Christmas Star

A painting I really love: A beautiful serene and surreal landscape at night with the Star of Bethlehem up on the sky, framed by tree silhouettes. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Star - Acrylic painting on canvas (24"x20")

For the journal, I include the previous stages of this painting.

The first photo was taken after three layers, A two-layer diffuse watery background with greys, blues, and touches of teal in the sky and green on the foreground. I blotted dry and rewaterered those sections I wanted to be lighter. Additional watery effects by sprinkling and spraying. Then trees far away with vertical brush strokes.

After seven layers. Additional wash of green on the bottom. Wash of light blue on the top. Color sprinkles on the top and bottom. Then adding the Christmas star.
The only thing I added after this on the final version was the tree silhouettes with a liquid mix of phthalo blue and quinacridone magenta to get a transparent purple. I blotted dry some of the grass and distant trees to get the desired transparency in places.