I love this time of year when we pause and give thanks for all of our blessings and those we love at Thanksgiving. Then comes Christmas when we remember the birth of Jesus Christ and his example and teachings. During the Christmas season our family enjoys the beautiful Christmas lights on Temple Square in Salt Lake City. In honor of this tradition I painted some bright colored Christmas lights. With a few simple steps you can paint Christmas lights that glow using transparent watercolors. You can use your design for a Christmas card, scrapbook or journal page or to decorate your home for the holidays.
Thanks to cassidytuttle.com for this photo of the Christmas lights at Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah
You will need Watercolor Paper, watercolor brush, pencil, black pen, kneaded eraser, a white gel pen, tissue or paper towel and a spray bottle that sprays a fine mist of water. Watercolors: After taking a watercolor class I now use the Daniel Smith Essentials Set (a limited palette) plus a few favorite colors for most of my watercolor projects, but there are times when its nice to premixed colors like the ones found in the Koi Watercolor set.
You can draw your own Christmas light bulb template or download mine here.
You may want to practice doing a couple light bulbs on scrap paper. When you spray your painted light bulb with water try not to get the whole painting wet. You may want to cover the rest of your painting with a plastic bag or something to protect it. As you paint your light bulbs think about which ones are on the bottom and do those first and let them dry before you do the one on top. The transparent watercolor will the let the bulb that is on the bottom show through. When all the light bulbs are dry add the black ends and connecting wires.
Then go back over each light bulb adding a second glaze of color. Start on the outside of the bulb and brush in making the center of the bulb lighter if possible. Remember to do the bottom bulb first and let it dry before you do the top one. When all the paint is dry use your white gel pen to add the filament to each bulb and a few highlights here and there.
Your watercolor can be a finished painting like this or you can lightly outline the bulbs in black and add a border. Frame it our use it as a journal page or Christmas card.
I’ve been enjoying a watercolor class by Jana Parkin. In our last class she showed us a Christmas book she illustrated called, What Think Ye Of Christmas.
This little book would make a nice gift for someone special. I already gave my copy away and need to get a few more. She has a beautiful illustration of Christmas lights in the book and she showed us how she painted it. We did a little practicing in class then I couldn’t wait to get home and start experimenting and create my own design.
How to paint a watercolor Christmas wreath here.
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I’ll be sharing Watercolors That Glow on : Tweak It Tuesday, Inspire Me Tuesday, The Scoop, Wow Us Wednesday, Whatever Goes Wednesday, Be Inspired Friday, Show and Tell Friday, Inspiration Gallery, Feathered Nest Friday, Paint Party Friday, Art Journal Every Day
Thanks so much for the tutorial!
I hope I have time to try it,
Deb
What a beautiful holiday idea, Tammy! Thank you for sharing your gift of creating beauty with all of us!
What fun!!
Thank you thank you thank you. i love the colors showing thru each other. I can’t wait to sit down and try it.
Very informative and cute tutorial.
Pretty Christmas bulbs! I love how the two colors add depth to each and the little filament squiggles are such a nice detail! A blessed and happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.
great tutorial — thank you so much- Happy PPF!
That technique looks so beautiful! Happy PPF!
That’s really beautiful, Tammy. Thank you for the inspiration for my December desktop calendar.
Love the lights and thanks for bthe tutorial! Valerie
Beautiful painting. Thank you for sharing :)
Lovely painting and colours.
Gorgeous artwork!
What a fun tutorial for a great Christmas artwork. I love how it looks and the instructions are easy to follow. I might give this a whirl!
LOVE your multi-coloured lightbulbs! thanks for explaining how you made them!
Thank you for this, your lights look fabulous..
What a great tutorial, love seeing your process and this post.
Thank you so much for including the tutorial for this adorable card.
What a generous tutorial!! Thank you kindly for sharing these beautiful bulbs and their evolution!!
Hugs Giggles
loving your christmas lights. Happy PPF, Annette x
LOVE your Christmas lights!
Beautiful effect, and I really like the way you’ve made the lights come outside of the border in places.
Beautiful! The Christmas lights really do look lit up.
I love this tutorial, you make this effective technique seem so simple. Thank you so much for sharing this with us Tammy x
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We’ll do this tomorrow to make cards with kids (only with the lines already for them to color inside) for a lunch bunch craft to keep the kids from running around crazy and get excited for the holidays!