Home » View by Theme » Holiday Drawing Ideas » Easy Valentine's Day Drawings » Valentines Painting Ideas: Watercolor Resist Hearts
Looking for some Valentines painting ideas? This watercolor and crayon resist project might be just what you need. Crayons and watercolors always make a beautiful combination.
Some of my favorite Valentines painting ideas are inspired by usual combination of art supplies. The end result may look rather complex, but the process is rather simple. It’s all about layering colors, and using rubber cement to work along side the crayons to resist some of the paint.
To start, I recommend using watercolor paper. I know it’s more expensive, but if there’s only one thing your can spend your money with a classroom budget, that would be my recommendation. The reason why my sample drawing has such bright colors, and all that splotchy texture, is because it’s on watercolor paper.
Getting Started
To get to the heart coloring stage, you have a choice of printing my template on watercolor paper, or having students draw their own. Back in my classroom days though, I found that students could get hung up on drawing even one “perfect” heart, let alone six of them. I decided speeding up the process by pre-printing them was worth it. After all, this lesson is about coloring and painting, not so much about drawing.
When coloring the hearts, crayons work well, as do oil pastels too. Ask your students to make each as dark and multi-colored as possible. Afterwards, the entire paper gets a quick watercolor wash. I recommend choosing a lighter color so the final painting doesn’t get too dark. The painting needs to draw completely at this point.
The next step, which isn’t photographed because I did this so long ago, is to take a jar of rubber cement, and paint one large swish or z-shape across it. The rubber cement is going to act as a sealer for that bottom color, and needs to dry completely too.
When that cement is dry, a second layer of watercolor is brushed over the whole paper. Again, let the painting dry.
Finally, my favorite part, rubbing off the cement. It should should come off easily when rubbed with fingers. Good watercolor paper will be thick and sturdy and make this process easier too.
One lesson that I believe Valentines painting ideas can teach? That adding layers of color to your art can do magical things!
Use the Button below to Download a PDF Tutorial
Open Valentine Heart Painting Tutorial
Six Heart Coloring Page
Open Six Hearts PDF Coloring Page
Materials for Valentine Painting Ideas
Note: This post contains affiliate links. If you click and take action, I will be compensated a small amount at no expense to you.
Watercolor Paper.
Real watercolor paper always makes the watercolor paint much more vibrant.
Pencil.
The Ticonderoga brand are the most reliable, make nice dark lines when you need them, and are the easiest to erase.
Eraser.
Large erasers you can hold in your hand do a much better job than just the pencil tip erasers, especially when erasing leftover pencil lines after tracing.
Crayola Crayons.
This classic brand always works well.
Rounded Watercolor Brush.
A good paint brush can make all the difference in the world. Who can paint small details with one of those big floppy brushes? This style with a sturdy rounded tip were my hands down favorite.
Liquid Watercolor Paint.
These paints are so easy to work with, leave such bright colors and last for a long, long time. Well worth the investment.
Non-Spill Paint Cup.
Train your students to leave the matching brush in each cup after they use it, and you have an easy system with very little cleanup.
Directions for a Valentine Painting
Time needed:1 hour
How to make a Valentine’s Day heart painting
Print a template of 6 hearts, or make your own.
Color all the hearts with crayons. Press very hard.
Wash a light watercolor paint over the entire paper. When dry brush a large Z shape with rubber cement. Let dry.
Wash another color of watercolor paint over the paper. When dry, rub off the rubber cement with fingers to reveal color underneath.
You can write and/or draw anything you like using oil pastels or crayons; whatever you write or draw will resist any watercolor paint, so try to use lighter colors as they will show up more. For finer details, use the Fineline Artist masking fluid pen.
You can create beautiful effects by building up layers of colour and overlapping translucent layers of paint for a luminous look. Watercolors don't need to be subtle – these days vibrant colours are available, allowing you to create eye-catching watercolour paintings.
Using a clear medium, tape, or other item, the artist covers portions of a surface with a "resist" layer to shape invisible designs, patterns, and other things. The artist then paints over the covered areas with a colored layer. The color adheres to the surrounding surface, letting the resist layer show through.
Apply wax resist (without alumina) to bisque ware anywhere you do not want glaze. Apply it to lower ¼” of the foot of your artwork to create a clean line for the glaze to stop at. Let it dry for 15 minutes before applying the first glaze. Apply wax resist (with alumina) to lids and galleries of covered jars/ teapots.
Wax resists water. Crayons are made of wax and repel the water used in watercolors. Experiment with other crayon colors to create a variety of watercolor resist paintings.
Draw a tilted and irregular curved shape in the center of your page. Use a pen or pencil to draw the heart's main body. Create a curved shape similar to an acorn or apple's bottom half. Angle the slightly tampered end of the shape to the left about 120 degrees.
There are two fundamental techniques in watercolor painting. You can't escape them… they are: Wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry. Together, these techniques form a golden rule that is unique to watercolors, and highlights the broad range of possibilities in watercolor painting.
Do you need to sketch before watercolor painting? You don't have to, but it can help you to get the proportions right in your painting. Just be aware that some pencil marks may still be visible if you paint over the top.
Achieving glowing colors in watercolor is all about contrast, which can be accomplished by combining warm and cool colors, paying attention to value, and reserving detail for the light areas of your painting.
The watercolor paper doesn't come with a water-resistant coating to make the color application easy. That's why you should apply varnish to your finished pieces to make them water-resistant. However, varnishes are generally non-reversible and that's why most artists don't like to use them on their paintings.
We recommend, using the Archival Varnish whenever possible as it comes in an aerosol and allows the varnish to be applied without touching the fragile watercolor.
Watercolor Resist refers to the process of creating a masked surface before inking with watercolors, or any liquid pigment. In this Instructable, I used rubber cement as a resistive medium to create water-repelling shapes and words on watercolor paper.
Introduction: My name is Edwin Metz, I am a fair, energetic, helpful, brave, outstanding, nice, helpful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
