Once in a while I have a crazy idea – like replicating a fine art piece on a card – so let’s visit Van Gogh for today’s inspiration!Â
I wanted to see if I could replicate the look of Van Gogh’s Starry Night painting below – it’s always intrigued me with its textures and swirling colors, and it seemed perfect for these little bears to look out over that kind of scene:Â
Starry Night by VanGoghÂ
Tutorial
Wasn’t that crazy fun? I love how the pencil gets all soft when it’s on water….so cool. Â The Inktense Pencil colors I used:Â Felt Green 1530, Sienna Gold 0240, Tangerine 0300, Tan 1720, Sea Blue 1200, Â Sun Yellow 0200, Charcoal Grey 2100, and Ink Black 2200.
Inktense Pencil Color Lists
See the chart below for swatches of all the colors. There’s no easy answer to tell you which set to buy “first” except the 72…there’s a very common list in EACH set, so if you start with a small one, you’ll end up with duplicates.
 Set of 12: Sun Yellow, Tangerine, Poppy Red, Fuchsia, Deep Indigo, Sea Blue, Teal Green, Apple Green, Leaf Green, Baked Earth, Bark, and Ink Black.
 Set of 24: Sherbet Lemon, Sun Yellow, Tangerine, Poppy Red, Chili Red, Shiraz, Fuchsia, Violet, Iris Blue, Bright Blue, Deep Indigo, Sea Blue, Teal Green, Apple Green, Field Green, Leaf Green, Mustard, Baked Earth, Willow, Bark, Charcoal Grey, Black, Antique White and a non-soluble Inktense Outliner.
 Set of 36: Sherbet Lemon, Sun Yellow, Sienna Gold, Tangerine, Poppy Red, Cherry, Chili Red, Shiraz, Fuchsia, Red Violet, Mauve, Violet, Iris Blue, Bright Blue, Deep Indigo, Peacock Blue, Iron Blue, Sea Blue, Teal Green, Apple Green, Field Green, Leaf Green, Iron Green, Ionian Green, Felt Green, Tan, Saddle Brown, Indian ink, Mustard, Baked Earth, Willow, Bark, Charcoal Gray, Black, Antique White and a non-soluble Inktense Outliner.
 Set of 72: Sherbet Lemon, Sun Yellow, Cadmium Yellow, Sicilian Yellow, Golden Yellow, Sienna Gold, Tangerine, Cadmium Orange, Burnt Orange, Poppy Red, Chili Red, Cherry, Shiraz, Red Violet, Fuchsia, Mid Vermilion, Scarlet Pink, Hot Red, Carmine Pink, Crimson, Deep Rose, Mauve, Thistle, Violet, Dusky Purple, Dark Purple, Deep Violet, Lagoon, Navy Blue, Deep Blue, Peacock Blue, Iron Blue, Iris Blue, Bright Blue, Deep Indigo, Sea Blue, Teal Green, Dark Aquamarine, Green Aquamarine, Mallard Green, Vivid Green, Beech Green, Hooker’s Green, Light Olive, Spring Green, Fern, Iron Green, Ionian Green, Apple Green, Field Green, Felt Green, Leaf Green, Amber, Oak, Red Oxide, Madder Brown, Dark Oak, Mustard, Tan, Saddle Brown, Baked Earth, Willow, Bark, Indian Ink, Sepia Ink, Chinese Ink, Payne’s Gray, Neutral Gray, Charcoal Gray, Ink Black, Antique White, and a non-soluble Inktense Outliner.
Some product may be provided by manufacturers for review and use. Compensated affiliate links are here at no cost to you. I appreciate your support of my work with your purchases! Full affiliate and product disclosure | My trusted partners in art
- Mama Elephant Clear Stamps, Bear Hugs
- Arches Cold Press Paper: EH – BLICK
- Inktense Pencils BLICK – (all size sets)Â
- VersaFine Ink Pad, Onyx Black
- Silver Brush Black Velvet Round #8 BLICK – AMZ
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Sandy, ignore my message. LOL Apparently I forgot how to leave a comment. I’m losing what little is left of my mind.
Although there are a few of the old masters that I like. Some are John William Waterhouse,Frederick Leighton. Jan Vermeer, Leonardo Da Vinci. Alphonse Mucha is probably my all time favorite. My modern favorites would be Roy Lichtenstein,Salvador Dali, M.C. Escher, Katsushika Hokusai, Dominique Appia. Frida Kahlo. I am sure if I kept looking around I could find a lot more, but that is probably more than enough.
