Blogger / 28 January, 2025 / Nanny Anita

Starry Snakes

I recently learnt how to create a painting effect like Van Gogh’s Starry Night picture.  I saw it being done to create some Starry Valentine’s hearts, which were very cool.  As I was watching it, I thought it would be quite fun to make some starry snakes for Chinese New Year.

Make sure you check out my New Year board on Pinterest for more ideas.  Don’t forget to save the pin for later.

To make your own starry snakes you will need:

• Paper
• Paint (at least 4 different colours)
• Flat sided paint brush
• Pencil

Start by drawing out your snake onto your paper.

Next dip one side of the flat into one colour and the other side of the brush into another colour.  I went with red and yellow for the snake.  Red and yellow are very auspicious colours in Chinese culture.  They also happen to be lucky colours for the year of the snake.

Using short brush strokes, fill in your snake.

For the rest of the picture, choose 2 more colours.  I went with white and green.  Green is the complementary colour for red, but I went with these two colours because they are meant to be the lucky colours this year for those of us born in the year of the Ox, which I was.  Again, make short brush strokes in circular and wavey patterns.  Similar to what you would see in the Starry Night painting.

Once the picture has been completely filled in, leave it to completely dry before outlining the snake in black pen.

If you enjoyed making these starry snakes, be sure to check out my koi fish paintings.

Pin for later: