Watercolor on YUPO

JIM TURNER BIRD WORKSHOP/YUPO

Limited to 12 people Class fee: $120

Thursday and Friday, February 17 and 18

Both days start at 9AM. Class will run until 4PM on Thursday and 3PM on Friday.

5 to 8PM on Friday is the Artists’ Reception for the “Birds of a Feather” exhibition in The Gallery at Zeller Studio.

Students in this class will have the opportunity to exhibit the work they created in the workshop at this reception. At 3PM on Friday, we will convert the working side of the studio and display student work on easels.

This 2 day workshop will concentrate on paintings of birds, both in traditional watercolor, multimedia, and YUPO. The first day will be an introduction to YUPO. YUPO is a smooth inorganic (plastic) surface that accepts paint in a very different way than paper. Because the paint sits on the surface instead of being absorbed, it flows, mixes and can give a very fluid abstract “liquid” look to washes that can be very appealing (and frustrating, if you are trying to “control” it.) The surface also allows colors to be more intense, giving a stained glass look that is amazing, and makes lifting easy, allowing a push-pull method of composition similar to working with opaque paints.

This workshop is intended to give you a variety of ways to approach an image, in this case birds, but the techniques will apply to any image. In traditional watercolor we will focus on design, abstraction and emotional content. With YUPO we will take advantage of the abstract, flowing ‘liquid’ look of wet in wet application and experiment with stamping, texturing, lifting and even texturing with foam rollers. We will talk about design and how to go from the crazy accidental abstraction of YUPO to finished work. We will also talk about “taming” YUPO to do representational work, flattening washes, graded washes etc.

Come if you are a beginner and want to have fun playing with paint, if you are an accomplished watercolorist who wants to explore a new surface, or anyone in between who wants to expand their horizons and try something new.

I turn to YUPO when I want to “play” with watercolor and just have fun. The participant can expect to finish at least a couple completed or nearly completed paintings in the two days.

Materials list:

Please bring your usual watercolor setup, including tube colors, pallet, brushes, etc. Make sure you have at least one large (at least 1.5 or 2” flat wash brush).

I recommend but do not require a set of Dr. PH. Martin’s Hydrus Fine Art Watercolors (available at Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff). These are concentrated liquid watercolors that work wonderfully with YUPO. They are a bit pricey but you get a lot of watercolor for the money, which can be used in more traditional ways as well.

Several 4” foam rollers (available at hardware stores, cheap/disposable).

Any stamps, stencils, texturing tools, etc you have. I will have some of these as well.

A large tube/tub of black and/or white gesso. I will have some of this as well.

YUPO – Any size/wt OK. I like Cheap Joe’s 74 lb 20” x 26” which costs about $2.50/sheet and will have some for sale at the workshop.

Card stock or Hot Press paper---we will discuss making greeting cards and having some card stock or hot press paper will be useful. I will have some available as well.

Jim Turner