Glitter Heart Painting

One last heart project that I want to share because it’s the first time I let students use only Dick Blick Glitter Watercolor Paints. The results were more like finger paintings, and the glitter is only visible close up, but I love the colors.  

1. I used a die cutter to cut one heart in the center of a 7" square piece of chipboard, and then trimmed my oversize watercolor paper to allow two rows of three hearts, 21" x 7". This was good for kinders as they had to practice lining up the squares.

2. I gave the students only crayons to draw the hearts and squares and then patterns inside. I’ve learned that pencils often lead too complex pattern drawing that takes too long to trace.

3. When the drawing was done all, the hearts and boxes were painted over with different watercolors.
Thanks to Lucy L., a wonderful artist in 1st grade, who let me share her painting.

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Valentine’s Day Card, FREE Download

To make a super quick Valentine’s Day Card, just click HERE and download my template that you can color, fold and deliver. The letters all come from one of my favorite education art sites, ClipartETC.com.

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Valentine Heart Painting

Jim Dine is considered an important contemporary artist who helped to create the Pop Art movement. He used different popular imagery in his art, but hearts seemed to be his favorite.

1. This watercolor resist painting uses rubber cement to help make an ...

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Art Journaling 122, Valentine’s Day

I plan to do this page layout with my afterschool art journal class. It involves layering crumpled tissue paper shapes with watery glue. I like how it looks somewhat like a poor man’s rice paper.
1. I folded and cut out some red tissue paper hearts, and glued them down to my paper with some dabs of glue stick.
2. I mixed up some glue and water until it was about the consistency of milk, and sparingly brushed it over...

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Paper Mache Valentine Heart Box

I used modeling clay to first form these Valentine heart boxes. If you can buy the clay at a ceramic supply store, it can be pretty inexpensive.

1. Each student got a piece of clay to form a ball to shape into a plump, round heart which they wrapped in plastic wrap.
2. The students covered the hearts with at least two layers of paper mache. The hearts were left to dry thoroughly over several days.

3. In the second class I used a utility knife to cut around the outside edge of each heart. The kids had fun opening up the heart and removing the plastic wrapped clay. They then painted all surfaces with acrylic paint.
4. Students coated all surfaces with Mod Podge, and some sprinkled on a little glitter for extra sparkle.

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Tinted and Shaded Valentine Heart

Layering oil pastels to make smooth gradations takes practice. This project will let students do just that.

1. Starting with a square paper, students draw a large heart in the middle, and then use a ruler to draw at least four lines completely across the paper.

2. Using smooth oil pastels, like my favorite Portfolio® brand, students color in the heart and background with just one color each. Because of the transparent nature of my pastels, I could still my pencil lines when I was finished.

3. Students use a gray pastel to color a shadow over half of each blue background section. On the opposite side, a white pastel is used to make a tint on the remaining side. This process was repeated randomly to all the background sections, and then to all the red sections.

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Jim Dine Shiny Valentine

Jim Dine, an American Pop artist, used a lot of common images in his art, but is best known for his heart paintings. His creative style is one students can really appreciate as he liked to experiment with colors.  
1. A sturdy backing is needed for the aluminum foil drawing. Old matte board is good, but any smooth chip board would do. Cut the board into 5" x 7" rectangles.

2. Distribute a board, glue stick and many colored Sharpie markers. Tear or cut a rectangle of aluminum foil about 7" x 9" for each student. The students cover one side of the board in glue, and then center and wrap the foil around it with the shiniest side out.
3. Students draw one large heart in the middle of the card, and then 3 or 4 straight lines from edge to edge that dissect the card. All the sections that are made from this are to be colored in with different Sharpie markers.

