Strathmore500 Series Bristol, Paper, Plate, 2 Ply, 11x14

I brought this paper having seen that the amazing artist Heather Rooney uses this paper. My techniques are different to hers, however i got on reasonably well with it, it doesn't take that many layers, but more than i expected being an ultra smooth paper. The subtraction method works amazing using a slice tool & the tombow mono eraser for Highlights. It blends beautifully being so smooth, but also has drawbacks for realism. I used Polychromos and Luminance pencils, which do work lovely with this paper and i would definitely use it again. However i think i will probably stick to pastelmat for most of my wildlife drawings, as light over dark works great, and it holds tons of layers, to get in all those details. I ended up using touch up texture in a few places to get more layers and my darks darker. Photo is taken in a dark room. So its not completely true to the finished peice. @larissa_chadney_artist

I have found my paper, perfect for my graphite work. Unfortunately so difficult to get hold of in larger sizes

With qualities all it's own this product is a joy to use . Excellent service too.

The Strathmore 500 series is an excellent paper for all types of illustration and fine art. However I opened mine up and the pages were slightly bent at the edges and the pages had all come loose from the edge binder. There are also scuff marks on the front sleeve. In my opinion this is below standard transportation for professional grade fine art materials. Other fine art suppliers, of which there are many, manage to send goods just as fragile in perfect condition on arrival. I notice the price of the paper has gone up £2.88 in 1 month.The paper pad looks tired when it arrived.This is a reflection of the quality of the seller not the quality of Strathmore 500 paper which is superb.

Most of the paper had already fallen out from the sketchbook as the glue holding it together was weak, and the paper quality is a lot thinner than I expected (thinner than the 300 series)

The 2 pads arrived fine, box and packaging ok. I feel somewhere in storage something heavy has imprinted into the pads on one pad the indents are visible in several pages these will detract from anything that I create.I would like one pad replacing, the other isn’t as severe. Please advise.Lee

Arrived warped and unusable. Clearly got wet in transit and every page has ripples and deformations in it. Disappointing for expensive paper!

Arrived embossed damage to each page , too much fancying about to send it back ,ill take the hit