Ahhh Yupo! My new most favourite thing ever! I've gotten a lot of questions since I posted my recent experiments the other day on Instagram, so thought I'd take the opportunity to tell you what I know.
I have heard people talking about Yupo for ages, but really didn't have a clue what they were on about. UNTIL NOW!
I happened to find myself in my local art shop last week - you know those days where you 'pop' in to buy one 'essential' thing and walk out with a whole bag (read car-load!) of stuff and no money left in your account!? Yeah it was one of those days!
Now generally, paint is my go-to when it comes to unnecessary retail therapy, but I happened to find myself meandering down the art paper aisle. As I was mulling over the various pros and cons of watercolour versus mixed media paper versus canvas paper, I happened upon...YUPO!
I have never seen it before in art shops here in Dubai, and had vague recollections of people raving about it, so thought I would give it a go. I love to experiment - so anything that presents a new way of working instantly gets me excited! In laymans terms, I would describe Yupo as a non-absorbent paper, with a satin-like finish that is the total opposite of watercolour paper. According to the supplier website (www.yupousa.com) "YUPO is the 100% recyclable, waterproof, tree-free Synthetic Paper with attributes and properties that make it the perfect solution for a variety of marketing, design, packaging and labeling needs." Because the paper is non-absorbent, wet media (such as watercolours, inks, fluid acrylics etc.) behave completely differently than they would on traditional watercolour paper so you are able to get a variety of really interesting effects.
The pieces shown here are my first attempts at experimenting with this paper. All I used was watered down fluid acrylics and a spray bottle! I am going to see how these hold up to more fluid layers once they've dried, and would love to try adding other types of media such as oil pastels, inks and marker pens etc.
As a side note, I don't know what prices are like in the rest of the world, but art supplies in general are pretty expensive here in Dubai. This pad (containing 10 sheets) cost AED119. (Yup, there's a reason for the term 'starving artist')! I bought mine from Creative Minds in Dubai - but will be exploring whether other art shops stock it in the next coming weeks.
I hope I've given you some inspiration to give Yupo a go if you get the chance.
As always, if you have any questions, comments or suggestions then I'd love to hear from you! Have you tried using Yupo before? What are your thoughts?
Sara xo
