Swamp in color

I played around with the new Strathmore mixed media paper some more, adding color to last week's Illustration Friday "Swamp" picture with water color pencils that I then wetted to spread the pigment.  The paper dried flat without being stretched ahead of time, but I'm not sure how well the paper would handle a more complete soaking. The texture is nowhere near as fine as the hot press watercolor papers made by Arches and Fabriano.  The difference isn't all that apparent in the scan, but I really feel the difference when I'm working on it. I definitely prefer the Arches. Still, working on cheap paper often has the effect of loosening up my work.  I may have to play with the stuff a little more, just to see where it takes me.