How To Paint A Christmas Wreath On A Burlap Canvas

In this tutorial, I will teach you how to paint a Christmas wreath. I painted this adorable wreath on a burlap canvas that you can find at pretty much any craft store, like Hobby Lobby, or even on Amazon. But if you can’t find a burlap canvas, this Christmas wreath would be cute painted on just about anything.

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In this lesson, I apply modeling paste onto the burlaps canvas first to fill some of the crevises. Then I paint over it, but I have painted burlap many times without this step. If you choose not to use modeling paste, I suggest adding a little water to your acrylic paints so that they soak into the fibers more. I just like how that looks better when painting directly on burlap. 

Scroll to the bottom of this page for the full video tutorial!

Sketch the Wreath Outline

To begin, we need to give ourselves a guide of where we want to put the modeling paste. I just use a sharpie to draw a circle and then work my way around it, adding simple leaves. 

Apply Modeling Paste

Next, use a small palette knife to apply modeling paste to cover the wreath sketch. Your modeling paste doesn’t have to be precisely like the shapes you drew; we are just creating a surface to paint on that will prevent the paint from soaking through. The modeling paste will also add a really interesting texture to your painting. Learn more about Modeling Paste here. 

Keep in mind that modeling paste dries white, so you will be painting over it wherever you apply it. Let the modeling paste dry completely before painting, or it will change the color of your paint. 

Painting a Christmas Wreath

To paint the Christmas Wreath, I started with my darkest color of green mixed with some black and my detail paintbrush to paint the leaves all the way around. It all starts to look the same at this stage, but don’t worry. When we begin adding secondary colors, you will start to see the separation in the leaves. 

Once you have all the modeling paste covered with your first layer of dark green leaves, mix some white into your dark green paint and very quickly go over all your leaves with the lighter color. Don’t overthink it too much. Add more white to your green and continue adding layers to your leaves here and there. No two leaves will look the same. You want the variations in colors. 

Then, if you want a frosty wreath, go in with pure white paint as your top layer on your leaves. 

Painting Berries

Once you have your greenery painted, it’s time to add all those fun details! 

I decided to add red berries. When adding the red paint to my plate, I placed it near the green color. You are probably asking, “Why does that matter, Christie?” Well, green and red are opposites on the color wheel, so if I mix them, they will make a more muted tone. So if I want my bright cherry red paint to be more of a burgundy, I can mix in a touch of green to make a darker burgundy red. 

Just like with the leaves, I start the berries with a darker color of red, using the color mixing tip. These don’t need to be perfect, just messy little blobs of paint sporadically spaced. 

Then go back over them with a softer burgundy or a true red. I added a dab of white frost to mine, too. 

Finishing Details

Now that the leaves and berries are painted, I decided to add a few black lines around a few of the leaves to give them more dimension. 

It wouldn’t be a Christie Christmas painting without a bit of bling! Go in with glitter paint on the leaves in berries to make the snowy frost sparkle. I am not covering everything, just accents here and there. 

Then, I use my favorite 24K Gold paint to add a few gold dots all around the Christmas wreath. 

I chose to add the word Joy in the center of my wreath and simply used my Sharpie to do so. Just make sure to practice a few times on scrap paper first. This Christmas project would look cute with a bow, too.

Watch Christie Paint a Christmas Wreath on a Burlap Canvas

I hope you have fun painting a Christmas Wreath on burlap canvas. If you liked this and are looking for more holiday project ideas, check out my DIY Farmhouse Christmas Countdown.

Post a picture and share what you learned on The Social Easel Facebook Page!

Stay creative and happy painting!