No. 021, in ten platesStars
Ten windows onto deep space, painted in every shade between lavender and the black behind it.
Stars is painted in soft, airbrushed layers of gas and dust, with no planets, ships or horizons to anchor the eye. The palette barely leaves the violet family: periwinkle, lilac, indigo and a blue-black that sits underneath everything, lifted here and there by a flare of white or a blush of rose. What unites the ten plates is that sense of looking up and seeing nothing but cloud and light.
The set falls into two moods. The first six are hazy and pale, almost pastel: a glowing violet core with a tiny spiral galaxy tucked into the corner, a long diagonal streak of luminous dust, a dark arch with four-pointed stars flashing at its edges. The last four go darker and denser, with knotted filaments of magenta and electric blue, a rust-pink column of dust beside a cluster of bright stars, and wispy streamers fanning out across black.
Because there is no subject in the middle, nothing fights the clock or your widgets, and the soft texture never looks busy behind them. The paler plates are lighter at the top, so the clock reads best in white with a little shadow; the darker four give it a near-black sky. On the Home Screen the darker plates are the ones to choose for dark mode and tinted icons, while the lavender set flatters a light, airy layout.
Suited to stargazers, space nerds and anyone who wants colour on their phone without any particular picture getting in the way. Violet Core and Periwinkle Drift are free to download in full resolution; the other eight skies are premium.
No planets, no horizon: just violet weather and a few stars burning through.
Try each one on before you save it.
Tap any plate to hang it on the Lock Screen, then switch to the Home Screen to see it behind your apps. This is the same preview the app gives you, on your own phone, with your own clock.
Every plate here can be ordered as an unframed matte print, from A$59 with free shipping. Or hang three side by side: any three plates from Stars, 8 × 16 in each, for A$179.
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Plate IKnotted Light -
Plate IIViolet Core -
Plate IIIRust Column -
Plate IVDark Arch -
Plate VMagenta Burst -
Plate VIPeriwinkle Drift -
Plate VIIStreamers -
Plate VIIISparkle Field -
Plate IXDiagonal Dust -
Plate XLilac Shelf
How Stars wears.
Dreamy, cosmic, calm, nocturnal. Soft airbrushed space painting, sized for every iPhone up to 2160 × 4800.
On the Lock Screen
The darker plates give the clock a near-black sky; the pale ones want white numerals with a soft shadow.
On the Home Screen
With no central subject, icons sit anywhere; choose the dark four for dark mode and tinted icons.
Full resolution, every model
Each plate is delivered at the exact size of your iPhone's screen, up to 2160 × 4800, so nothing is stretched or soft at the edges.
- Lilac haze#8060E0
- Periwinkle#6060C0
- Nebula violet#402080
- Deep indigo#202060
- Void#000020
Free plates, and the rest.
Open Stars in pxCream and preview any plate on your Lock Screen first. Prices come from the App Store in your region and are shown in the app before you buy.
Stars
Two free platesFree
Full resolution, saved straight to Photos.
A single premium plate10 credits
Yours for good: re-download it any time, on this iPhone, at no extra cost.
pxCream UnlimitedMonthly
Every premium plate in Stars and the rest of the gallery, for as long as you subscribe.
On the App Store · iPhone only · No account needed
About Stars.
Which Stars plates are darkest for night use?
Knotted Light, Magenta Burst, Rust Column and Streamers. They sit on near-black space, which keeps the screen dim and suits dark mode.
Are these real telescope photographs?
No. They are original paintings of imagined nebulae, made for pxCream, so the colours lean purple in a way real deep-sky photos rarely do.
Something else? Support answers within two business days.
Stars, in your pocket.
pxCream is on the App Store for iPhone, with Stars and the rest of the gallery inside.