Yupo revisited

I had quite a few comments on my Yupo post asking about it.
Yupo is a synthetic material that is waterproof.
It is fun to work on, but a bit challenging.
You can read all about it here
I was able to purchase a small size locally,

however the full sheets would probably be on-line.

WOYWW

I forgot to show my desk. That is what I get for trying to do 2 things at one time.
Here it is!

WOYWW

It is time to show my desk once again; to let you know that I have been creating.
I took a Yupo class, and have been experimenting with it for a week or two.
I used alcohol inks on Yupo; painted with a brush just like watercolor.
I then used watercolor inks for the next one. I like the one that is more abstract, made with the watercolor inks. Yupo is interesting because you can wipe it off and start over. Not true with the watercolor inks, they did not wash off, and that is how I ended up with the wonderful abstract.
There is a lot of creating going on. Just take a peep over Julie's blog and see what people are doing.

Yupo

I have been experimenting with Yupo after taking a day class. 
Watercolor works pretty well, but it moves around a lot since it isn't absorbed into the paper.
We had fun blowing the paint around with a hair dryer.
The good thing is, if you don't like what you did, you just wash it off!
I ended up with a full sheet painting which had some beautiful bright colors,
but not a good design, so I made three smaller paintings out of it.
I could not bear to get rid of the pretty colors, especially those blues!

I might end up putting some birds in the trees, or perhaps an owl.

We finally got some much needed rain here in Texas!
While we were staying in out of the heat, hubby and I have been busy
creating; he did his magic with the power saw (not inside!),
I did some painting, and we created Jiggs, our new butler
who shall wait on us forever  more!
This is actually a copy from a very old piece of folk art, that we had  both admired.
We named him Jiggs after the old comic strip character.
 Found an old silver tray, just the right size, and he stands proudly
in front of our fireplace, perpetually enjoying his Macanudo cigar;
proof  that Jiggs has good taste!

I have been wanting to do this for a long time. A visit from our grand daughter gave me the perfect excuse.
We glued on the crayons with hot glue and melted them with the hair dryer. It is fun to see what will happen depending upon the crayon, the amount of heat, and which way the hot air is blowing. You can manipulate it to some degree. We had a lot of fun.

No chocolate here!

Contrary to what some may think, I have not been sitting around
eating chocolate truffles in this 100 degree heat.
I have been working on a mountain scene, from a photo I took on my recent trip to the desert.
This piece is a collage of hand painted rice paper, watercolor, acrylic,
pouring medium;  anything it took to get the job done. 
The sky at dusk, is casein painted rice paper, that I have been saving for just the right project It was much brighter, but seemed to fight with the main subject of the mountains, so I calmed it down with watercolor. The far away mountains started out at brown craft paper, but their dullness bothered me, so I poured acrylic pouring medium, mixed with gold interference paint, and made ridges in the mountains with the end of my paint brush. This is the way they looked from afar in the beautiful Chihuahua Desert. The mountains in the foreground were layered with citra-solv  pages using the National
Geographic. If you haven't tried this little project, you just might become addicted, because  each page is totally different from the other, and something I could never come up with using paint. I love the unexpected, so this project appealed to me. Last, but not least, there is hand made paper, that I purchased from the art supply store; it is very hairy and  gives the appearance of "brush" in the foreground. Because everything is covered with acrylic medium, it does not need glass. I decided not to use a mat, as it had a totally different look with a mat. This photo does not do it justice, as the shine from the pouring medium is like taking a photo under glass, and that usually doesn't work for me. Something fun and different for me to try. Can't decide

whether to use a more weathered frame.  I like the way the gold of the frame plays off the mountains in the background, but I'm not sure about it. Let me know what you think.
This picture is really small, but I guess that is because it is so long! It is actually 10X27 inches.