#30×30 Day 23 : The Great YUPO Experiment

Two Kimono – Watercolor on Yupo, 20×26″

I’ve just recently made two pieces for an upcoming show, Beyond the Edge, which is a proposed exhibition by the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolor with a focus on experimental works in water media. (Including a variety of mixed-media approaches that are not normally allowed in the annual competition). I haven’t heard yet if I’m accepted. We’ll see! < EDIT < Turns out, yes! I did get one of these pieces in. Thanks CSPWC!

These are both watercolors, on 20×26″ sheets of the polypropylene surface, YUPO.

At this stage of the marathon, my short attention span is taxed to the limit! It’s normal for me, when I’ve been working steadily, to need a new subject or a new material to jumpstart my creativity.

I had these sheets on the shelf for a while now, and thought – no time like the present! Lets dive in.

Yupo, if you have not tried it yet, is nothing like paper.

It’s a sheet of plastic, which is actually a little bit water repellant, a bit like the surface of a waxed car or a rain poncho.

Water will bead up into droplets, and slide off in rivers. If you work with a tilt, water will sluice off the page making these distinctive kind of floods.

The principles of Wet-on-Dry painting still work – you still can draw with silhouette shapes and use wet/dry edges to make lines, but even the smallest shape will always show a hard edge – an outline – as pigment flows to the edge of the puddle, and accumulates there. It’s like the soap ring in the bath tub, where the particles collect at the water line.

I don’t mind hard-edged shapes, but for now, it is a little odd that I can’t soften a shape by pulling edges. Perhaps I will get the hang of it? Or possibly it will be hard edges all the time on this surface!

Much like a smooth (hot press) paper or a cellulose paper with a lot of sizing, on YUPO the color will flow with gravity. It is so frictionless, the amount of movement can take you by surprise. Everything is turned up to eleven. Everything flows faster, and further. The only limit is the edge of the sheet.

At times there will be odd occurrences – such as this bubble – which might be caused by skin oils on the surface? But – of course I don’t mind these things. It’s part of the nature of the material.

One thing you will not get – as far as I can tell right now – is blooms. I think that a bloom or a backwash will not happen here, with no paper fibers to wick up the paint like little straws. Again – more experimentation is required to say for sure.

Paper Lanterns – Watercolor on Yupo, 20×26″

I chose this theme of brightly colored traditionally Japanese clothing, as it seems to fit what I can do with the material right now.

These costumes are covered in bright patterns, which are often so complex as to appear random at a distance. As well, the white face makeup of traditional Japanese performers makes for a useful stylization for a first attempt. I can simply avoid trying to paint a small face – until I get more of a handle on things.

So – these are a few of my experiments with painting as freely, or directly as possible with YUPO!

Over the next few days I’ll be seeing how much further I can take this artificial surface.

~m