Mrs. Backer's Cupcakes

I thought that you might like to see the 

process of painting this cupcake piece.

I started out with a line drawing.

Then I began to paint the background so that I could

get a sense for the value of the cupcakes.

Now, I can start dropping in the cupcake colors.

Next, I'll fill in the cake and papers.

It's time to deepen the shadows and add texture

to the paper.

After painting rich and thick passages on the 

cupcakes, the background looks too thin. 

So I'll put a second layer on it.

The background color doesn't relate to the palette 

of the cupcakes (there's no purple anywhere) 

plus, I want more contrast to help the cupcakes pop.

By using my knife (and more paint) I soften the edges

and get the shapes "talking" to each other. Rather than 

crisp edges I now have loose edges. I like it better!