Christmas is a magical time; these easy canvas paintings are the perfect way to share your holiday cheer. These step-by-step acrylic painting tutorials are great for beginners or anyone looking to host a DIY paint party.
To get started, you need only a few simple supplies, such as paint acrylics, a canvas, and a few brushes. You can even use a smock to avoid getting paint on your clothes.
Easy Christmas Wreath
Wreaths add a warm, welcoming touch to any door, window, or gate, especially at Christmas. Create a festive look with a wreath stamp, or use leaves, ribbons, flowers, and sequins to create your creations!
Try this simple design using a wire frame and a mixture of foraged branches and flowers for a natural-looking holiday wreath. For an elegant look, foraged pine cones and Echinops seed heads pair well with Tuscany and wild carrot flowers, eucalyptus, and pepper berries.
Add sparkle to your Christmas wreath with this pretty design featuring glittery ornaments and silver snowflakes. This festive wreath idea will surely bring out oohs and aahs from guests when they visit your home. This DIY wreath is also easy to make!
Nativity Silhouette
Nativity silhouettes are a beautiful way to celebrate the Christmas season. They can be a great addition to any home decoration or a special gift for loved ones.
You can create your nativity silhouettes with simple materials. A jigsaw and palm sander can make the process quicker, but you can also get by with a hand saw and plenty of patience! The most important thing is to use pressure-treated plywood to help your nativity stand up through many winters.
Start by painting the background and two sides of the frame. Next, paint the base of your nativity with Mars black. For the mountain line, wipe your brush off and load it with neutral grey.
Paint the second layer of mountains, making sure to make the wavy line different from the first.
Pine Tree Branch
Pine trees are a classic Christmas tree shape, and this fun painting tutorial is a great way to learn how to paint them. You can use this technique on larger canvasses to create a festive forest scene or frame your finished piece as an elegant gift for someone special.
Use the tip of your shader brush and load it with green paint to create vertical strokes that form a trunk. Repeat these strokes across the entire canvas, creating more branches and varying their direction as you go.
Next, mix titanium white with a little water and flick it onto the background and on the trees. This will create a magical snow effect and add to the overall ambiance of your final painting.
Reindeer Galaxy Sky
Whether you want a new home decor idea or to host a festive paint party with your friends, these easy Christmas canvas paintings are perfect. They can be made with acrylic paints and brushes and are fun to create.
To create a galaxy look, you will need to thin your paint. A little water with titanium white will help you achieve this. Then, use a brush to flick random specks of paint across the canvas.
This will create a beautiful space look and add the feeling of magic to your painting. To finish it off, add more stars with a smaller brush. You can even add more nebula colors to your galaxy if you wish. For example, oranges and teals would be great to add in!
Santa Face Painting
For those who love Santa and want to spread some holiday cheer, here is an easy-to-follow Christmas canvas painting tutorial that will help you create a cute Santa design. This would make a great addition to your home decor or even as a paint party gift.
Start by creating a centered block with your flat wash brush using red and skin tone paint. Make sure to leave a space for Santa’s hat.
Using your detail brush, paint the outline of Santa’s face and hat, adding in his beard whiskers. Finish off the look with a smile and laugh lines. This design is sure to bring a smile to anyone who sees it. You can also add some glitter to give it that extra special touch. Enjoy!
Elf Painting
This adorable Elf painting makes a great addition to your holiday decor and can also be used as a fun Christmas paint party project for friends or family. Follow these step-by-step instructions (and a video tutorial) to create this cute painting.
With your flat wash brush, load a mix of ultramarine blue and a bit of white paint onto your brush. Create vertical strokes starting at the top of your canvas and ending 2/3 of the way down.
Add more snowflakes with a latex-gloved hand or brush. You can also use a watered-down titanium white to flick tiny, spontaneous specks of snow across the scene and elf. This will help the scene and elf look more magical and magical.
Rudolph Painting
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is an iconic Christmas character beloved by generations. This easy Rudolph painting is a great project for kids of all ages.
You can create this cute reindeer that will look great on your holiday mantle or table with just a few simple steps.
Start with a white canvas for this painting and apply a thin coat of white acrylic paint. Let dry. Next, use a flat wash brush double loaded with titanium white and light blue permanent and paint up and down strokes to create a cloudy, snowy background for your painting.
Position your graphite paper tracer on the canvas and tape it in place. With a filbert brush, mix brown with white to create a light brown and draw on Rudolph’s face.
Palette Knife Painting
Palette knives are great for achieving a variety of textures, but it’s important to understand their limitations. For example, thicker layers are difficult to smooth with a knife and can appear muddy. This is why it’s best to paint with oil paint on canvas or panel, which allows for more blending time.
Load your palette knife with transparent paint and skim it over the surface to create a layer that allows what’s underneath to show through. The size of these “windows” is determined by the pressure of your stroke and the texture of the painting surface.
Apply directional lines with the edge of your palette knife to create movement in your paintings. Try waves, swirls, diagonals, and more. The results are stunning and help bring harmony to your pieces. Wipe your palette knife before applying a different color or line to prevent muddying the other paint.
Mittens Painting
This painting is a great winter home decor piece that shows the holiday spirit. Hang it on a wall or by your Christmas tree.
Sketch the mittens using your hand to help with their shape. Draw two mittens that slightly overlap each other and a heart snowball shape.
Paint the mittens. Use titanium white and blend in the shadow color turquoise blue for the snowball. Then, touch up if needed. Add a light red color to the top rounded area and the mitten thumb area. Use the #4 round brush to paint a sweater texture on the end sleeve/ cuff. Rinse the brush.
Paint the candy cane. Load the brush with titanium white and add some turquoise blue to it. Paint some overlapping diagonal strokes that cross each other and blend. Paint more than necessary, so it is thicker than usual.
Snowy Mountains Painting
Snowy Mountains painting is an acrylic landscape painting tutorial for beginners. It’s an easy tutorial on how to paint mountains in acrylics.
This lesson uses a limited palette to establish good contrasts between light and dark values. This helps to create a more compelling picture. Cooler colors like blues and greens can make the picture look bigger and add visual enlargement, while warmer colors can add vibrancy and life.
Load the 3/4 round brush with titanium white and cerulean blue. Begin by painting blotches of the lighter blue on the right side of each mountain peak. Allow some of the darker blue to show through on these blotches.
Then, paint a couple of vertical lines to represent pine trees in the distance. Leave the left side of these lines a bit darker, as they will be covered with snow.
Final Thoughts
You may unleash your imagination and embrace the enchantment of Christmas with these festive canvas painting ideas. Every activity brings festive pleasure to life, whether you’re painting a glittering wreath, a calm snowy mountain, or a whimsical Rudolph.
Even though these detailed instructions are easy enough for novices, experienced artists will still find them entertaining and interesting.
So get your materials together, turn on some Christmas music, and use your creativity to make thoughtful decorations or unusual presents. There’s seldom a better moment to transform a blank canvas into a work of art that captures the wonder and happiness of the holidays.