Cake is always a good idea, also as a watercolour painting with the HORADAM® watercolours - with Tanja Werner

Step 1:

At the beginning I sketch my chosen motif with light pencil lines, in this case a French raspberry cream dessert, on watercolour paper. If a line should not succeed correctly, I usea kneading gum to protect the sensitive watercolour paper.

Step 2

Now I draw some shadow areas with HORADAM® Graphite Grey 788 (strongly diluted) into the motif to give a certain plasticity. I use a blur brush to create smooth gradients.

Step 3

In the further process I work with different HORADAM^® Rose/Red shades, purple magenta 367, quinacridone violet 368, Cobalt violet hue 473 and then mix them together to work out the individual cake layers. I make sure that the creamy layers of cake get a lighter colour and the raspberry jelly filling gets a darker colour. I achieve this mainly by mixing the different HORADAM^® colours, but also by regulating the use of water. To prevent the individual layers of paint from blurring, I skip one cake layer at a time and paint the other layers as soon as the first ones have dried.

Step 4:

Gradually, the fine details of the dessert are worked out layer by layer. I start with the lighter shade, on which the different consistencies as well as the surfaces of the cake layers are shown using the dab technique for the rough biscuit base. The smoothest possible colour gradients of jelly and cream are achieved by the dosed use of water.

Step 5:

Now the details of the fruity cake topping can be painted by applying the structure of the strawberry and raspberry layerby layer with very diluted with water HORADAM^® Scarlet 363 after drying the respective layer. Already in this phase I keep in mind the grain and the light spots of the fruits by leaving certain areas unpainted.

Step 6:

I achieve depth by applying slightly diluted HORADAM^® Graphite Grey 788 onto the already dried colour layers ofthe dessert. Furthermore, I underline the paper folds with light and shadow effects.

Step 7:

This 3D-effect can be enhanced by a black ink outline, which I insert into the watercolour painting with a slight swing.

Step 8:

To give the drawing more lightness, I work with blotches, which I apply over the painting with a thicker brush, soaked with HORADAM® watercolor Purple-Magenta 367 and water on my index finger. This results in slight spots of paint, depending on the amount of paint and water in the brush. The thicker spots of paint can be effectively loosened up by blowing them apart with a straw.

Step 9:

Finally, I work a little on the shadow effect and achieve more intensity, for example, with additional layers of HORADAM^® Graphite Grey 788 or with a dot shading with a fineliner. The fruits also gain in plasticity with highlights in HORADAM^® Titanium Opaque White 101.

Step 10:

I like to round off my drawings with a lettering, which I apply with a fine brush, diluted watercolor and a fineliner. The text gives an indication of the place of origin, the situation or even the respective experience.