My pack of yupo paper arrived yesterday, so excited I pulled a sheet out in the evening to experiment with Indian ink and ammonia, having seen some exciting you tube videos. All I can say is black mess, and bin!
Today I opted for an experiment with alcohol ink as a background, and a watercolour painting of a heron. This was much more successful than yesterday’s disaster. I haven’t quite made up my mind of what I think of this paper yet, I like the smooth surface, it is just so different to anything else I have used, so more practice I think before I make judgement.
‘Heron’ A3 yupo paper, alcohol ink and watercolour
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About REcreate-RebeccaEvansCreate
My name is Rebecca Evans, living in the New Forest I have been inspired to paint the many animals often seen around me. Having ridden since Childhood, painting equines was a natural path to follow.
I use a variety of media, watercolour, oil, charcoal, pastel,inks, plus a few more, infact I will try most things. Choosing the medium to work with can really change the effect of the art, and therefore the character of the animal. Sometimes it is an instant decision, sometimes it is the mood from within me which determines which medium I choose to use.
I never know what might inspire me next, but if it’s hairy, I will be sure to try.
RebeccaEvans Create 
I have heard so much about Yupo but am a little intimidated. I welcome all your thoughts on it!
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Carol I can recommend giving it a try, I really did not get on with the ink on yupo, just too messy for my living room to cope with, lol. The watercolour was nice to use, dried quicker than I imagined it would. I think it will be good for me to attempt this free style to painting instead of concentrating on detail. I was relieved that this paper is very reasonable in price, so any mistakes are not too upsetting to the pocket. Give it a go, there are some great you tube videos, although I did not watch a single watercolour demo on yupo, so that’s my next step having written off the Indian ink on this occasion.
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Thanks for your invaluable input 🙂
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Wow, Rebecca, what an interesting piece! I love the water feeling in the background and that heron looks terrific! I recently bought some yupo too and dying to try. Love the cool effects you’re getting with it! It intimidates me a little too but I think I’ll just go to it with an experimentation mindset and that way if it all goes south, oh well lol. I really love what you’re doing, hope we see more!
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So pleased you like the effect Laura. I can’t wait to see what you think when you give it a try, we can all learn and experiment together, he he. I hope it will make me paint more free and loose….well that’s part of the idea?
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Yes! I was watching Chris Cozen’s lesson on Artist Network tv today about surfaces and she covers yupo. If I remember right, she gets it wet and then drops high flow acrylic (almost like acrylic ink, it’s so thin) into it. It was so cool! Then she said once the first layer dries she can go over top, get it wet again and the first layer won’t move. She showed her painting, and I’ve seen that lesson before, so I had ordered a small pad of the paper. I think it’s only 5×7 because I wasn’t at all sure I’d like it but for abstracts I figure I can’t lose. Way to go for painting realistic on it! Was it harder than you thought, or easier?
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It was easier than I thought it would be, as I had like you only watched abstract style demos, considering it has a smooth surface the mediums stick well, which feels odd, but this is, I guess the key to any technique working? I think I watched her demo…too messy for my living room, but I loved it, she used a variety of liquid mediums, acrylic, watercolour and ink, all from different companies, I think the acrylics kept the most vibrant of colours when dry. I think most medium will work on this apart from pastel ( soft) as no tooth on the surface.
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Ok good to know. Anything realistic I think would scare me on a slippery surface like this. Yours sure turned out terrific though!
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wonderful soft texture in the features and interesting background. A success
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Thank you, the background was created with alcohol inks, I decided they needed a trip out of the box, they didn’t let me down on this surface, pheww!
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It turned out beautiful. You have changed convinced me to try it. I need to get some.
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Go for it Teri, there are so many mediums that work on it. I decided if all failed I would use it with abstract patterns on cards for friends and patients. Alcohol ink really works well, infact it was the best surface I have used it on😀
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What kind of alcohol ink do you use. Another medium I have not tried yet. You are inspiring me.
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So pleased to have inspired you, the alcohol inks are an old ranger Adirondack set, from my card making supplies, they last for ages and a little goes a long way. It’s great to work with three colours for back grounds, and you would need an applicator and ideally some blending soloution. Look forward to hearing if you have given it a go.
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Is Dr ph Martin the same thing? Once I get back to Wisconsin I’m going to give it a try. Busy packing up now for trip.
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I don’t think they are alcohol inks, I believe that dr ph martins come as liquid watercolour and coloured inks ( all wonderful by the way and will work on yupo, but not in the way alcohol ink does) I don’t think they make alcohol inks, but I could be wrong. Check out Tim Holtz for the Adirondack alcohol inks by ranger, they have a good colour range, other brands of alcohol ink are available, but I have never used, as the set I have just keeps going and going ( over 6 years old although not used regularly it’s good to know it is still as it was when new) works on any non porous surface, glass, tile, plastic, photo paper, metal, acetate, cling film, foil, etc will not have same effect on paper, card, wood.
