The perks of pigment: Becoming a vegan watercolorist in the Philippines

When I first made a watercolor portrait four years ago, I made a newbie mistake: I used non-vegan pigments.

While it was an honest mistake, it made me feel awful. I had already been vegan for three years at the time — surely, I knew better than to be so careless as to forget that indeed, pigments used in art, make-up, and food might not be vegan, right?

Thankfully, I discovered my lapse in judgment quickly and started looking for vegan watercolor pigments in earnest. But what I discovered made me realize that I needed more than determination to make sure that all my paintings were vegan.

The power of color

We were two years into the pandemic. I had just experienced a salary cut, making life in the city unsustainable. I started dipping into my savings to afford rent and food.

On top of that, I got very ill and could barely move. This went on for two weeks, and I felt like I was just waiting for my life to finally end, because the physical pain I was in was excruciating. My illness also affected my mental health: I didn’t have the energy to get up, even to take a much-needed bath.

I wanted to get treated! I wanted to live! However, I didn’t have the money to get admitted to the hospital.

It seemed I had learned to be helpless. I was resigned to my fate.

As bleak as all that sounds, I did find one thing that gave me solace: music. A little later, that music led to another source of comfort: art.

J-Hope, water color by Stef

Pigment problems

Because I wanted to make watercolor portraits of the music artists I had grown to love, I started reading about color theory, watercolor, and portraiture. I was off to a rocky start, because it didn’t dawn on me that even charcoal pencils might not be vegan!

I started looking for watercolor pigments that were vegan-friendly. To my disappointment, the options available in the Philippines were expensive. One small tub of poured watercolor pigment cost me about Php 250 (almost $5). If I wanted to work with a more complete palette of colors, that would mean spending upwards of Php 2,500 (almost $50) — and that was money I didn’t have at the moment!

That didn’t stop me from saving up to finally afford one more tub of color, then another, and another. After several months, I finally have a palette of vegan watercolor that I could work with, acquired from different brands and online sellers.

I learned to paint quickly, perhaps in part because my ADHD wouldn’t let me do anything else other than paint! Hyperfocus allowed me to do master studies, learn difficult techniques, and make one sale after another.

In the two years that I painted, I sold about 50 vegan watercolor portraits.

Color me healed

I found it challenging to look for vegan art materials. Sometimes, looking for a specific color or tool that was both affordable and accessible would take days, especially as many online art brands don’t disclose the materials they use.

Because there was no single source for vegan art materials in the Philippines, I wanted to make sure every Filipino vegan wouldn’t spend as much time and effort as I did figuring out what I could use. On my Facebook page, I posted a list of all the pigments, papers, pencils, and brushes that I used in my paintings. (Here is that post, in case you reside in the Philippines and need a list of vegan art materials at a glance.)

I rarely paint nowadays. Could it be because I no longer need to? Could it be because art has already fulfilled its role in my life — that is, to facilitate my healing?

My brushes are still on display on my desk. Some of my paintings are still hanging on the walls of my room. Even if I haven’t touched my watercolor tubs in a long while, looking at these reminders of what I used to do brings me joy. They remind me of how I survived something horrific. They remind me of how I taught myself to paint, despite my circumstances — and how my love for doing portraits helped sustain me during difficult times.

They remind me that creating beauty does not necessitate its taking; that the tools I use do not have to come from an animal’s death if what I wish is to celebrate life.

Check it out!

Want to see some of the vegan paintings I made? Feel free to check out my Instagram!