Trying Yupo. Or, Where I Produce Amoebas

Yupo I.  Watercolor on Yupo.
Smaller than 9 x 12 inches.

Several years ago, I was wandering on Michigan Avenue near the Bean in Chicago, waiting to meet a friend for lunch, and I wandered into Ultrecht.  I ended up buying a bunch of things (an artist in an art supply store?  come on, of course I'm going to spend money), one of which was a pad of Yupo paper. Yupo, in case you've never tried it, is synthetic watercolor paper.  It's diametrically opposed to regular watercolor paper, which in my case, is 100% cotton.

I tried it once.  It was really.....different.

Then, recently, I've been thinking about it.  I've seen some super interesting paintings done on Yupo, and I wanted to try again.  Voila!  Amoebas!  Actually, I lie, although I know I tend to be flip, I like the painting, and I really like the way the paint moved across the paper.  It takes a lot of paint though. A LOT. And, I'm having trouble controlling the movement and shapes, which I'm going to assume is a practice issue.  This started out as a landscape.  Truly.

Paper--Yupo.  Paint--Daniel Smith Indigo, Phtalo Blue RS, Nickel Azo Yellow, Quin Burnt Orange, and then a touch of Quin Red.

Trees, trees, trees.

Oregon Trail In Fall.  Watercolor and Crayon.
Full Sheet.

I've been messing about with this all afternoon.  I'm not entirely sure that it is done, but I'm stopping for the day.  It is a stand of trees sighted on a street I drive ad naseum each day.  If you have young teens in your household, you can probably relate.  Hate the driving; love the trees.

Some things of note--this is on 140 lb cold press paper, and was buckling like mad.  It is near a full sheet, or nearly 30 x 22 inches (it'll need to be cropped a tad).  I'm using three yellows, three blues and a purple.  That's twice the number of colors I'd typically use, and I'm not sure that was a wise choice.  Then, there's an overlay in the 'sky' with a gray crayon.

Also of note--I set the doofus crayon down randomly and it took me 20 minutes to locate it.  This is not unusual.   Once, I set my keys in the library stacks....it's a chronic problem.

A Series of Small Abstracts

Loops and Whorls.  Watercolor and Crayon.
Approximately 6 x 22 inches.

I know I've mentioned this before, but I'll periodically doodle across a scrap of paper using a very limited palette.  I was doing that this afternoon, using the extra paper from my last painting, the exact same palette, and at the end, I went back over and added some marks and miscellaneous with a caran d'ache crayon in light gray.

I'm trying to decide if I should break them apart, or keep them together as a set....

And the trees turn

Sycamore in Morning Light.  Watercolor.
23.5 x 20 inches

I've painted several sycamore trees over the years--they are about one of the first trees to start turning in s. Ohio, and they always look so majestic.  Here's a set  I painted when I first started working on this blog in 2012.  I think I'm a better painter now, but I'm not sure--it's such a subjective thing.

I spotted this one while out walking my dog--the light is also just gorgeous right now--beautiful in the morning.  I almost walked my dog into another walker, luckily I didn't, since that would have been messy.

It was also nice to paint big again.  It is so fun.  If you've never tried it, take a big piece of paper, a big brush, and just don't let yourself pick up a smaller brush.  It's very liberating.

This is magnese blue hue, quin burnt orange, nickel azo yellow, carbazol violet, and undersea green, all by Daniel Smith on Fabriano 300 lb Rough Watercolor Paper.