My favorite artist is also an Impressionist–Monet. Your version of a Van Gogh is gorgeous!
I don’t know how “famous” he is, but Fabio Napoleoni is amazing! I really connect with his work.
I don’t really have one favorite. I love Monet’s water lilies, but I enjoy MC Escher’s eye wandering designs. Surprisingly, Van Gogh’s Starry Night is one of my faves – go figure. Thanks for capturing it so well! And thanks for the giveaway!
I have always wanted some Inktense pencils. Just haven’t done it yet. I was so excited to watch you do this. I love Van Gogh’s work. You did an amaxing job on this one!
If I had to pick one, it would be Henri Matisse– love the colors and the simplicity of his works. It is inspiring how he could re-create himself as an artist when his eyesight and health were failing.
This is absolutely stunning!! LOVELOVELOVE it so much!!! One of my favorite artists is Picasso or Van Gogh. Thanks for the chance to win these pencils! I have been drooling over them for months now!! Fingers crossed!
This is so amazing! Starry Night is one of my favorite paintings! It was so fun watching you create this! Thanks so much for the chance to win your awesome giveaway too. 🙂
LOVE this amazing amazing background and what a unique design to use Starry Night as your inspiration. Combining it with those sweet little bears gives it a whole different feel. My favorite artist is J.M.W. Turner….with his beautiful atmospheric works and depiction of light.
Wow, this came out fantastic! You always make it look so easy, although I know darn well it’s not! Your Mom is going to love it. While I love many of the “old masters”, an artist whose work I also love is Micheal Atkinson, I just love his style. You enabler you, I’d love to have a set of inktense…if I’m not lucky enough to win I may have to put that on my Birthday or Christmas list! Water is def. my medium and love the intensity of the color of these.
My current favorite artist is Alphonse Mucha; although I’m pretty sure he’s too current to be considered an Old Master. For that I’d choose DaVinci. I so thoroughly enjoy your work, Sandy – and one of the things that I enjoy most is that you teach while you work. Love it, love it, love it.
I love how you cased Van Gogh. He is one of my favorites and Starry Night is marvelous. I also like Monet. You may find one of his paintings that you would like to case.
Monet! I purchased a print of one of his paintings when I visited the Musee d’Orsay in Paris and had it framed. I just love having it in my home.
I’ve never really studied art enough to really have an old school favorite. I think some of my “modern day” favorites are you, Jennifer McGuire, Kristina Werner and Nicole Heady. To me, other card makers I visit often on their blogs and am inspired by, are my favorites. Thanks for all the inspiration!
Elizabeth Catlett is my favorite artist. My all-time favorite piece is Danys y Liethis by her. Gorgeous piece. Love the video, Sandy. I appreciate the technique. Gonna try now.
Fantastic card, Sandy. My favorite famous artist is Degas.
Hi Sandy! Well, my favorite artist is my son Jason Schroeder, however he isn’t very famous…yet. I do love VanGogh’s Starry Night. When I was a young girl growing up, I had a small 8×10 print of this painting in my bedroom. I loved it and had it for years, but have no idea what became of it.
I am partial to Piet Mondrian, Paul Klee, Jackson Pollack, Andy Worhol. Love bold colors and graphic images.
I don’t have a favorite famous artist. If artists include musicians, I would say Chopin. I’ve not had much exposure to actual art.
It is really hard to pick just one…..two seem to be my favorites, Renoir and Monet…..
What an amazing card! Someone is going to love it! My favorite artist for years has been Monet. His paintings always look so peaceful. I could get lost in them!
Loved your card! My favorite artist is Monet. I just love the Water Lillies.
Sandy that card is awesome! BTW, I love Monet!
My favorite “famous” artist is Georgia O’Keefe. I adore her flowers. Your card is awesome.
your card is lovely and your mom is sure to love it. I think you do amazing work and should be so very proud of yourself. i’m a monet girl myself but pointilist would be fun.
Monet’s paintings would be great for these pencils. But my favorite artist would be John Singer Sargeant.
Van Go is may favorite painter. He was so before his time with is technic of painting. Thanks for the chance to win these pencils.
Wow I can’t believe you did that with pencils, very cool. My favorite artist is van Gogh, my favorite coffee mug has Starry Night on it.
