Mya Learns About YUPO

My 7, soon to be 8, year old granddaughter came to spend a week with me at the end of June.  In addition to a day at Sea World, some serious shopping and a manicure, we did some art projects.

I had bought her her own sketch pad and a wide range of colorful markers.  Her tool of choice however turned out to be a pencil.  She said she didn't like the markers because they bled through the paper. (why didn't I think of that?!)

One of the "projects" that I thought would be fun was to paint on YUPO.  I did have an ulterior motive.  I wanted her to paint a Christmas Angel so that I could use it as a Christmas card.  I explained the meaning of a commissioned work.

We began by drawing a sketch in our sketch books. (silly me, I forgot to take a photo).  Then we used a watercolor pencil to draw the angel on to the YUPO.
 Next, we picked our color palette for the background.  I explained that we wanted to use colors that would look good together and not make "mud" when mixed together.  She said she wanted green~so I gave her choices and she picked yellow-green and phthalo green.  Good choices Mya.  Then, we needed an accent color; she immediately said PINK (her favorite color)...Quinacridone Pink.  So now were ready to begin.
I also painted an angel and "demo-ed" how to lay the juicy background colors on to the page.

Putting down the background wasn't what she thought;  she wanted to paint and spread like she knew painting to be.  I said we needed to splot and dab then we would tilt the paper to mix the colors and make interesting designs. Once she got the hang of it she thought it was "awesome".  I told her we would have to let it dry a bit before dropping in the Pink or it would all mix together and turn to grey.  I showed her on my palette what would happen mixing green and pink.

So this is her background.   We splattered and used a paper towel for different effects then left it to dry. Then we went shopping.

Later that evening when the background was dry, I showed her how to lift off the paint that had flowed into the wings.  Then we put in the wings and dress with a tinted wash.  Again we left it to dry.  She was getting a little tired of  the 'waiting to dry' part.    We finished the next day putting in the hair and the roses.  She wanted her angel to have a halo of course, so we lifted out the green color and painted in the yellow.

"Mya's Christmas Angel"

She finished by adding her signature.  Now I have my Christmas Angel.   

I asked Mya if she liked painting on YUPO, she said, "No, it's kind of boring having to wait all the time."

It did not deter her from drawing though.  She made 10 or 12 drawings of all kinds of things from

 "Chikin Girl" to "Aleons" (aliens).   They were quite detailed and imaginative.   

Maybe we'll have another little artist in the family.

btw:  Her angel turned out SO much better than mine.