2021 Yupo Yipeeee !…

Some day in the Summer…

Cup of tea, homemade cake and a delicious art chat with my good friend Charlie Tyrell. In his studio he gives me a sheet of paper and says: “Try it, have fun, may be you’ll love it, may be you’ll hate it !…”

The paper was bright white, soft and extremely smooth.
YUPO it is called.
Not paper, really, as it is 100% synthetic, 100% tree free, …and 100% waterproof !
Yet, Charlie mentionned it was great for watercolours !!!
Mmmh…

I usually like heavy and textured watercolour “real” paper, and I had great doubt, at that stage, that I would “have fun” with this one, let alone “love it”!!!
Nevertheless, I was curious, and I had to give it a try before I met with Charlie again…
So, a few days later, Yupo was lying on my table, along with brushes, watercolours and a few other tools, ready for experiments…

And it didn’t take long for the fun to pop up…

Because the yupo paper does not absorb water at all, the colours are sitting on the surface waiting to dry in the air. It creates all kind of interesting, unexpected and inspiring mixes and textures…
I quickly realised that the only way to tame Yupo was “go with the flow”, allow things to happen and let my instict guide my hand…
I am not an abstract painter and can’t help tending towards figurative, and before I knew it I saw seaweeds dancing in the sea and cotton bog flying in the wind !

Improvising a totally new personal technique, I found a real pleasure in exploring the magic.

And… Well, yes, Charlie…
I definitely love it !

As a nature lover I did some research about Yupo, after all it is plastic …
But some facts are worth knowing:
It is 100% tree free
It is 100% recyclable
And there is no waste, as if I’m not happy with the result, I can wipe it off with water and find the white sheet again !

So, from an artist point of view,
Yupo is a remedy to the fear of the blank canvas!
It’s quick, instinctive, and really good fun…

But… don’t forget to seal your work once you are happy with it !