One of My favorite artist is Van Gogh.. he directly play with colours and his dedication towards work..
My favorite artist is Stephen Lyman, sadly deceased. He painted wildlife and was best known for his campfire series. Popular about the same time Bev Doolittle started and both were with Greenwich Workshop. I also like the calendar artist, Charles Wysocki.
I’ve always liked Gustav Klimt’s art work…very beautiful
I like the Wyeth family of painters. N.C, Andrew and Jamie. Three generations of great painters. Landscapes, portraits and still life paintings are all beautiful to look at. My brother who was an artist introduced me to their paintings. I am so glad he did. Glad you tried using this technique.
I think one of my favorite artists is Salvador Dali. Besides for the melting clocks, I love his other works that have a lot of hidden pictures in them. Kind of hard to explain unless you know his work. 🙂
Fabulous card! I was blown away by your thinking outside the box. Having lived in Paris for 3 years, I was fortunate to visit the Louvre often. I loved seeing how the old masters began as realism artists and progressed to Impressionism etc. I discovered that I loved the Pointillism technique and always thought I could do it and then talked myself out of it. I would stand in front of Seuratt for hours it seemed. Could you try this? Your Starry Night was close, I think. I do love impressionist paintings as well…Monet, Manet, Cassatt…you know the ones! Thanks for trying this technique! It’s a hit!
OH my, pick a fav artist….well, there’s Monet, Georgia O’Keefe, and being from Massachusetts, Norman Rockwell. Just love his painting with the chair in the shed and the robin. I own a lithograph of it. It’s the only painting he did without a person in it.
Is Charles Wysocki too recent? I love folkart but see very little of that in the cardmaking world.
Monet’s Water Lilies have always been my favorite. I’d love to see that one with your spin on it. Thanks so much for sharing such a gorgeous card.
Could never pick just one!!! I remember in the 4th grade our teacher taught us about Van Gogh. She added laundry detergent powder to the paint to give it texture so we could create out own. That started my appreciation for art some 40 plus years ago. I have lots of local original art on my walls.
I love Van Gogh and your artwork was wonderful!!!
I love Monet. I wasn’t a Van Gogh fan until I saw you use Starry Night with bears. I love it. Very inspiring.
I love Monet. I have even tried to use some of his style but you are so much better at doing this. I have to do a lot of experimenting first. I wasn’t a Van Gogh fan until I saw you use Starry Night with bears. I love it. Very inspiring.
Sandy! This card is sooooaweesomme!! I love it! So creative of you!
I don’t really have a favorite famous artist but this painting is one of my very favorites. When my daughter graduated high school I decorated a bunch of cupcakes with this painting on them. This is her favorite painting too!
Love it! I have prints of Starry Night, some Monet water lilies, and Georgia O’Keeffe’s Light Iris in my bedroom. They, along with Michelangelo’s paintings and sculpture and Botticelli’s work are my favorites. It’s interesting how the size of various works in our imaginations aren’t the actual sizes. Some great works are rather small, and others are massive. Starry Night is 2 feet 5 inches by 3 feet, but it has a much larger feel to it in my mind.
This is a wonderful case card!! I have to say one of my favorite artist is Monet.
LOVE this card – thanks for sharing and the chance to win the Inktense pencils!
Hi Sandy,
What A wonderful Video, I wish I could do what you do! If I am not mistaken van Gogh died without selling one single of his masterpieces, he suffered from a mental illness hence cutting his ear off and he committed suicide, what a waste of talent! Along with him I love Monet and Renoir, but there is a technique called pointillism that fascinates me, could you try it?
I have been wanting to try this pencils for a long time,maybe today that it’s my birthday I can win this AWESOME prize! Thanks for the chance to win!
Michaelangelo….the master. How can you compare someone who spent the majority of his life on his back with paint dripping in his eyes to create the Sistine Chapel. Of course, David is nothing to sneeze at. So many talents this man had and very humble.
YoUr painting is as awesome as the original! I have the water colored anemones stamp set and have been watching your video several times to try to figure out how to layer them. Didn’t have much success yesterday, but I’ll keep on trucking. I love pretty much all the impressionists, but my favorite artist is Norman Rockwell.
What a brilliant idea for making a card! I love this!
My favorite artist is Monet, I think although Van Gogh is a close second. I love their impressionist style and their use of bright, bold colors!
Love your card! I love Monet, but I just so happen to love Starry Night by Van Gogh too!