Why not give your loved ones a hand-made gift of a watercolor card this Valentine’s Day?  This card is easy to make and you can make several in one afternoon.  This project uses watercolor glazing techniques and negative painting.  See below:

Negative painting around hearts

• Start with a piece of watercolor paper (I use 140 lb Arches paper) torn to the size you want. 
• Tape your paper to a workable surface around each edge using a removable painter’s tape.  
• Paint a colorful watercolor wash and let this dry.  I used new Gamboge, permanent rose, permanent magenta and cerulean blue.
• With a pencil, draw some heart shapes, some large, some small.  Overlap some hearts.  Negative paint around each heart.  This means you paint the background around the hearts, creating heart shapes in your painting.  Let this dry.
• Draw a few more hearts and negative paint again around all the hearts.  You can negative paint these hearts several times to make a rich, glowing background.  Painting over your last layer is called watercolor glazing.
  

  Glazing and negative painting

• Now decorate the hearts in fun ways: polka dots, checks, stripes.  I was inspired by my friend, Laure’s blog, Painted Thoughts. You can either use watercolor or colored pens and markers or a mix of both!  Have fun, doodle, think of your loved one.  Here is your opportunity to put a smile on their face!  And after reading Jenn’s facebook post from Cloth, Paper, Scissors – PUT A BIRD ON IT!
• With an ink pen, draw around your hearts and outline the tape before pulling it off the edges.

My final valentine for my husband.  Hope he likes it!