Hydroflask Painters

Painting is a medium of art often expressed on paper or through murals. However, recent trends have led to a new form of painting displayed on water bottles, specifically on Hydroflasks. As you walk the busy halls of Cupertino High School, blurs of flowers or assorted patterns on Hydros can be seen slung through student’s fingers or harnessed onto the side of backpacks in the bottle holders.
Hydroflasks have become a staple item for many students. Regardless, one would usually find it hard to believe that painting on day-to-day items like water bottles would become a trend.
Senior Kathy Lou is one of the many students on campus who enjoy the unique art of Hydroflask painting. Lou has been an avid artist, having taken art classes for close to ten years before recently getting into Hydroflask painting. Prior to Hydroflask painting, she has worked with a variety of art forms, including oil painting, sketching, and graphic design.
Said Lou, “It’s something different because everyone nowadays has a Hydro but having a painting on it that’s unique to every person is new. With stickers, a lot of people could have the same kinds of stickers, but Hydro painting has a more custom feel.”
Her participation in this art began fairly recently when one of her friends asked for a simple request.
Said Lou, “I had the idea last year, but never really got the time to start. One of my friends wanted to paint the Hydroflask logo black, but it ended up getting messed up, so he me asked to paint over it.”
After her friend requested a paint job for their Hydroflask, Lou started to become more invested and interested in experimenting with it. Following this first request, she began receiving commissions from her friends that asked for more elaborate designs including koi fish, waves, and flowers.
With her prior knowledge, Lou is more familiar with painting on canvases, so the switch to Hydroflasks provided new factors to consider.
Said Lou, “The thing with a Hydro is that before you paint anything you need to paint it white because say if a Hydro were a bright blue color; the paint would be too transparent just to be applied on directly.”
Hydroflask painting provides a unique outlet for her artistic instinct that differs from conventional art forms. So far, Lou has been commissioned to paint five Hydroflasks and looks forward to more opportunities in the future.