Hello everyone. It’s a bit of a cloudy day here in my neighborhood in Korea. Fortunately, it’s not raining, but there’s a chill in the air that has me reaching for a blanket to cover my legs while I sit. I wonder what the weather is like wherever you are.
In this post, I’d like to talk about the very first piece I listed after opening my Etsy shop.
It’s this painting right here:
Actually, I didn’t create this piece specifically for Etsy. In fact, I finished it before I even decided to open the shop! Last autumn, I went to a restaurant for a get-together with friends. For dessert, we ordered a Strawberry Soufflé Cake, which became the model for this painting. It was almost too beautiful to eat, so I made sure to capture it in a photo.📷
As the end of the year approached, I found myself wanting to practice my painting more seriously. While scrolling through my phone gallery for inspiration, I came across that photo of the soufflé cake and decided to start painting it for practice.
In the photo, the lighting was a bit washed out, making the colors look faint. I decided to take some creative liberty and bring out the colors I imagined. I wanted the syrup dripping down to be a vivid, striking red, and I spent a lot of time thinking about how to make the soft whipped cream and fresh strawberries look as delicious as possible. At first, I thought depicting the syrup swirling into the cream would be difficult and tedious, but surprisingly, I was able to express it quite naturally as my hand moved.
When I paint, my goal isn’t to create a perfect carbon copy of reality. I want my work to look like a “painting” while still being very clear about what it represents. Because of this philosophy, the most challenging part for me was the cross-section of the strawberries.🍓
I didn’t want to go into extreme detail because that would have been too time-consuming and would have pushed the piece toward hyper-realism, which wasn’t the look I was going for. I worked on those sections repeatedly to find the right balance—simple enough, yet instantly recognizable.
After finishing the main elements, it was time for the finishing touches: the herb garnish, the dusted powdered sugar, and the plate. To get the texture of the powdered sugar just right, I spent a lot of time digging through the default Procreate brushes. I eventually found one meant for “char marks” or “scorch marks.” By changing the color to white and adjusting the size, I was able to lightly tap it onto the desired spots to create a perfect powdered sugar effect.
As for the plate, I decided to change it from the original to something that would make the food pop more. I chose a relatively plain plate with a hint of a different tone—specifically, a warmer beige—to give it more character than the one in the photo.
Once the painting was done, I wanted to give the overall background a vintage feel, so I picked a font and added the name of the cake. Looking back now, I’m not entirely satisfied with it. I think a hand-lettered, less structured style might have suited it better.
But hey, that was my choice at the time! 😉
After completing this piece, I opened my Etsy shop. While I was planning and working on new artwork, I realized my next project would take longer than expected. I decided I shouldn’t wait, so I chose this finished piece to be my very first Etsy listing.
In my next post, I’ll be introducing a very different type of painting that I uploaded after this one.
Have a wonderful day, and I’ll see you in the next post!