We win some and we loose some, but when working on YUPO, there are more options to try before we have to call it "Quits." This first photo shows the results of my demo this past Wednesday for the Greater Cincinnati Watercolor Society. My focus was to explain the importance of patterns of darks and lights as well as demonstrate many of the possibilities of applying Fluid Acrylic paint to YUPO. We all had a good time, and a dozen or so stayed after the demo for a two hour mini workshop to experiment with using the Fluid Acrylics on the YUPO.
The next morning, with brush in hand, as well as a squeegee, I worked on the demo painting. At one point, it seemed like a good idea to switch the painting to a fall foliage atmosphere, as you can see here in the second photo. (The 'cool' strip on the right hand side was mostly warm but photographed cooler for some reason.) Adding the distant tress caused the painting to look way overworked and much too haphazard and busy. They were added to help balance the busy-ness of the foreground grasses. Bad idea. And the colors look too much like the 'avocado' olive greens and 'harvest gold' oranges of the late 60's.
Alcohol to the rescue! No, not to drink, but to remove the mess on the YUPO paper. Again, the bluish cast is not accurate, but it's now very white from one side to the other where the paint was lifted. Working on YUPO offers SO MANY options when working with the Fluid Acrylics. Mistakes can easily be corrected, lifted, covered, etc. The textures and edges that result when lifting the paint with alcohol lend a wonderful surprise to the surface too.
This is where the painting is now...but maybe it'll change again. The colors are still warm dominance, as planned, but the season seems more springlike. Possibly some of the grasses could have purple or white Japanese iris blooms atop them in hopes of adding more to the springtime atmosphere??? The journey to create is so much fun, so fulfilling and exciting, that even when the results aren't nearly as special as expected, it's still all totally worth it. Some paintings, maybe this one, need to be in the "CALLING IT QUITS" drawer, but they serve as experience for the next possible masterpiece.....hopefully:-)
"SPRINGTIME CHANGES THINGS" Fluid Acrylics and Caran d'Ache Crayons on Medium Weight YUPO 26 x 20"
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8 comments:
Sandy, it is amazing to see all the changes that can be made on a yupo painting, even when using acrylics! Your latest version is my favorite of the three, but they are all amazing.
I like the final, softer, pinker version - definitely spring! Pop in some citric/acid green and you've gone it :) It's more fun, sometimes, to see how a painting doesn't come together easily - but the steps to work it to a final state :)
Thanks for commenting. Rhonda, there is more green gold up inthe tree tops than shows in the photo. In fact, I had to kick it back because it was too biting. The lavendars helped calm it down some.
Sandy, thanks for sharing even your
disappointments! It helps me not to get so frustrated when any of my
paintings don't turn out the way I had planned.
I always enjoy your blog post. You make me want to stretch and grow and try new things. Thanks!
It's amazing how you can be so selective in removing paint. When I hit it with the alcohol everything comes off! You must have been using Q-tips. Anyway, I like the warmer colors, but it's hard to say when the photos don't cooperate. Please post the piece when you're finished.
What a wonderful post Sandy, so full of humility from such an amazing teacher. Isnt YUPO magic to be able to remove what we are not happy with. Glad the demo/workshop went well.
Awesome! I hadn't seen this--I missed it, and I'd been looking forward to its completion. It looks wonderful.
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