Watercolors on Yupo

I was always reluctant to try watercolor. As I said before, it is just about the most unforgiving medium there is. But somehow, one day I came across Yupo.

It was less expensive than normal good watercolor paper so I looked it up. Most opinions I found online were along the lines of: Ew, this plastic thing gives you no control whatsoever, stuff takes forever to dry and it’s just not suited for watercolors at all. 

Ok. I still thought it was cool because I had read somewhere how it let you “erase” watercolor. That sounded much less intimidating that regular watercolor paper. I looked up the company, and apparently this paper-thin plastic was developed for sturdy brochures and menus. It almost looks like they sent it off in a packet that said “Watercolor Paper, synthetic paper, save trees!” just to see if it would sell. 

However I found Rachael Rossman, who actually said good things about it. I enjoy her work, probably because she mostly paints pets. She raves about the paper, in fact it seems it is the only thing she will ever paint on. So I decided to give it a try.

9x11 watercolor on Yupo

How long is 10 minutes?

I have always liked drawing flowers. They are still pretty even when proportions are a little off. 

How long is 10 minutes? Very long.  And very little at the same time. After reading good comments about the ten-minute challenge, I decided to try it, my own way. Here is how far I got in ten minutes.

Take 1

Take 2

I did stop exactly when time was up! plus some seconds! I might go back and add to the colored one.

Amazing, what you can do in ten minutes. I wish that I could be this productive during every ten-minute chunk of my day.

Sneak Peek

Maybe this will make me finish it some other day.

In progress!

I've never been too fond of watercolors just because they are so unforgiving. But, this is obviously not traditional watercolors. It's my attempt at what Rachael Rossman does so well.

Colorful

This time I can say I finished something packed with color, and it actually looks okay! I usually end up with psychedelic puppies when I have too much fun with colors. Or worse, I get a big pile of mud. I really should read up on color theory because there is still a long way to go..

9x11 pastel

Quickies

These are quick drawings from the past few days. The first one is a very quick pastel sketch of a greyhound. Second one is a cute, smiling pug done with charcoal. And the last doggie is done with watercolor pencils. These are all 5x7 or less.. which helps me practice placing my drawing! As you can see, I ran out of space for the front paw on the last one. Oops. I also made the mouth area too dark.

"I think that pug is way too happy"