Today I decided to practice still life painting by painting two different makeup products. I used the shading techniques that I learned while painting my Self Portrait Draft and added details with black and white pen, as in my Watercolour Flowers post. I love how these two paintings turned out! I like how bold and clear the colours came out – they didn’t get muddied at all, and the layering that I was able to achieve with the combination of the paint and ink.

Cloud Paint

This is the second painting that I did, and I think I did a much better job of defining all of the creases and wrinkles that occur with the real product. I am proud of the highlight details that I added in this one with a white gel pen. I think that the pen adds such a visually interesting, precise layer of dimension to watercolour art and it’s definitely a technique that I will continue to use and perfect as I keep painting. It was cool to have a physical object that I could observe and manipulate as I was painting. I was able to get a good feel for the actual dimensions and characteristics of the item, more so than I would be able to get from a photo or from imagination.

Key ideas:

  • Precision
  • Highlights and shading
  • Still life – using a real-life reference
  • Mixed media – adding details in pen