Secrets to Painting a Successful Landscape on Synthetic Yupo Paper

If you have been keeping up with my blogs you know I am very creative and love to experiment with new types of art paper surfaces. I have received some great feedback. I guess it all started for me when I used up all my mixed media paper and had to resort to ordering pads on-line due to local supply. This led me to try some economical paper called Artfinity Synthesis Paper made of a mixture of plastics. When that supply ran out, I tried Yupo polypropylene paper. Then, I came upon Mineral Papers made of calcium carbonate at a local Meiningers Art Supply in Colorado Springs by accident looking for synthetic papers. I am a real fan of these mineral papers, but today I am discussing techniques to use on the Yupo polypropylene paper.

Yupo synthetic paper is such a cool surface to paint on! It is non-wetting, so color pigments don’t really get into the surface, if at all. A non-wetting surface has its own challenges. Aqueous solutions of any types bead-up on the surface and can’t be controlled with a brush stroke. The greatest thing about a non-wetting surface is…. IT DOES NOT BUCKLE or WARP! Being a plastic material is is foldable, rollable, and pretty indestructible in nature. I don’t see a lot of people painting on these papers, but the ones I have seen use a different technique than I use and don’t seem to have considered my process. That’s what I want to pass along.

First of all I prefer the Artfininty Synthesis paper to Yupo paper because it is slightly whiter. I am picky. I tape the synthetic paper on a smooth birch panel slightly larger than the paper size using 1/8” wide artist masking tape. I really press the tape down to keep it from leaking under the paper. The tape is wetting, so this can happen. I also ready my supplies. I like to use a small shallow metal butcher pan to hold my paints. I like to add several rows of titanium white heavy body paint to one end. Then, I add acrylic inks or acrylic paints in areas I want to mix with the white rows to make skies, mid-ground, or near-ground effects with the blue, browns, and yellows.

I start off marking a horizontal line with a pencil that is not in the center of the paper. This is just my reference for a level landscape and a reminder of where the center of the painting is located. I like to start off in the middle area to make mountains, hills, trees, etc. and work from there. To begin I dilute the color chozen with thick titanium white even is it starts off as an ink consistency. This thick blend will adhere to the Yupo paper surface and stay where you put it. Before it dries, or if you have to dilute it with a little water if it becomes too thick, you can spread the color around. Going back over drying mixtures could pickup the entire blend and leave the paper white surface where you put down your first color. Don’t rework this too much, unless you intend this effect. You can take a palette knife and remove lines or shapes from the surface before it dries, which is a nice attribute.

Blends of any pigment with heavy body acrylic paint will dry pretty quickly on the Yupo surface! While it is wet you can get some great effects using sprays of alcohol, drips of water, or your own creative ideas. After it has dried, you can remove the entire painting or parts of it with 91% isopropyl alcohol and/or water.

I like to finish off my paintings with touches of Sennelier soft pastels. You will see evidence of that is almost every painting of mine. There are so many creative ways to use these synthetic non-wetting papers