I draw with my pencil first. To paint a white object on your watercolour paper, I can simply mix Prussian Blue and Lamp Black with lots of water to get a very transparent blue/grey. With this transparent mix, I paint the shadows of the white cake stand with my size 2 brush to create a 3D effect.

I paint the first three layers of the cake with Winsor Violet. To the left of the layers, I put on some Prussian Blue while the Winsor Violet is still wet. This technique is called wet-on-wet. For the flower petals, I paint five loops around a middle point.

In this style, I paint more yellow flowers with Cadmium-Free Yellow and some green leaves with Hookers Green. The icing of the cake will be a dark blueish violet to create some colour harmony. With the wet-on wet technique and some Raw Umber, I paint the two remaining layers.

The first layer of paint needs to dry completely now. Thebackground of my cake illustration looks like a water splash which I paint with a size 6 brush with Permanent Carmine.

To create some darker shadows, I use a slightly darker hue each time. This watercolour technique is called layering or glazing. I use the colours mentioned in steps 1 to 4 with less water. However, I only apply the opaque colour to the areas to be shaded.

My illustrations end up with a catchy one-liner which I create with a size 2 brush. To do this brush lettering, you need to paint the downward strokes thick and the upward strokes thin.