Process of a Painting: Brooch Bouquet

I painted my first brooch bouquet recently and I’m pretty proud! Brooch bouquets have become a unique wedding trend in the past couple of years and can be a meaningful way to incorporate vintage costume jewelry from family members. I learned a lot from the process and thought I’d share my approach to painting this challenging portrait.

Because of the bouquet’s intricate details I decided to use a light pad to make a tracing from the photo onto watercolor paper.

Next I painted all of the darkest details. The key to painting something that sparkles is to emphasize the contrast between light and dark. It was a total paint by numbers situation during this stage!

Adding middle tones.

Adding additional transparent layers to create rich darks. I love how the giant gem at the bottom of the bouquet really starts to make the painting pop!

Laying in the first layer of the background.

Applying a second layer to the background and fine tuning all the details.

A high quality scan of the finished painting. Drool!

View more custom bouquet watercolor paintings HERE