Abstract Heart Design Project for Valentine's Day

For a fun art project to do around Valentine's Day try a tissue paper heart design. It creates a lovely piece of work by even the youngest of artists. This project puts into practice the principles of shape, color, pattern and repetition.

All you need in preparation for this project are a few supplies. You will need one brightly colored 9 inch by eleven inch construction paper piece, one piece of 8 inch by 10 inch white cardboard or paper, various colors of tissue paper, glue, a brush, a bowl of water and scissors.

Fold three to four different colored pieces of tissue paper in half twice. Pile on top of one another. Cut out a heart shape, about two inches high and three inches across. The purpose of cutting out of all of the tissue paper at one time is so that the hearts will all be the same shape. If working with smaller children, you may want to cut it out for them, or at least draw the heart shape for them. Be sure to cut plenty so that you don not have to go back and cut more.

Arrange the hearts in an aesthetically pleasing way. There is no one way to do this, but emphasize pattern and repetition. Layer them on top of one another. The tissue paper acts transparently and the colors mix together. Try alternating colors. Cover the white paper almost entirely; not much white should show through. Feel free to overlap the edges of the hearts and change directions. This project is very open to creativity.

Mix glue and water in the ratio of one part glue to two parts water. Once the mixture is well mixed, brush it onto the tissue paper hearts on the white paper. This acts as a sort of glaze decoupaging the design to the paper. Hold the hearts in place with your finger tips as you paint if they seem to be moving around. You will need thick white paper for this project. Watercolor paper works well, so does posterboard.

Allow it to dry completely. If this project is done in class it will probably need to be done over a two day span. If doing the project at home, allow at least an hour to dry. Glue the white paper onto a larger colored construction paper for a frame. The project is now complete and ready to decorate refrigerators.