How do I get this effect? Please help!?

Question

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/gogh/starry-night/gogh.starry-night.jpg

I'm trying to get that whirly effect in the sky. But so far, it's not working. I've tried working with a few colours in the palette, but not mixing the colours, but its not working the right way. In what way should I brush? Please help! Thanks.

Answer 1

Famous Van Gogh painting...

I have never tried to imitate it but the way I would approach it is by making short consecutive strokes and not a long one mixing colors.

My guess is that I would paint the background and let dry,  then pick another color and let dry and so on.

Answer 2

I made a copy of another Van Gogh years ago, and I ended up using round brushes, instead of flats or filberts. I'd load the brush on the pallette (without over-mixing the paint) and then make a single stroke before loading the brush again and making another stroke. It went really slowly at first, but as I got used to painting that way I picked up speed.

For the most part, Van Gogh's paintings are built up almost like pen drawings (and if you look at the drawings he did in brown ink, with bamboo pens, you can see what I mean). They're lots of short, colored lines that go with the contours of each object.