I was working on painting some cute mini nest and egg canvas paintings that I sold at the garden center over the summer and thought, "These are so fun and easy to paint!"
So, I thought I’d show you how to make your own and you can even turn them into adorable fridge magnets!
All you need is a 2"x2" mini flat canvas, a few paint markers, small or fine-detail paint brushes, acrylic paints, a couple fine line ink pens and spray varnish.
The reason we’re using acrylic paints, paint markers, and pen ink on this mini painting is that each supply creates a different texture, giving the artwork a bit of life rather than just looking flat by using one medium.
Feel free to use any colors you like this it's your project!
Maybe you want yellow flowers or pink eggs, it’s all up to you, but I’ll share the colors and supplies I’m using as I go along!
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LET'S GET PAINTING!
I chose my favorite metallic gold paint, and here’s a little tip I love: to avoid needing too many layers of gold, I paint a light brown base underneath it. It really helps the gold pop!
I started by drawing a small oval shape in brown for the center of the nest, then loosely added imperfect lines around it to build the nest shape.
I repeated the same process with the black marker.
Still working on the nest, I grabbed a fine-tip paintbrush and dipped it in some white acrylic paint.
Acrylic is thicker than the paint markers, so it adds nice texture to the nest.
I used the fine-tip brush to add loose, imperfect white lines all around the nest.
I’ll do the same with light brown paint next, and I'll paint in the center of the nest.
And don’t worry if it looks messy at this stage, it’s totally normal, and it’ll all come together.
Plus, you're going to take a little break, go have some hot tea, swap out that load of laundry, or play with your fur baby!
Because you’ll want this layer of paint to be dry before moving on to the next step, or it could get muddy.
But don’t worry, acrylics and paint markers dry quickly, so you’ll be ready to continue in about 10 minutes!
PAINTING THE EGGS AND FLOWERS
Now, for the fun part you’re going to paint in your eggs just little ovals and flowers!
You can paint them any color you like. I usually go for blue eggs because I’m a boy mom, and while I only have two boys, I decided this nest was going to have three eggs.
If you scroll down, I’ll share some images of other nest and egg paintings I’ve done with just two eggs, so you can take a peek for inspiration.
Or maybe you want only one egg, or even a pink and blue combo, let your creativity flow!
Anyways, use your small paint brush, and an acrylic paint color of your choice, I chose this pretty robin's egg blue and to paint these little ovals.
Now, before we add the flowers, we need to touch up the nest a bit.
I know, but this helps the eggs look like they’re actually resting in that adorable little nest.
Grab your black paint marker and add some imperfect lines.
Then, take your brown acrylic paint and use the fine paintbrush to add a few more lines.
If it gets a little too dark with the brown and black, just add a bit of white to lighten it up!
Let’s move on to the little roses!
It’s a bit hard for me to explain, but it’s really so easy once you get the hang of it.
I gently make circles with the brush on the canvas, lifting the brush off the canvas occasionally to create what looks like small rose shapes.
Can you kind of see how I did it in the larger-scale images on the paper next to the painting—does that help?
Once you get the hang of those roses, dip a small paintbrush tip in lime green acrylic paint and add a couple of lines as leaves under each rose.
Take another little break to let the acrylic paint completely dry, because next you’re going to use a fine-line ink pen.
For the pens to move smoothly over the paint, it needs to be 100% dry.
I would’ve used my Black Micor Line Pen, but it dried out because I didn’t properly put the cap back on, lesson learned!
Take care of your art supplies, guys!
Okay, now take that black pen and softly outline around the eggs, roses, and leaves.
You can also use both the black and brown pens to add scribbles in the nest for smaller stems and extra texture details.
Not done yet!
Take a gold paint pen, medium or fine tip (Posca gold is my favorite) and add a little gold to your eggs.
Next, grab your fine-tip paintbrush and some white paint to add highlights with the gold.
Now, you’re almost done with this little painting!
The last step is varnish!
Since its winter and I can’t crack the window for ventilation, I sprayed my little cutie outside, which also gives you a peek at the pink chicken coop on the farm!
That’s it for the nest and egg painting!
You can totally leave this mini 2"x2" canvas as a painting, or you can turn it into a magnet.
It’s super simple, just glue your magnets to the back with a strong adhesive.
And I've also just discovered that Amazon sells small canvases with magnets on the back already!
You can check them out HERE.
E6000 is my go-to craft glue around here!
Isn’t that just the cutest?
I know I may not be the best painting instructor, but I really hope this post was helpful and gave you some fun ideas to try out this nest and egg painting—or even just paint whatever you want on a small canvas for a magnet for your fridge!
XOXO
Emily
HERE'S A LOOK AT SOME OTHER NEST AND EGGS I PAINTED
You can find more of my paintings, maybe even a couple eggs and nests over in the FARM DUST AND PAINT Etsy Shop, or learn a little about my artwork HERE.
It means the world to my little farm and me
YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY THESE PROJECTS
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