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Oh thank you so much!
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love this!!
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Thank you Jodi, always good to experiment, I am in to trying different bases for painting at the moment, masa, yupo, are favs so far, next to try Kraft card with pastel, and slate.
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Beautiful! I am so intrigued by Yupo and I just might try it someday. 🙂
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Thank you Margaret, I recommend giving it a try, it is inexpensive, with the ability to take many mediums, so you would find it useful for many techniques….it was easier than I thought to paint on, I thought the paint would be drifting all over the place, but not so, it handled quite a good about of water too, with no buckling ( a huge plus) I don’t recommend a heat tool for drying, you tube videos show this successfuly, but I had disaster yesterday, I guess it would buckle then, as its plastic! Lesson learnt, dry naturally and have a cuppa 😀
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Wow love the way you worked on background 😍 heron looks great 👍🏼 Rebecca how much time you generally take for each painting? Do you do background first? I’m little curious to know the process 😊
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Hi Snehal, I generally paint the backgrounds first ( I have often changed backgrounds after a feature is finished if the colour combos don’t work, so that would be done after) this one was quite quick, as it was really an experiment, the alcohol ink is super fast to lay down, and on the yupo the watercolour was pretty quick too, this one was an evenings work, including waiting between drying about 2-3 hrs. Other paintings take longer, with more layers, and waiting to dry, tweak here and there, and adding small details, so I usually work on a few at a time, each over about three days ( well evenings after work) at a guess maybe six hrs all in? Again it does depend on size and medium used, oil takes me longer, and dryng times are extended. Makes me think I should keep a record! To keep tabs on my time spent 😀
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That’s very helpful. Many thanks Rebecca for your detail reply! I really love how creatively you work on every background and off course foreground is always the best part😀👍🏼
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You are welcome.
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Another amazing piece Rebecca! Astounded.
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Thank you Susan, it was a refreshing change with this painting, medium and subject.
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Wonderful! Never seen an effect like this, its translucent and seems to glow, and works so well for the feathers
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You are quite right Arvind, I think the alcohol ink has that effect, and combined with the yupo, it does seem to glow. You should give some a try some time.
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Yupo is a totally different surface to work on but I have only tried it with alcohol ink. I must try it with watercolour. Your heron turned out really well.
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Thank you, give it a go with some watercolour, or any liquid ink, it is different to anything else, but quite forgiving to mistakes, as you can go back over with another colour, to correct.
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Aww cool! Been hearing so much about Yupo! Love this painting… the beak is particularly gorgeous!😍
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Thanks Charlie, I had been wondering what this yupo was like, and eventually bought a pack to try, I quite enjoyed it really, but it could never replace watercolour paper 😀
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Oooooo you’re a girl after my own heart! I’ve been coveting yupo for a while but instead ordered Claybord at the last minute! Your heron is great though – looking forward to seeing what else your experiments bring!
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Oh Vicki, I have never tried that before, writing down to add to my list of stuff to try, he he. Thank you.
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Takes some practice to get use of the different type of paper. I heard and seen beautiful painting over Yupo paper and I am curious to try. For what I heard you had to let the color run free is good for a loose way to paint and especially for abstracts. Also is great that if you made a mistake you can clean and erase everything and start over, and the paper looks new! 😉
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It sure is peculiar, but at the same time wonderful stuff.
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Looking at this a second time, I love how the background gives me a floral feeling. Really wonderful, Rebecca!
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Thanks Laura, the alcohol ink gives a look that is quite different to anything else I have tried, I should use it more often.
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Yes! I really need to get some. And how did you get it to sit in the background? Did you water it down, or have a really pale color(s)? It’s not taking over at all the way the ink I have does.
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The brand I used was Adirondack,ranger, the ones Tim holtz promotes, I didn’t water down, but I do use blending medium which helps disperse the colours, and makes them mingle more. I then used the blending medium to wipe out a stencil pattern…damask, now that did not work so well, it really smudged out the pattern, it either is not something that works, or it requires more practice from me?? To apply I just put a blob of three colours on the applicator ( also made by ranger, with some felt stuck to it) added some blending solution onto the applicator, again only a few drops, then dabbed away in the places I wanted the background. It dries within seconds, and the alcohol in went much further on the yupo. Then I got out the watercolour paint for the heron. I am planning a hare on yupo next, adding some foliage within the alcohol ink…if it works you should get to see it 😀
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Yay, looking forward to it! Thanks for the explanation.
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That looks fun!
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It certainly was fun, a very different experience to conventional watercolour paper.
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