Want to know how to make a super easy oil pastel night sky painting? Follow these three steps for a Christmas painting that looks like a professional did it.
Disclaimer: THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS, MEANING I GET A COMMISSION IF YOU DECIDE TO MAKE A PURCHASE THROUGH MY LINKS, AT NO COST TO YOU. AS AN AMAZON AFFILIATE I EARN FROM QUALIFYING PURCHASES AT NO EXTRA COST TO YOU.
The Christmas season is extremely magical and if you’re anything like me, you are wanting to capture that holiday spirit in a beautiful night sky painting. As the artist who painted this artwork, I know firsthand that it is perfect for beginners.
You are going to learn how to do a night sky painting, night sky oil pastel drawing, Christmas painting easy, how to use oil pastels, oil pastel techniques, and more!
After reading and seeing the three-step process you will be able to paint a wonderful Christmas night sky painting.
Supplies Used:
Sennelier Oil Pastel
Sennelier Transparent Oil Pastel Stick
Birchwood Canvas Panel
Paper Towels
Sennelier Fixative Spray
3 Steps to Make a Christmas Night Sky Painting Like a Pro
Learn how to paint the star and camel in Insanely Easy Christmas Star Drawing That Will Leave You in a Merry Mood.
Step 1: How to Use Oil Pastels
This first step of your night sky painting is super easy. It is simply coloring the background with the Sennelier oil pastels.
Sennelier oil pastels are soft pastels, I haven’t tried to use hard oil pastels on a wooden canvas yet so I’m not sure how they would work. Although if that is the kind you have you can try those. If you do let me know how they work in the comment section below.
Start coloring around the Christmas star. You will want to use light blue because it will make it look like the star is giving off light once it’s blended.
Then use the second lightest blue to color around the light blue.
Now take the darkest blue and color the corner that the star is in.
Once you have the area around the star prepped you can start working on the rest of the sky.
Color small sections randomly on the wooden canvas with each blue. If you want the sky dark make sure that you mostly use the dark blue oil pastel.
Then you will add black to the sky. Don’t get the black close to the star as it would make it very difficult to blend without touching the white paint.
Get inspired for your next oil pastel painting with Oil Pastel Flowers in 7 Easy Steps.
Step 2: Oil Pastel Techniques
After much trial and error on my end, I have found that paper towels are the best way to blend the soft Sennelier oil pastels.
Take the paper towel and fold it so there is a nice smooth edge. Then start to blend the paint. Start in the upper left corner so you get a feel of how to blend.
Once you are ready to blend around the star, refold your paper towel so you have a fresh clean surface. Blend closest to the star outward. Note that once your paper towel gets the dark blue/black pastel on it it will get onto the lighter colors. To prevent this from happening use a clean surface with each rub.
After blending you may need to touch up the white areas. This will inevitably rub some blue into the star. If you don’t want a blue-tinted star you will need to clean your white pastel stick off with a paper towel.
While touching up the camel and the horizon I found that I liked the blue that bled in. If you also like that don’t clean off your white oil pastel while doing touch-ups.
Check out other ways to blend oil pastels in 16 Essential Oil Pastel Techniques.
Step 3: Night Sky Oil Pastel Drawing
For the final step of this Christmas painting easy, it is time to add the distant stars.
Take your white oil pastel stick and clean off any blue that is on it. Then randomly put stars onto your painting.
You can leave them like that or if you want them more subtle use the Sennelier transparent medium blender stick.
Take the stick and rub each star in a small circle. If you blend the white too much just add a couple of quick dabs of the white oil pastel in the middle of the circles.
Bonus Tip: Christmas Painting Easy
If you want to protect this painting from dust or accidentally getting smudged use the Sennelier Fixative spray. However, let your painting sit for about one week before applying the spray. Letting it sit causes the paint to be less oily and the fixative spray works better.
Just a reminder: when spraying go outside or be in a well-ventilated room because it is potent and multiple light coats work much better than one or two heavy coats.
Awesome job at completing your Christmas night sky painting in oil pastel! Let me know how it went and what your masterpiece looks like in the comments below 🙂
This post is all about how to create a night sky painting.
For more painting inspiration check out these posts:
Leave a Reply