Watercolor on YUPO | Painting Demo by Alicia Farris

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YUPO paper creates unique challenges and endless opportunities. Check out this 4-step demo to learn how to transform elements of your watercolor painting with YUPO.

By Alicia Farris

A good painting involves more than just perfected technique. True success comes when a painting is well designed, has elements of surprise or curiosity, and tells a story. As a painting surface, YUPO allows the artist to continually adjust by adding or subtracting elements in order to make a painting work.

What is YUPO?

YUPO is a synthetic, nonporous, tree-friendly paper. Painting on it can be a humbling experience; the paint is a challenge to control, almost as if it’s sitting on a piece of glass. Since the paint remains on the surface rather than absorbing into the paper, none of its intensity is lost. Colors mingle freely and can be layered, textured, or lifted out completely.

*Beach Brigade* by Alicia Farris (watercolor on YUPO, 26×20)

I first became fascinated with YUPO when I came face to face with a work painted by the late artist George James (1932–2016). James was a master of design and an expert in achieving great results with this surface. I was inspired to try it myself and came to love the endless possibilities and challenges it presents.

Watercolor on YUPO: Dreams and Sunbeams by Alicia Farris — *Dreams and Sunbeams* by Alicia Farris (watercolor on YUPO, 26×20)

Take a Fluid Approach

One challenge of YUPO is that it requires working on a flat surface. The paint moves around on it so easily, it will run right off the paper if given the opportunity.

My strategy for turning YUPO’s challenges into opportunities is to treat it as a ceramic artist might treat clay—adding or subtracting at any stage of the piece in order to make it work. I add intense value where I choose, then modify the areas I wish to change by lifting and reworking them completely.

Watercolor on YUPO: Strength and Struggle by Alicia Farris — *Strength and Struggle* by Alicia Farris (watercolor on YUPO, 26×20)

When I prefer to build color gradually, I can apply layers over painted sections that are dry. I take one pass and use a very light touch—otherwise the brush may pull up whatever paint is there.

I create texture by touching or rolling over wet areas with fingers, sponges, tissues, or anything else that will leave an imprint in the paint layer. One pass is usually the limit before it’s necessary to let the area dry.

Embrace Happy Accidents

I created the exciting and unexpected texture in Behind the Shades by mingling quinacridone gold and scarlet lake. I adjusted the dark areas under the corners of the hat’s rim, but left the spontaneous and organic design that occurred in the middle.

Watercolor on YUPO: Behind the Shades by Alicia Farris — *Behind the Shades* (watercolor on YUPO, 26×20)

In the detail image below, you’ll see that two colors I used in the shadow of the subject’s hat mingled in a unique way. The design created by the natural flow and chemical composition of the two colors became a happy accident. I don’t always apply the watercolor so fluidly, but doing so can create fascinating mixes and dimension.

Watercolor on YUPO: Behind the Shades by Alicia Farris (Detail) — *Behind the Shades* (detail)

The subject’s shirt contains areas that were applied with a consistent, mid-value layer, then lifted and texturized by gently rolling tissue over the surface. After creating texture for one layer and letting it dry completely, I applied another mid-value color and created a similar texture in the second layer. This created two transparent, spontaneously textured and separate layers.

Let’s take a closer look at how to achieve this result in the step-by-step demo below.

Demo: Layering Color on YUPO

Step 1

I applied the first color layer in an even, midvalue intensity. I used a Silver Sky wash mop to ensure I’d have lots of color on my brush.

Step 2

While the paint was still wet, I laid a tissue over the surface and intentionally folded wrinkles into it in order to produce a pattern in the paint layer that mimic folds in fabric.

Step 3

Once the first layer was completely dry, I applied a second mid-value layer in a different color. I used a light touch and covered each area with one brushstroke to avoid pulling up any of the original color layer.

Step 4

I laid a tissue over the second color while it was still wet in order to produce two transparent and differently textured layers of color.

Embrace the Unique Possibilities of YUPO

Layering and texturizing two mid-tone layers of color over YUPO resulted in an interesting and unique glazing process, where each transparent layer of color stands on its own.

The possibilities and unique results of watercolor on YUPO are endless. The qualities that can sometimes make this surface challenging are outweighed by the myriad opportunities it presents to transform a painting at any stage.

This article first appeared in the Winter 2022 issue of Watercolor Artist.

About the Artist

Alicia Farris has been teaching and painting professionally for more than 20 years. She’s a Signature Member of the National Watercolor Society, Watercolor Honor Society, Southwestern Watercolor Society and Missouri Watercolor Society, among others. Her work has won numerous awards and is in galleries and private collections throughout the world.