IT'S A JUNGLE OUT THERE

These two paintings were done as demos and completed within a day of each other. The first giraffe was painted on 140# Cold Press Fabriano Artistico cotton paper using traditional watercolor methods. I was given 50 minutes to complete it at The Cincinnati Women's Club Painting Class, but I did draw it ahead of time.

The more contemporary giraffe painting was created on YUPO paper where I'd drawn a curved grid with a watercolor pencil, then roughed in a sketch I could follow. The focus of this painting was to emphasis my response to the drama and exqusiteness of this animal, rather than create a photo likeness, and time to paint and draw was less than 30 minutes.

The YUPO painting was done impromptu in one of my classes one day after the realistic giraffe was painted and was certainly the most playful to paint. I used a one inch flat brush to apply paint to both papers, but the paint on the YUPO paper was moved around a lot by foam rollers and a window washing squeegee.

It's a strange thing that the amount of time it takes to create a painting really doesn't weigh into the factor of how good a painting is. We're so conditioned to think that 'time is money', but in creating art, it's just not so.

I'll redo the YUPO giraffe with more planning in mind, but it's my favorite. What do you think?

COLLECTED

YUPO PORTRAIT

This portrait, done about six years ago, might have been more accurately portrayed on regular watercolor paper, but I chose YUPO because I wanted to really emphasize the textures throughout the painting. The grasses, the foliage, the contrast of the shiny black shoes, and the well worn overcoat, the flop of that hat, the rocks - each had a special texture.

The close up below shows some detail of most of those areas. Click on it and you can see the effects of the fluid paint as it slid around on the plastic paper - especially on the coat area. I did use miskit to help make the grasses have a sense of depth.

Much of the paint was allowed to 'run around' and do its thing within the area where I wanted those particular value and colors to be placed. When I paint 'loosey juicy' on YUPO, I've found that it's best to keep my brush out of the flow of the paint, or it'll end up looking over worked and muddy.

This morning's class will involve another YUPO demo using the window washing squeegee and some foam paint rollers, along with a lot of spritzing and lifting. Got to get some sleep so I'll be raring to go in class. I'll post the results soon.

"CAPTAIN TINSLEY" Transparent Watercolor on Heavy Weight YUPO about 17 x 25" COLLECTED

YUPO SPRING

Spring has really, really arrived, and I'm finally sharing a 'spring time' painting I did last October as a demo in Middletown, Ohio. Yupo 'paper' can be painted on in so many ways, with a range of techniques, and this picture shows a much more realistic landscape-look than the rest of this month's YUPO posts.

My sister-in-law, Chris, took the reference photo, posted below, on one of her trips to Holland. The tulips were done blooming by the time we went there together. The photo has been used for information and inspiration, but, as you can see, I took a lot of liberty to change the layout and colors to suit the romance I tried to create in the painting.

If you're an artist working with watercolors or fluid acrylics and you haven't tried YUPO yet, it's time to start. Working on this surface opens up so many possibilities that are not available with regular, cotton watercolor paper.

YUPO is an extremely high grade plastic surface that will last for a very long time. Both sides are the same, and there's a very thin layer of foam between the surfaces. If you like to experiment, to grow, to try something exciting, order some YUPO and enjoy the journey!

"AMAZING GRACE" Transparent Watercolor on YUPO 20 x 13" COLLECTED