Last Updated on November 1, 2026 by Dee
Here are twelve easy Christmas painting ideas for mini canvases, plus four free printable templates to trace, each with a painted reference.
Four of the twelve are in the free templates below, ready to trace.
Get the free Christmas canvas painting templates
You’ll get four printable templates (snowy pine trees, a gnome, a red bauble and a snowman), each one an 8 cm square made for a 10 x 10 cm (4 x 4 inch) mini canvas, plus a painted reference for each and a page on how to transfer them. Pop your email in above and the four pages will come straight to your inbox.
A little Christmas canvas painting is one of my favourite December makes. It takes an evening, it costs very little, and when it’s done you’ve got something you can prop on a shelf, hang on the tree or wrap up for someone you love.
Below are twelve easy Christmas painting ideas on canvas, all sized for small mini canvases and all painted in acrylic. There’s a step-by-step for a cosy gnome, and a simple trick for getting a template onto the canvas so you don’t have to draw a thing.
Table of Contents
Why Mini Canvases Are Perfect for Christmas
Quick answer: mini canvases are small enough to finish in one sitting, cheap enough that a mistake doesn’t matter, and the right size for a gift, an ornament or a little row on the mantelpiece.
A big blank canvas can be scary. A 10 cm square isn’t. You can paint the background in two minutes, and one simple shape fills the whole thing, so a single bauble or one snowman looks bold and finished rather than lost in the middle.
Acrylic is the right paint for canvas, too. It’s opaque, so you can paint a light colour over a dark one, and it dries in minutes, so you can add the next layer the same evening. If something goes wrong, you let it dry and paint over it. Nothing is ever ruined.
What You Need
You don’t need much, and most of it you may already have:
- Mini canvases. Small stretched canvases or canvas panels, about 10 x 10 cm (4 x 4 inches). Packs of ten are inexpensive and they’re already primed white.
- Acrylic paint. A small set is plenty. A mini acrylic paint set in soft, vintage tones gives you Christmas reds and greens that aren’t too bright. You’ll want white, black, a red, two greens, a blue and a yellow or gold.
- Brushes. One flat brush about 1 cm wide for backgrounds, one small round brush for shapes, and something tiny for dots and eyes. The end of a paintbrush handle makes perfect snow dots.
- A palette. A paper plate works, but a porcelain palette is easy to wipe clean and the paint stays put in the wells.
- A soft pencil for transferring the templates. A 4B or 6B from a graphite pencil tin leaves a nice dark line on the back of the paper.
- Gesso, only if you want to reuse an old canvas. A coat of Liquitex gesso over an old painting gives you a fresh white surface.
This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. I only link to things I’d happily use myself.
12 Easy Christmas Canvas Painting Ideas
They’re in the same order as the photo above: three rows of four, from simple winter scenes to cosy little subjects. The four ideas marked template are the ones in your free pack.
Winter scenes and simple shapes (1 to 4)
1. Snowy pine trees (template). Paint the whole canvas navy, add three green trees with short zigzag strokes, then dab white on the tips of the branches and along the bottom for snow. Finish with white dots across the sky. This is the one I’d start with.
2. Little red truck with a tree. A pale blue sky, a simple red pickup and a small green tree in the back. Keep the truck chunky: a box, a cab and two black circles for wheels.
3. Christmas gnome (template). Just a hat, a beard and a nose on a sage green background, and there’s a full step-by-step below. Gnomes are very forgiving because there’s no face to get right.
4. Red bauble (template). One round red bauble on dark green, a gold cap and a curved white highlight. The highlight is what makes it look shiny, so don’t skip it.
Classic Christmas (5 to 8)
5. Wreath with a bow. On a cream background, paint a ring of short green brushstrokes going round in the same direction, dot in a few red berries, then add a red bow at the bottom.
6. Snowman (template). Two white circles on a light blue sky, a red scarf, stick arms, black dot eyes and buttons, and an orange carrot nose. Paint the white twice if the blue shows through.
7. Candy cane stripes. The easiest one here. Paint the canvas white, then add wide red diagonal stripes. Masking tape gives you crisp edges if you want them, but slightly wobbly stripes look charming.
8. Gingerbread man. A brown gingerbread shape on red, with white squiggles for icing, three white buttons and a little green bow. If you like gingerbread, my gingerbread house drawing tutorial is lovely for the cards to go with it.
Cosy little subjects (9 to 12)
9. Robin on a snowy branch. A brown branch across a pale grey-blue sky, a plump robin with an orange-red breast, and white snow along the top of the branch. Paint the robin as one round shape first, then add the red.
10. Cosy house in the snow. A pink and blue dusk sky, a dark little house with a snowy roof and glowing yellow windows, and a pine tree either side. The yellow windows go on last so they really glow.
11. Mug of hot cocoa. A red mug on a mustard yellow background, brown cocoa at the top and four white marshmallow blobs. One of the easiest ideas for kids.
12. Christmas tree with lights. A green triangle tree on deep red, with dots of coloured lights and a gold star on top. Use the handle end of a brush for the dots so they come out round.
