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Saturday, June 23, 2012

In old Ankara and experiments with Yupo

In old Ankara, Arches 28 x 38 cm
Ever since I started following the blog of Mineke Reinders I've wanted to visit Ankara and see its old parts with the small streets and wooden houses. We didn't have much time to spend there during our trip, but still manged to walk around a bit and snap a few photos.

This style of houses was very common in Bulgaria too in the past centuries, so there are a number of towns, where this architecture is preserved and restored.

The piece below is my first attempt to paint on Yupo paper. What a funny experience! The paint would just refuse to adhere to the paper and would retract into puddles. And to make things worse, in the middle of the sheet I saw round shapes of white paper forming, as if there was wax-resist. Then a number of letters took shape, reading "do it on Yupo". I realized, that the print from the cover of the Yupo pad has somehow changed the properties of the surface of this first sheet. Maybe I should have washed it with soap, if I knew. Anyway, I think I inadvertently ended up with a winter version of the above scene. And with the loosest painting I've ever done. My husband just laughed when he saw it and said "This should sell for a fortune!"

On Yupo!?

8 comments:

Judy said...

Well, the first painting is wonderful, Blaga! What a great trip you made!
And the second... I laughed at your story about painting on yupo! :) My experience was the same, I had some resist spots too and straight lines were almost impossible, and I finally managed to paint a tree! But I see others doing wonderful paintings on yupo, so maybe we have to practise! :)

renate said...

Hurray! Finally someone who shares my passion with Yupo. And how! Great! Your first painting of Ankara I found already beautiful, but this winter version I find even more beautiful. Very handsome for a first time. Congratulations!!!!
Your husband is quite right! :)
I hope not that every page says; do it with yupo. I can not imagine. It is not the intention that you clean the blades first. Beware where you drop your fingers on the paper. There you can not paint anymore because of the fat what you have on your fingers. If you want to clean something the best you can do is with alcohol. Well evaporate and you can paint again. Also not use erasers on Yupo, there you can not paint anymore.
Hurray for Blaga. (Hoera voor Blaga) That rhymes in Dutch:)

Elvi said...

Bellissima luce e ombre. Elvi

ashok said...

nice works!

Jane said...

Well, I do prefer the 'summer version ' :-))) This YUPO stuff seems very complicated and difficult to paint on , don't know if I would have the patience :-) Have a nice Sunday !

Tito said...

Interesting post, Blaga. In my opinion your second version looks less rigid and more free than the first one. I prefer the yupo version. Most probably, next time you will have more control in using this paper, so you can expect better result. Ciao!!

Blaga said...

Hi, Judy! I'm glad to hear you had the similar challenges with yupo, so I'm not alone ;) And you are right that people do fantastic pieces on it so there must be ways. Just have to figure them out. And I love challenges so I'll definitely keep trying ways to get it to work.

Renate, I didn't know that you are so enthusiastic about yupo :) Although, your last post was what prompted me to finally give it a try myself. And, yes, i had no idea the paper is so sensitive to finger touch, so i probably had left tons of fingermarks too. I am determined now to give it another try and figure out hot to gain more control over it.

Thank you, Elvi!

Thank you, ashok!

Jane, I read someone comparing yupo to painting on greased glass. But, I love challenges and will persist ( at least for now) :)

Thank you, Tito! It was frustrating how i had no control over the paint, but I did like that this surface created this very loose effect, despite my efforts for control. So I hope that playing with it may help me loosen my style.

Rita Vaselli said...

Dear Blaga, it's nice to read your experiences on Yupo!
I do not know this surface and here in Italy I do not think marketed.
But read the experience from others is always a GOOD time!