Walk Away

by Jo Reimer

Walkin Away
15" x 13"
Acrylic on Rives BFK

Rives BFK is a cotton rag print-making paper, used most often by printermakers/artists to make monotypes, lithographs, and for drawing. I've come to enjoy using it as a painting substrate because it stays flat when I use watercolor or acrylic paints. In fact, as the acrylic builds up on the surface the work takes on a leatherlike hand that's very pleasing to me.

Bluff

 by Jo Reimer

Bluff
20" x 13"
Acrylic on Yupo

I'm still exploring Yupo as a substrate for painting and collage. For the uninitiated, Yupo is a synthetic paper that's often used for posters and banners. You can read about it here. It's super smooth and doesn't buckle or wrinkle nor does it absorb water. It's fun to drop watercolor or thinned down acrylic paint onto the surface and watch what happens.

Garden in Bloom

by Jo Reimer

Garden in Bloom
30" x 22"
Collage Painting on Paper

Set a sheet of white paper on the table with the tools of your trade arranged within easy reach and paint all day. Cover the results with a coat of gesso and start over. Repeat 3 more times. Decide that this one won't be a masterpiece but it WILL be a fine birthday present for an appreciative granddaughter.

I struggled with this sheet of 300# watercolor paper for several days and nothing I did seemed to work. Finally I decided that some of the lines looked a bit like stems and some of the circles looked like flowers. A friend advised turning back to collage, so this is what resulted. It might be done. I might draw on top of it. I might move on.

detail