For a much bigger list of festive subjects, including scenes and characters, have a look at my holiday painting ideas. And if you’d rather paint on paper, my easy Christmas watercolor paintings are a gentler place to start.
How to Transfer a Template to Canvas
Quick answer: scribble soft pencil over the back of the printed template, tape it face up on the canvas, and go over the lines with a ballpoint pen. The pencil on the back transfers a faint line onto the canvas.
- Print the templates at 100%, not ‘fit to page’, and cut out the one you want.
- Turn it face down and scribble all over the back of the lines with a soft pencil (2B to 6B).
- Turn it face up, centre it on your canvas and tape the top edge so it can’t slide.
- Go over every line firmly with a ballpoint pen.
- Lift a corner to check the line has come through, then take the paper off.
Graphite transfer paper does the same job if you have some. If the line is too faint to see, go over it lightly with a pencil before you start painting. And don’t worry about pencil showing at the end: acrylic covers it completely.
How to Paint a Christmas Gnome Step by Step
Quick answer: paint the background first, then the hat, then the grey body and the white beard, and finish with a pink nose and a little shading on the hat.
Step 1: the background
Transfer the gnome template, then paint the whole canvas sage green with your flat brush, right over the pencil lines. You’ll still see them faintly through one thin coat. Paint the edges of the canvas too, so it looks finished from the side.
Step 2: the hat
Once the green is dry, paint the tall hat in red with the round brush. Bend the tip over at the top. If the hat looks streaky, let it dry and give it a second coat.
Step 3: the body and the beard
Paint the round body at the bottom in grey. Then paint the beard in white with short downward strokes, letting the bottom edge come to a soft point. Don’t blend it smooth. Those little strokes look like hair.
Step 4: the nose and the finishing touches
Add a round pink nose where the hat meets the beard, with a tiny white dot on it. Then mix a little dark red and stroke it down one side of the hat for shading. That’s your gnome.
Six Tips for Neater Acrylic Christmas Paintings
- Background first, always. Paint the background right over the pencil lines, then paint the shapes on top once it’s dry.
- Two thin coats beat one thick one. Thick paint goes gloopy and shows brush ridges. Thin coats dry fast and look smooth.
- Wait five minutes between layers. Acrylic dries quickly, but painting into wet paint muddies the colours.
- Use the brush handle for dots. Snow, eyes, buttons and fairy lights all come out rounder and neater than with a brush.
- Keep one colour family per canvas. Two or three colours plus white looks calmer than six.
- Paint the edges. A canvas with painted sides looks finished on a shelf, and no one will see the staples.
For more beginner canvas ideas beyond Christmas, my mini canvas painting ideas and easy canvas painting ideas are full of simple subjects you can paint all year round.
How to Display and Gift Your Little Canvases
This is my favourite bit. Little canvases look lovely in a group, and they make thoughtful presents.
- A shelf gallery. Prop four or five on tiny wooden easels along a shelf with a strand of fairy lights.
- Tree ornaments. Glue a loop of ribbon to the back of a mini canvas and hang it on the tree.
- Gifts. Write a name and the year on the back in pen. Teachers, grandparents and neighbours all love a handmade painting.
- Gift toppers. Tie a tiny canvas onto a wrapped present instead of a bow.
- A family painting night. Print a template for everyone, paint the same design, then line them all up and compare.
For the presents themselves, my free printable Christmas gift tags finish them off nicely.
Want More Painting Templates?
If you enjoy painting from a printed outline, come and paint with me on Patreon. New printable painting templates go up there every month, with painted references so you can see where the colour goes.
You can also browse everything in my Payhip shop, from watercolour templates to drawing references.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the easiest Christmas painting on canvas for beginners?
Candy cane stripes and the red bauble are the easiest, followed by the snowy pine trees. Each one is a flat background with one or two simple shapes on top, so there’s very little that can go wrong.
What size canvas is best for Christmas canvas paintings?
A 10 x 10 cm (4 x 4 inch) mini canvas is perfect for beginners: quick to fill and lovely as a gift or ornament. The free templates are sized for that, and you can enlarge them when you print if you want a bigger canvas.
Can I use watercolour on canvas instead of acrylic?
Not on an ordinary canvas. Watercolour needs an absorbent surface, so it beads up on acrylic primer. Use acrylic on canvas, or paint these designs on watercolour paper instead.
How do I get a template onto a canvas without a printer?
Draw it freehand very lightly in pencil, using the template on your screen as a guide, or hold the canvas and a printout up to a bright window and trace. Most of these designs are one or two simple shapes.
Can I give the canvases I paint as gifts?
You’re very welcome to keep or gift anything you paint. Please don’t share or sell the template file itself, and send friends here to grab their own copy.
Final Thoughts
Start with the snowy pine trees, because the navy background and white dots look magical however wobbly your trees are. Then try the gnome. By the third canvas you’ll be picking your own Christmas subjects, and a little row of them on the shelf is a lovely thing to look at all December.
I share more painting and drawing on my YouTube channel, so subscribe on YouTube if you’d like to paint along, and you’ll find all my Christmas ideas saved on Pinterest.
Pin this for later so you can find the free canvas templates when you sit down to paint.
Happy painting!
Dee x
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