Using oil pastels as a resist technique to create the Christmas decorations, makes this art project extra colorful and unique.
A DIY Christmas on a budget – a Funky Christmas Tree Painting
It’s that time of year again when I try to close the workshop from my little helpers. I am not a napping crafter year round because I truly believe in the benefits of crafting with my children. At 5, my daughter is hand sewing her own projects and at 2 my son is cutting, pinning and starting to sew as well. This time of year though, I am trying to finish all my hand-made Christmas gifts behind closed doors. They seem to know it too, because no matter what time of day, they are trying to get into Santa’s my workshop. STOP KNOCKING. You know that although I try to keep you out, your pleas to help me sew and craft are irresistible and I will give in and let you come to our crafting area!! I know, I am a push over when it comes to kids helping me craft – but, oh well. You can’t be great at everything =)
This week I will show you some things that I have made with (and without helpers) for a DIY Christmas (On a Budget!
Today is the Funky Christmas Tree Painting
Materials Needed:
Canvas ( I re-used one that already had a painting on)
Acrylic Paint
Brushes
Glitter Glue
1. Start by painting your canvas in shades of blues.
2. When your toddler figures out what you are doing, let him sponge paint white to look like snow on the blue.
3. Add the snowy bottom and the green tree
4. Wait (or get a blow dryer out to speed things up)
5. Add lights (I used the end of my brush to stamp yellow)
6. Add a bunch of circle ornaments. To make them funky, keep adding circles of colors.
7. Add presents to the bottom of the tree.
8. When all is dry, use your kids glitter glue to add sparkles!
Hang up and let your kids enjoy! “See mom – I painted that with you”
Like this idea? Pin for later or share now with a friend!
About Amanda Boyarshinov
K – 12 masters reading teacher, author and mom to 3. Amanda is a National Board Certified teacher with oodles of experience in early childhood education.
- Beth (www.livinglifeintentionally.blogspot.com) says December 5, 2011 at 8:28 pm
I just read your comment on my blog & was wondering where you get a book of your blog made? I’d love to know!
[email protected]
Thats a great painting. I love that it was a joint effort.
That’s a neat, whimsical tree painting. Love that it was the result of a child/parent collaboration.
Love this painting – it looks great And thanks for popping past my blog, for our stump seats the wood sat drying for about a year, so not sure if that helps? And I paint the tops every 6 months or so, warm wishes Kelly
Create your own watercolor Christmas tree
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Supplies
- Watercolor paint
- Paintbrushes
- Paint palette
- Watercolor paper
- Pencil
- Oil pastels in bright colors
Instructions to make your Christmas tree art
1. First, start by getting your paper ready. I cut our 11 x 15 inch watercolor paper in four equal pieces making each piece 5.5 x 7.5 inches. So one piece of 11 x 15 inch paper will make four mini paintings.
2. Next, use a pencil to draw out your snow hill, tree, and star at the top of the tree like in the picture above. Remind kids to press lightly so the pencil lines don’t show through very much on the completed painting. It’s ok for a few pencil lines to show through but you want to avoid dark pencil lines.
Draw the hill first, then a straight line where you want the tree to go. Add a few branches coming out from the straight line and draw in the trunk. Finally, draw in the star at the top of the tree.
3. Have kids choose 4 – 6 bright colors of oil pastels that they want for the tree decorations.
Draw small dot decorations on the tree in a random pattern. Press firmly with the oil pastels so the colors are nice and bright and the resist technique works well.
4. Mix three shades of green for the Christmas tree. A light shade, a nice bright green and a darker shade.
Start with the lighter shade. Paint in some branches with the light green using a smaller round brush but don’t cover the whole tree with the light green. The oil pastels will resist the paint and won’t get covered up.
5. Next, paint some more branches with the bright green color and finally add in the darker green shade.
You want to paint all three colors while the paint is still wet. This will help the different shades to mix together and create a softer look for the tree.
Remind kids not to cover up the lighter shade of green when painting the darker shades in. It’s nice to see a mixture of light and dark green on the tree.
6. After your tree branches have dried, you can paint in the tree trunk. For this part, have two shades of brown ready. A light brown and a dark brown.
Paint the trunk with the lighter brown, and while the paint is still wet, add a line of dark brown to the right side of the trunk. Using a small brush will help make this step easier for kids.
7. For the snow, mix a light blue shade. Use a small round brush and trace the hill pencil line with the paint. Soften this line a bit by painting over it with a clean wet brush.
Paint in some more shadows like in the picture above, and soften those lines with a clean, wet brush. Just a few lines of blue make a huge difference, you want to keep most of your hill white.
8. Finally, paint your star with bright yellow and let it dry. Paint lines around the star in an outward direction to make the star look like it’s glowing.
Use a light yellow color for this part. Soften these lines by painting over them with a clean wet brush.
I love how this watercolor Christmas tree turned out, it’s such a cute painting idea! The bright colors of the oil pastels are perfect for the Christmas decorations to give the painting a pop of color and works really well as an easy resist technique.
Kids will love making this adorable Christmas tree painting this holiday season!
If you are looking for more Christmas projects to make take a look at our collection of creative Christmas arts and crafts for more fun ideas!
More Christmas art projects kids will love
Follow me on Pinterest for more amazing project ideas.
Pin this watercolor art for later
Yield: 1 watercolor Christmas tree
How to Paint an Easy Watercolor Christmas Tree
Kids will learn how to paint a watercolor Christmas tree with these easy and fun watercolor techniques! A wonderful Christmas art project idea.
Prep Time 5 minutes
Active Time 30 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Difficulty Easy
