Today we are using a ¼ inch piece of birch plywood to create a beautiful mixed media piece with a heart and lots of teal, purple, and magenta. Since it’s February, I had to make a heart for you all! I’ll be showing you exactly how to paint the background, add some book text, stamps, and other embellishments! 

First, I will paint my piece with DecoArt Chalky Gesso (White), which just preps the surface. I love this because it goes on smoothly and dries quickly. 

Next, we’ll be adding color! I’m brushing some teal, magenta, and white paint onto my piece – letting these colors all blend together from right to left. Fun fact – teal and magenta make an absolutely gorgeous purple! 

Next, I am going to take a page from my dictionary, rip it out, and cut out a heart. You could choose to grab a particular page or just use any book text you have. Your heart doesn’t have to be perfect (in fact, I prefer it not to be!)

After your paint is dry, you will add your heart. Add some DecoArt Decoupage (Matte) to your art piece and place your heart over top. Then, brush more of your decoupage on. Work out any air bubbles that may pop up and let dry. 

Next, I’m going to brush a little bit of whitewash (white paint with some water) over the top of the heart. Let dry.

Take some black paint and a thin paintbrush and outline your heart. Then, create some swirls off of the heart, and add some stamped leaves with archival black ink.

I’m going to add some stamped words to my art piece too. I am going to use “he(ART)”, “create”, and “inspire” – feel free to use any stamps you would like or freehand your lettering. 

I love me some Pyrrole Red, so I’ll just paint my letters in with that. I’ll also add a few red hearts with my leaves and swirls. I’m also going to add Prussian Blue Hue to the edges of my piece. I’ll finish it off with some white accents on my leaves, black outlines around my red hearts, and some black ink smudges around my large heart. I just like the imperfection of having that edge a little rougher. 

Let your piece dry overnight so everything is cured. Then, finish it off by sealing it. 

I absolutely love the imperfection of this and it was all about just creating for the sake of creating. In under 45 minutes, you can let your creative juices flow and make this piece of art too!

Watch the full replay below!

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Supply List

• 12” X 9.5” ¼ Wood Surface (limited stock on these)
• DecoArt Chalky Gesso (White)
• DecoArt Decoupage (Matte)
• DecoArt Media Pains: Primary Magenta, Cobalt Teal Hue, Carbon Black, Titanium White, Prussian Blue Hue, Pyrrole Red
• Other: Book Text or Dictionary Paper
• Stamp: Totally Tracy:  TT15005 Create, TT15001 Embrace, TT16014 Totally Tracy Textures
• Tracy’s Resources Page