Randall Tipton Demo Using Yupo Paper!

Donna Sanson and I had the privilege to see Randall Tipton demonstrate at Museum 510 in Lake Oswego, Oregon. 

He is a very accomplished and wonderful painter, and he is one of my favorite art friends!
He was demonstrating  with watercolor painting on Yupo paper. "Yupo is a compelling and unique alternative to traditional art papers. It's a synthetic paper, machine-made in the USA of 100% polypropylene. It is waterproof, stain-resistant, and extremely strong and durable." 
From Blick Art Materials

He says:

       "It's plastic, nothing is absorbed! The water in the paint must evaporate. This [use of Yupo] requires a completely different approach. A major difficulty is getting the paint to stay 'still'. I can do something I like, turn away, and when I return, it's different! It's as if the paint has its own agenda. This can be a strength as well. Watercolor can do marvelous things on this brilliant white surface. What would be muddy on true paper becomes rich, subtle, and sometimes profound".

From: Writing Without Paper 

It was a pleasure watching him paint. He uses a big, soft brush down to smaller one....well, I let him describe all the tools he uses: 

          "A natural sponge for pre-wetting and later lifting. Lots of Kleenex for blotting, Q-tips for drawing through wet paint making a soft fat line, a silicone spatula for drawing with a sharper line, a piece of mat board with a bevel edge for scraping like with a squeegee, cheap house painter brush for blending and then the watercolor brushes. Note those at the top have extra long soft bristles. I`ve come to prefer this type because you can really load them up yet they`ll also come to an edge or point. I`m using a bristle filbert that is extra long for oil painting too. Then there is the angle brush up above. I love these because they double as a wash brush but also can be used for line.

On bigger paintings I`ll use a much larger assortment. Often I`ll stop in my process and look over the choices to choose the best one for the task at hand. I feel like a surgeon sometimes"!

Randall started a magnolia painting. He says,"I try to get something I like...something to encourage me".

He left the demo with this......

Magnolia and Sky with watermedia and oils 20 x 20

.....and finished it at home. Because he started it with watercolor, he sealed it with spray acrylic. He then added acrylics and finally oils. Above is the final piece. It's beautiful.

There were several of his works at Museum 510, these are the few I took photos of....

"Randall thinks of himself as a realist who paints personal subject matter. 'I'm a nature boy'. His loyalty is to the process. Randall begins with an idea. He's not a slave to an image and paints mostly from memory. 'I look at the image in my head'. While painting, 'I keep the thing in play, in process. I might focus on the tangle in the front with the distant meadow as a quiet moment. Being in nature and/or thinking of nature is something I do 24/7. That's why I live in Oregon' ".  From Sarah Peroutka notes.

I look forward to his blog because it is so well written, honest, and full of the most interesting and fun things. (check out the new cat carrier!) 

His work is available in his studio.

Listening to while I paint:

Podcasts: 

Beyond the To-Do List, hosted by Erik Fischer

The Nerdist, hosted by Chris Hardwick

Artists Helping Artists, hosted by Leslie Saeta

The Chalene Show, hosted by Chalene Johnson
Social Media Examiner, hosted by Michael Stelzner
"Wait, Wait.... Don't Tell Me!", hosted by Peter Sagal
Splendid Table, hosted by Lynne Rossetto Kasper
American's Test Kitchen, hosted by Christopher Kimball

Truth For Life, hosted by Alistair Begg

Music: 
My iPod

Really helpful!:
I am continually checking a dictionary, thesaurus, spell check, but one thing that has been particularly helpful is the grammar check. Please excuse any errors that I make and tell me! :)