Splatter Paint Heart

I love throwing and splattering paint and this is a fun small-scale project to get you started.  I grasp that so many people fear the mess that comes with painting with your kids.  I encourage This project is a small enough scale that it keeps the mess in check. 

Materials

Dollar store wooden hanging heart

Tempera paints (red, pink, white, purple, blue and glitter)

Paint brushes with long bristles

Toothbrush

 Water cup for washing your paintbrushes

Surface cover (I used a padded plastic table cover and craft paper)

Making the Splatter Paint Heart

Be sure to cover your workspace to keep it clean.  I actually did this on my kitchen counter with no mess to clean up except for removing the surface cover.   This project is small-scale enough that it is easy to manage the mess.  

1) Paint a solid color to cover the heart as your base coat.  I used a red and glitter paint mix to add a little sparkle to the piece.

2) Take a piece of stiff paper or cardboard, fold it in half, and cut half a heart against the fold to create your heart stencil.

3) Center the stencil in the middle of the wood heart.  My paper did not cover the heart completely so I used another piece of paper to completely cover the top and bottom fully.

4) The paint needs to be loose but not too watery.  Often tempera paint is fine as is, but here I used a wet brush to ensure the paint moved quickly.  

5) Hold the paintbrush over the stencil area and tap it against another paintbrush handle.  Be sure to tap the handle.  This will create a nice small splatter effect.

6)  Have fun with this.  Be sure to fill the stencil area and get all the way to the edges so that the final result will look like a heart when the stencil is removed.

7) Remove the stencil and cover papers. 

8) We added some marks to the base coat around the splatter area just for fun.  Each piece will be unique – make it your own!.