I have two artist friends who do not dislike YUPO paper, they hate it! Now I was taught from little on, that one only uses the word “hate” for things that are truly horrible and hateful—like race prejudice or war. But with YUPO, it seems there is no middle road. It’s either “hate” or “love”. I Love YUPO paper, with a capital “L“.
Still controversial in high end circles, the use of this synthetic painting ground has infused the art world with fresh energy and boundless potential. YUPO paper is not really paper at all; it is a chemically created polypropolene* surface: archival, tree-free, pollution free, bio-degradable, recyclable, and everything else one could want—environmentally speaking.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out just why the anti-YUPO people hate the product so vehemently: it is nearly impossible to control. If you begin your painting with a firm idea fixed in mind, great flexibility is needed to make the experience a happy one for you. As the accomplished YUPO artist Taylor Ikin affirms, you simply have to let the paint tell you where it wants to go!
(Many artists eschew watercolors altogether for their carefree, unpredictable qualities. Traditional painting with watercolors is frequently considered to be “harder” than painting with oils.)
From the beginning of my adventures with YUPO, I discovered that a “still life” rendering on this ground is seldom “still”! Waterfalls and turbulent skies abound, as paint slithers hither and thither on YUPO’s glass-like surface. For those of us who don’t give a hoot for control, that’s the joy of it!
Although my YUPO paintings may look random and unplanned, I can assure you that time and consideration have gone into the completion of them. Here is how I work on the paper which is not really paper:
For starters, I spritz the YUPO with my WINDEX® bottle (filled with pure water, not the cleaning solution). Into the blotches of water, I charge a few colors—normally primaries: Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Yellow, and French Ultramarine Blue. (Sometimes I substitute Permanent Magenta and Dioxazine Purple for the Alizarin and Ultramarine—and Lemon Yellow for the Cadmium.)
Next, I lift the sheet (I always paint on a flat surface—although I have an easel). I flip, jiggle, and wiggle the YUPO back and forth, causing the paint to run in rivulets and fan out in feathers. As we all know, most any color can result from blending primaries—and any form can evolve from flipping, jiggling, and wiggling one’s paint. With all of that, I’ve never seen the same outcome twice!
Then I return the YUPO to my table, to dry. When the surface has dried, a subject or theme typically emerges in the form of a definitive shape or shapes: rocks, flowers, rushing water, perhaps a cliff or a cavern, and frequently creatures—mythical or identifiable birds or animals, or something faintly homo sapiens (often leaning toward the humanoid). Hence, my penchant for fantasy awakens. I’m up and away—and frequently way out!
In the above piece, “Pirates’ Lair”, the initially emerging shapes were those gemlike forms in the approximate center and upper center—separated by vertical lines caused by rivulets of paint. The other form fashioned by wet paint sliding around on the slick surface was that attractive yellow oval, complete with some of the stairs, toward the lower right of the picture. With those features already in place, I could proceed with a theme created by the mingling of YUPO and watercolors: a pirates’ lair of precious gems, with an escape—that ready-made oval of light with its built-in staircase.
I considered how I could amplify the existing features of the piece, adding enhancing shapes and eliminating anything extraneous. With a clean, damp brush I phased out distracting elements—filling the resulting spaces with alizarin crimson, ultramarine blue, and dioxazine purple (colors of gems I love—rubies, garnets, sapphires, and amethysts). While the paint was still wet, I sprinkled those areas with 1) salt on the crimson parts on the left and 2) lavender-tinted cosmetic pigment powder on much of the purple paint. (The pigment powder was lifted from my soap-making supplies; I use high grade cosmetic pigments to color my soap. Not every artist has access to a saponifier’s stash, but happily I do have! 🙂 )
Finally, additional interest was needed in the top third of the painting, a bit to the left of center. So I included another window in the lair—one more view to the way out, replete with its diminutive stairway. Also, I inserted more stairs into the lower right oval of light.
All of this took about three hours to complete—three hours of actual work, not counting the drying time. Thus you can see that a considerable amount of analysis, cogitation, and consideration are necessary “givens” between brush strokes, when using the capricious and fiercely independent medium of watercolor on that capricious and fiercely independent surface known as wonderful YUPO!
Margaret L. Been, ©2012
*According to the Wisegeek website, “Polypropylene is a plastic polymer used in everything from carpets to car parts”. And we know that includes art!
The Messy Palette . . . 