Is It New If It’s New To Me?

I don’t do a lot of discussion of products here, but I was in the local COOP run by university art students (their way of getting quality stuff since our artcraft store doesn’t stock it) and I came across this little sketchbook.

Unlike the Cotman pads I’m used to seeing from Winsor & Newton, this one had 5×7 sheets of 100% cotton paper.  I bought one and emailed W&N to ask if this was a new or old product.  The response I got suggested that the guy writing to me didn’t know the product at all, though it is listed on their website.  Wandering around the internet, however, suggested that somewhere around a year ago, W&N stopped making the Cotman books and started making “craftsman” and “professional” papers.  This little gray book is part of their professional series.  All of this is anecdotal but what I can say is that this is completely new to me.

I haven’t had much chance to try it out but the paper does seem very nice. In the hands of someone who understands watercolor, probably even more so (grin)