For the background of the satellite painting I’m ready to paint stars. First I’ll start by painting stars plus the glow around them with titanium white. In a later stage I go over the stars with a layer of pure colour. This way you get the stars as clear as possible. In the picture below I did that with still the grain, yellow ochre light (yellow tones) and kraplak (red). Some nebula’s are painted the same way to intensify the colours.
Detail photo of white stars. In the right corner you’ll see a star with a second layer with colour on it
Detail photo with red and yellow stars
*Note that all photos are made with a smartphone, that’s why the quality is not superb.