Are you are looking for a fun Valentine’s art project to do with the kids or grandkids this weekend? I’m excited to show you this easy technique that my boys just LOVE! And best of all, this art project only takes about five minutes to prep!
I’ve done a number of paintings over the years using tape to mask certain areas {like the painting by the back door in our kitchen}, and it recently occurred to me that this would be a really fun way to help my boys create art!
SUPPLY LIST
I raided my art supply stash and grabbed out the following supplies {this post contains affiliate links for your convenience}:
- small white canvases
- skinny masking tape
- pencil and scissor
- sealer {optional}
- kids’ washable paint and brushes
I used a pencil to very lightly sketch a heart in the center of each canvas {I sketched so lightly that you might have to look twice to even see it in the photo below}. The heart doesn’t need to be perfect, and you’ll erase the pencil lines later, so feel free to re-sketch if you need to.
Once I was happy with the basic shape of my heart, I began laying pieces of masking tape over the heart, spacing each piece of tape about a quarter of an inch from the next. I added horizontal stripes on tape on one boys’ canvas, and vertical tape stripes on the other. I used my pencil to transfer the shape of the heart to the tape, and then used my scissors to trim off the excess tape outside the heart shape.
In just a few minutes time I had two masking tape striped hearts on my canvases! Since I was using masking tape {which doesn’t seal as well as painter’s tape}, I decided to give each a quick coating of clear paint sealer before turning the canvases over to the boys. I simply used a clear, satin varnish that I often use on my acrylic painting projects. This step is optional, and probably not necessary if you use painters tape instead, but it ensures that no paint will bleed under the tape. I should also mention that I didn’t seal the entire canvas – just around the edges of the tape.
And there you have it. That’s the five minute portion of this project – and the canvases were then ready for my boys to paint to their hearts content!
If you have young kids that like to do art projects, I highly recommend the art smocks from Ikea! They fit on like shirts and velcro in the back. When my boys paint, I put them in these smocks and nothing else!
The boys continued to paint for quite a while, adding different colors of paint until the masking tape hearts were completely covered.
Here’s what the paintings looked like when the boys finished.
I let the paint dry for a few minutes, then I quickly peeled off the tape {it helps to have finger nails to get the edges of the tape started}.