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Hearts & Trees

Architect Frank Lloyd Wright told his students, “Limits are an artist’s best friend.” That’s because they force us to find answers we might not otherwise have discovered.
1. The goal for this students is to make a really simple, bold image, so some restrictions are put in place. Ask the students to draw a picture with only one tree, one simple hill, and hearts that may be any size, and any place on the picture. No sun, no clouds, no flowers – just a tree on a hill with as few or many hearts as they wish.
2. After the drawing is complete, the students use a black Sharpie to trace all the lines.
3. Lastly, they colored in all the shapes with oil pastels, any color they want, any combination. I was amazed at the variety the kids came up with; no two were even closely alike.

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Tinted Valentine Hearts

First graders need practice mixing secondary colors, but I just can’t get too excited over making color wheels on paper plates. Instead I had them focus on just mixing purple (plus a little white) in honor of Valentine’s Day.

1. I made an 11" x 17" size template of printed hearts which you can download HERE. Print at 77% for an 8.5" x 11" size template.

2. Students received printed paper, a paper plate of red, blue and white tempera paint, a brush and a cup of water. They were to see how many new colors they could mix, and then fill in the hearts as they wish.

CA Visual Arts Standard: 

2.2 Mix secondary colors from primary colors and describe the process.

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Valentine LOVE Card

I’ve noticed that a lot of students are interested in drawing block letters. This project ties to a contemporary pop artist, and makes a nice Valentine card too.

Robert Indiana made a famous sculpture in the sixties that came to...

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Homemade Valentine Card

If you can get your hands on some fancy colored paper, this simple layout can make a really nice card. I had a sample pad of rice paper from an old scrapbook collection that worked well.
1. I used a white card stock paper that was letter size, and folded it in half to make a 5.5" x 8" card. Random squares and rectangles were cut to fit the paper in a loose grid, and were glued in place. Glue sticks work great so there are no wrinkles from wet glue.
2. With the scraps remaining, I folded them in half to cut hearts that would fit each square or rectangle, i.e. tall skinny heart for a tall skinny box, etc. They are glued in place when they are finished. That’s it – there’s nothing quite like a homemade Valentine card.

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Recycled Paper Heart Valentine

This heart is made from just newspaper, white glue, string and some pretty sparkle paint.
1. Tear about 8 sheets of newspaper (lengthwise will be the easiest direction) into 1" strips. Cut those strips into little 1/2" bits and place in a large bowl. Cover with hot water and let soak for 24 hours.
2. The paper will start to look like a pulp. Work it through your fingers, tearing up any large lumps so that it looks like gray oatmeal. When the lumps are gone, take a large handful of pulp and squeeze out all the extra water.
3. Working the pulp in your hands, add white glue to the mixture at about a ratio of about 1 unit of glue to 4 units of pulp. Form a ball, place it on wax paper and press to form a flat heart that is at least 1" thick. Let dry for several hours or until it starts to harden. When you can pick up the heart, wrap it with a length of string, pulling firmly to make indentations. Tuck the ends into the back.
5. When the heart is dry, paint the entire shape with a thick layer of white acrylic paint. Let dry and then paint with a thick layer of red paint. Let dry and have fun experimenting with smudges that emphasis the texture of your heart. I added some glitter paint for a final touch. A spray of a glossy sealer would be a good idea to finish off your project.

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“Focal Point” Valentine

This is an exercise to have students think about how they can make their art have a focal point by using different colors, patterns, values, etc. Many masters such as Cezanne used it in paintings like this one to make the warm fruit stand out from the cool background.
1. Give each student a piece of paper, pencil and cardboard heart to trace. The students are to trace lots of hearts, either in a row or randomly spaced. If you are desperate, I've linked my sample template here.
2. The hearts are then traced with a black marker. Ask the students to choose one heart that is to be the focal point of their picture. When coloring, that heart needs to be different from all the others. It could be that one uses warm colors and the rest are cool, or the colors are all similar but one has stripes in it. Or as my students had just learned about making 3D shapes, one could have dimension added and the rest are flat. I personally like colored pencils for this project, and if you can afford them, the Prismacolor brands are the best. It’s a simple but good exercise, I think, and you also have an interesting Valentine card when you’re done.

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