Valentine  Tips 2
Watercolor Tips for Painting Valentine Cards in Watercolor
Using Stencils to Create
Embellishments to Dress-up Simple Hearts
and layering the shapes offer a variety of designs to work with.

Some of my other valentine examples using
this techniques are shown here. Let your
imagination soar.

Painting several cards at the same time
will often trigger new ideas.



Have fun using this quick and easy
stencil idea to start your own
special valentine greeting cards.
© 2009 Copyright Susie Short Studio LLC                                      All Rights Reserved                          Permission to print and use for personal study.  
Tip 1
Tip 2
Tip 3
We all remember how we folded a piece of paper and cut both sides of a heart at the same
time to make an almost perfect heart shape. I use an inexpensive transparency film I find in
office supply stores in the same way. Look for the "write on" transparency film and avoid the
more costly printable film made for copiers and printers.
I gently fold the transparency film over
and cut out half of the heart shape.
I enjoy starting by painting some flowers on a card, loose and free. (But you can start the heart on a blank card as well.) When
the painted flowers are dry; place the stencil opening over the card. As you can see, using a transparency film allows me to move
it around to find the best placement so I can position the heart opening exactly where I want it to be.
When I have the stencil where I want it,  I use a damp- almost dry watercolor brush, a damp
sponge or a moistened paper towel to fill in the heart shape inside the stencil's  opening.
When using a paper towel there is a softness
and I can control the moisture as I dab on
the paint. For best results dampen the paper
towel with water first then add the color I'd
like to use for painting the heart. As I dab on
the color I drag the color from the
transparency film towards the inside of the
heart cutout. Avoid motions that go in the
opposite direction (from the inside moving
outward) to keep the paint from seeping
under the stencil. It's fun to see how many
textures you can create with the watercolor
brush,  the sponge and the paper towels.
I fill in or dab in as little or as much as I want to get the shape of the heart. I can skip over the flowers as I fill it in and I can even
choose to only paint the outside edge. When the area is dry I finish adding the details to my flowers and leaves. The nice part
about these hearts is they can be as detailed or as simple as you want. If you like it stop. If you don't do more!
I try to make my cut so I have plenty of protective area
outside the heart's opening. I will use both the opening
and the fall out for making my valentine cards. Of course
you can use heavier paper for the stencils too, I just like
to see through the stencil so I can see what I'm doing.