Art Lessons in Acrylic: Night Sky

The night sky is a beautiful and awe inspiring thing that many of use love to look at. The sky has been the subject of many great artists, and its beauty never ceases to amaze me. You may feel like the night sky is too intense and wondrous to paint, but I am here to tell you it is not. You can create your own lovely rendition of the night sky using simple acrylic paint techniques, and this article will show you how.

To start you will need a canvas; whatever size canvas you have will work. You will also need a palette to mix your colors in, and I like to work with an ice cube tray because it really holds a lot of liquid. You will also need various colors of acrylic paint; blue, purple, black, and white are all essential, but varying shades of these colors are welcome. If you only have these colors do not worry because you can mix them to create various shades. It is also useful to have a cup of water and a rag to wipe your brush on.

Now start by putting some paint into the different areas of your palette; I like to add a little water to the paint to make it smooth and easy to work with. Next lightly wet some of your canvas, but remember to leave some places dry. These dry places will remain white, and they will help you make a moon and star later. Now add some blue and purple to your wet spots. The paint will get pulled out by the water, and it will swirl around on the canvas. Add more colors and enjoy this process of blending.

Allow these layes to dry before beginning the next step. After you have colored in most of the sky and it has dried you will need to pick a spot for the moon. A large round or crescent shaped white area is perfect, and you will notice that there are plenty of options available to you when you look at the blank spots you originally left dry. Now use the white paint to accentuate a round or crescent shaped area. You can add some light blue spots to this area to create detail and interest. To create stars you should find other white spots and dab a tiny dot of white on it. Using your finger you should smear the white paint in a line out from the middle point. Repeat this process until your stars are bright and twinkling.

This is a simple way to paint a gorgeous night sky that doesn’t require a lot of supplies. I hope you have enjoyed this art project, and for more like it check out my other articles.