The first question about this watercolor notebook is what its brand name actually is. The Amazon listing and the label on the shrinkwrap list the brand as “Chris W.” But the paper band and the stamp on the notebook itself say “Mairtini.” I guess I’ll call it the Mairtini Watercolor notebook, since that’s what’s on it.

This is a pretty typical sketchbook similar to Moleskine and other brands: black faux-leather cover with an elastic closure. There is a back pocket, but no ribbon marker.

Cover overhang is on the larger side, but everything is square and symmetrical. The Mairtini brand name is stamped on the front cover, aligned as if this was meant to be used vertically like a reporter notebook.

But when you open to the inside front cover, there is a Cezanne quote printed in landscape orientation, which is how most people use watercolor sketchbooks.

Inside the Mairtini Watercolor notebook, there are 24 sheets of very thick 300 GSM watercolor paper, all of which are perforated except the first and last pages, which are glued to the end sheets. The spine is a bit stiff and needs some breaking in so that the notebook can open fully flat.

I fiddled around with some water soluble markers and watercolor paints using a mop brush and a water brush, and also tried my Platinum Carbon Ink pen. The paper seemed to hold up well, not warping too much or disintegrating with lots of wet overlapping brush strokes. For my purposes, I’d say this paper is great, but I’m not an expert watercolor user. The reviews on Amazon are mostly positive, though a few users seemed to have issues with the paper for certain kinds of watercolor techniques. There wasn’t the least bit of show-through from any of these materials.

The current price for the Mairtini watercolor notebook is $11.99 on Amazon, significantly less than comparable products from Moleskine or Stillman & Birn, but not necessarily the cheapest watercolor sketchbook available on Amazon. I’ve seen other watercolor notebooks with 300 GSM paper listed at $9.99 or $10.99 (I haven’t tried them, but you can see some other watercolor sketchbooks I’ve reviewed here and here if you are interested in portrait format watercolor sketchbooks).

So what is the verdict on this notebook? I’ll probably end up using it someday as it seems to work fine and nothing about it really bothers me too much. It’s not the best or the worst. It’s not the cheapest or the most expensive. I can’t say there is anything about the Mairtini / Chris W Watercolor notebook that is really special or unique or distinctive, to be honest! I bought it out of curiosity so if you are curious too, go ahead and try one! Or maybe I’ve saved you the trouble…