Apple Cake Cards For Rosh HaShana, Or Someone's Birthday, Or Both?

One of my sweet sons has a 17th birthday tomorrow, just two days shy of Rosh HaShana, and this year, unlike previous years when the men and boys travel out of town for the holiday leaving us women to bask in the freedom of just being women, ahhhh, but never mind, that is not happening this year, or so it seems, which means that for the first time in about ten years I have the chance to make a proper birthday party for my son on his actual birthday! Not all the family will have arrived back home from their various schools, but at least I can decorate!

Just in time for my birthday decor needs, my friend Amanda Evanston posted a video on her Facebook page showing how to make some artful cakes, in preparation for the opening of her private Facebook group, (to let in another batch of members, which only happens twice a year) so check out the video here, and consider treating yourself to a membership in her Insider’s Group, totally amazing, and the biggest comitment you’ll need to make is for a month, so given all the videos now available there, nothing lost. This is not a paid post, just spreading good news about something that could really change your art game, if you are up for it!

Okay, back to Rosh HaShana apple cake and birthday cake, which could in fact be one and the same as Rosh HaShana is the world’s birthday, at least on the Jewish calendar, but available for all to celebrate, so feel free to join in! There will be honey cake and apples dipped in honey and dates and pomegranites and carrots and beets and pumpkin and leek and maybe even a fish head if you are lucky. (I just mentioned the symbolic foods we eat on the holiday…..we also eat several course festive meals and everyone listens to the blowing of the shofar, this year on Sunday only.)

Once again, I am going off on a tangent and you might like to paint some festive apples or a birthday cake, right? Okay, let’s do it……..

You’ll Need:

watercolor paper, (or small canvases)
acrylic paint
a white paint pen, optional

How To:

Both the apple and the birthday cake were made using an age-old technique called negative-shape painting. This is a great way to rescue unsuccessful art, and create something unique as a beginner, or even if you are not a beginner. Basically instead of painting an apple shape on top of a background, one paints around the apple shape such that the result is an apple, for example, that is patterned. Namely you draw the apple shape on your patterned background with pencil, or chalk or something that shows up on the background and then you paint around the outside of the apple leaving the apple blank. And hopefully that blank section is something interesting and if not, you can add some pattern and color to it!

I first painted stripes on my paper, (see image below) in accordance with the tutorial from Amanda Evanston, then outlined the cake and the apple, then painted little details on them and then blocked out the background. Once dry I added a few details with a paint pen, and voila, cute as can be!

There is just something about this bright pink that makes everything look great!