Mi Tientes - Smooth Side or Textured Side?

Canson's Mi-Tientes ( tints) papers have long been favorites of pastellists, for their 'tooth', their flexibility and their eponymous 'many tints'.

Their flexibility is based on the fact that you can use either side. One side features the honeycomb (or chicken wire) texture that many people consider characteristic of pastel paintings, and the other side is smooth.

I've always been a 'smooth-side' pastel painter personally; if I try to use the honeycomb side, I typically wind up blending the color into the little crevices of the texture, defeating the point of using the textured side in the first place.

Here's a brief pictoral overview of the way both sides take similar treatment:

These are similar 'strength' of stroke on the same color paper (the flash washed out the smooth side).

	Here's an example of dark strokes on smooth side. Blending darkens all three to about the same level of darkness
Here it becomes clear that using the honeycomb side gives you a greater number of value levels, particularly when you are going to allow the paper color to show through to give a base value to your pastel painting..
	Quickie pastel apples, both textured and smooth sides. The honeycomb side shows the grid pattern, the smooth side looks shinier
Honeycomb or smooth, it's a matter of personal preference. Having done the above experiments, however, I do see why some people choose to use the textured side, and of course, the honeycomb texture is what many people think of when they think of pastel painting..