Fisher 400 Pastel Paper right at the beginning of my painting career. Before, I was using some other art paper and I just couldn’t achieve the desired results. My main issues were things like not enough grip and not enough colour vibrancy. It was also difficult to do corrections while creating the artwork because the surface wouldn’t take enough layers and was losing grip and vibrancy.

But what a great feeling it was when I first used Fisher 400 Pastel Paper! I honestly was amazed how brilliant it is. My pastel strokes became very bright, the blending qualities of Fisher 400 Pastel Paper are superb and you also can correct your artwork as many times as you need it!

A very easy way to remove some lines or colours you do not need – just use a brush (soft or hard) try both see what you feel is better and if the space is still not clean enough use a bit of blu-tack type rubber and your Fisher 400 Pastel Paper is as new! The tooth or strength of the paper will not be affected because Fisher 400 Pastel Paper is very hard wearing paper!

I do love to spray my artworks with a fixative because it gives me more reassurance that the painting will be safer and last years longer, although the top layer I never spray – so not to lose the little details and highlights. Usually art papers with this fine grip which are similar to Fisher 400 Pastel Paper would be very fussy and there is no chance to use a fixative with them, plus you have to be extremely careful not to get any water on it because the marks wouldn’t go. But what a great invention Fisher 400 Pastel Paper is – not only can you use a fixative on it, you also can use any water based medium and it will sink in the Fisher 400 Pastel Paper without affecting it. That also means that you can use a different medium together. And this is absolutely brilliant! You can do a watercolour background, let it dry properly and work on the top with pastel, or you can use pastel first and then apply some water based medium or just even water to achieve an interesting effect and I am sure there are plenty more other ways to use the combination of medium on Fisher 400 Pastel Paper – just be as creative as you can!

Fisher 400 Pastel Paper – Summary of strengths

  • Heavyweight 360 gsm PH neutral paper – Highly durable!
  • Superior pastel layering, more than double other papers! You can get between 6 and 12 layers onto Fisher 400 Pastel Paper. It depends on the type pastel.
  • Ideal for portraits and fine details, also suitable for impressionism and abstracts.
  • Can be tinted with inks, acrylics and watercolour.
  • Resistant to buckling whilst wet
  • PH7 Waterproof Glue. You can apply any water based medium including watercolour, inks, acrylics and acrylic ink.
  • Reduced dust and less waste. Fisher 400 Pastel Paper holds the pastel really well.
  • Suitable for soft pastels, oil pastels, coloured pencils, acrylics, mixed media and oils
  • Surface offers intense colour saturation
  • Out performs most other pastel papers available today

To this blog I have added some of my paintings which I have done on the Fisher 400 Pastel Paper, so you can see how vibrant and detailed it can be when you using this paper! It is quite easy to buy it online, just type in “Fisher 400 Pastel Paper” and choose from the art shops which are offering it. I buy the big sheets of Fisher 400 Pastel Paper (classic) and then just cut it to the required size. So from one sheet I could do from 2 to 4 commissions. If you are interested to learn more about this paper you might like to visit the manufacturers website as follows:

https://www.fisherartpaper.com/

Fisher 400 Pastel Paper - Red Setter
Red Setter painted on Fisher 400 Pastel Paper

I hope this little article about my experience with Fisher 400 Pastel Paper will be helpful to somebody who still is searching for the ideal art paper! Thank You so much for reading and have a great creative day!

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2 thoughts on “Fisher 400 Pastel Paper – A Review”

  1. Lovely work Irina and I totally agree about Fisher 400 pastel paper. I heard about it on a painters forum and after using it immediately fell in love with it. It’s so versatile and I feel it allows me to express myself in my art completely, unlike other papers I tried before.

    Good luck with the pet portraits!

    Helen

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