"Purple Beauties" (watercolor on Yupo; 10" x 8") sold

matted size: 14" x 11"
sold

I have painted these purple irises from my garden many times before--in watercolor on paper, in oil on linen, in different sizes, etc.--all of them sold, of course.  I just love them so much!  This time, it is watercolor on Yupo, because I wanted to see whether I would be able to paint such a complicated subject on Yupo.  In the process I made an important discovery.

After the flowers and spiky leaves were done, I sprayed the workable fixative on the painting.  This fixative protects the artwork, but allows the artist to continue to work on the support. Would the finicky Yupo take the spray too, as even a bit of grease from fingers makes it impossible to move paints around on the darned "paper"?  I experimented on a small unpainted piece of Yupo before this drastic action, but you never know.

To my relief, I was able to manipulate the background wash without worrying about "melting" the finished subject.  The dark dramatic background has the effect of making the backlit flowers pop out.  By chance, the top portion happened to dry a little lighter, mimicking the sunlight from the sky.  I am loving my Yupo explorations, pushing the boundaries, going where I have never gone before.  It's like "Star Trek"!