BOOKS AND MAGAZINES - OH MY!

My painting “Poured Yupo Peony” is included in the book AcrylicWorks 2: Radical Breakthroughs.  They even used it in an email promo, which I thought was really cool and unexpected.  My California friend, Chris Beck, sent me an email saying she had seen it online, so I double checked my emails on my computer (not my phone where those little tiny photos require magnifying glasses!).

The painting was created by pouring and dripping fluid acrylics on Yupo using taping to separate the layers. I used blue painter's tape so it wouldn't stick to the acrylics when I pulled it off, and so that some of the colors would run underneath to create the fluted edges of some of the petals.  Definitely not my usual support, nor technique, but that's what this painting was all about - getting out of the norm and trying something new.

In addition, another of my paintings is a Finalist in The Artist’s Magazine Over 60 Competition, with my name listed in the March magazine, but no photo.  It's one you have seen here on the blog multiple times.

YUPO PEONY 7 - FINAL

I added some paint to define petal edges and put in the pink center. I’m not sure if that is too much pink so I’m living with it right now. If I decide to knock that back a bit, I’ll use some alcohol on a Qtip to rub it out.
Well, guys, I’m still not a Yupo lover, but I may do a few more paintings in this genre and hope they turn out as good as this one!

Peony, Fluid Acrylic on Yupo, 13x18.5

YUPO PEONY 6

Here are some images of the edges of the petals to show how it looks “up close and personal” where the paint bled under the tape. It gives that crinkly look that is called “the batik look”.
I’m not convinced there is skill to this technique – I think it’s more pure, dumb luck!

YUPO PEONY 5

As my friend says, “removing the tape is like opening a Christmas present – you never know what you are going to get.” Well, I’m pretty happy with this “present”! I like the purity of the colors and am happy with the way the colors bled under the tape on the edges of the petals.
I was surprised that there was no bleed with the masking tape initially used, even though paint was added on top of it several times.

The taping technique gives a unique look to a painting, but it does take patience. Of course, doesn’t watermedia always require some patience!

I’m pleased to say that there wasn’t much problem with the tape peeling up the paint – other than a few areas where the background paint was a bit thicker. I had anticipated that problem, and was extremely careful to pull back into the peony so that I minimized the amount of paint torn away.

YUPO PEONY 4

Yupo peony 4

Can you say BLUE PAINTER’S TAPE! This photo will brighten up your computer screen!
I applied the painter’s tape to the entire flower, then added some darks around the edges.
After taking this photo, I decided the background could be even darker, so I added 2 more layers of paint, using sap green and dioxigin purple in addition to the aforementioned 4 colors to get a nice dark.

I didn’t really have to cover the entire flower with tape, since I was only going to put more paint along the edges, but, since this was an experiment to see if the tape would lift the paint, I just went ahead and did it anyway!

YUPO PEONY 3

If you have taken classes from me, you know I always say to use regular masking tape as a resist because the colors of other tape can compete with the paint colors.

Well, “never say never”. But I have a good reason for doing this. Since painting on Yupo with acrylic is painting plastic onto plastic, I’m afraid that the regular masking tape will pull up the paint when I remove it, so I’m using some other tape with less “stickiness”. Here I’ve used “Frog tape”.

The photo above shows the second layer of paint applied.

More tape, this time blue painter’s tape, and another layer of paint.

YUPO PEONY 2

I taped off areas I wanted to keep white – here I used plain, old masking tape.

I’ll be applying the fluid acrylics in a pouring manner and dropping paint with a brush, since my aim here is to build up light, thin layers.
This is how it looked following the first layer. The colors used are DaVinci hansa, quin. gold, cobalt and quin. rose.

YUPO PEONY

Well, folks, I never said I couldn’t paint on Yupo, just said I don’t like it.
To prove to you that I’m capable, here’s a Yupo demo utilizing what some call the “batik look”. This painting is my first experiment with using tape on Yupo.
To see another painting I did on Yupo – with watercolor - see my post here on ------ yet another painting of a peony!

I’m using fluid acrylic and my trusty peony photo for this project.

My first step was to get “high” on the alcohol fumes! You use alcohol to wipe over the surface of the Yupo to rid it of any smudges or dirt. I have a feeling this is more crucial if you are using watercolor instead of the fluid acrylics.

Using a watercolor pencil, I drew the flower directly onto the Yupo. If I made a mistake, I “erased” the line with water. The next time I do this I will probably wet the tip of the pencil first to make it a bit darker, since I kept losing my lines and had to redraw several times during this process.
The beauty of using this photo is that I can probably screw up the drawing and it will still come out looking like a peony!