H is for

So here I am starting week 2 and post number eight in the alpha blog series. I hope you are enjoying the posts as much as I am enjoying writing them and that somewhere amongst these words something resonates with you.

H for Heart may seem an obvious choice, but once again I find myself amused by some of the phrases associated with it. How many times has someone said to you 'oh he/she had a change of heart' - think about that for a while. What about 'black hearted' - wrong colour scheme, 'her heart's in the right place' - one would hope so; and finally how about 'wearing your heart on your sleeve' - extremely messy!

Okay, so what is actually being said here is that apart from your heart being the key organ that keeps you alive, it is also an emotion, a feeling, an experience. The word heart is a noun, but it can also be an adjective; it is an organ in the body and we all have one (unless you the Doctor and then you have two!), it is a shape associated with love and it is a suit of cards. And this noun is one of the most commonly used in well known phrases and sayings, not to mention in song titles.

So whilst I know everyone physically has a heart what does it truly mean to have heart; and I can only speak for myself  because this can only be subjective. My definition is that to have heart is to be courageous, it is about being able to love and be loved, it is caring about and for others, it is having a sense of understanding and being respectful of the feelings of others. It's knowing when to be a friend, even to a stranger. 

Today's tag must seem a little obvious, but this is a piece of artwork I made just two or three months ago and I love the zingy, vibrancy of it.

 I started by covering the left hand side of the tag with lime acrylic paint using an old plastic bank card. Don't throw away your old cards as this is a great way to swoosh paints and inks onto your projects. After heat drying I covered it up whilst I sprayed the other side with Squeezed Orange and Bubblegum Pink Dylusions Spray Inks. Once completely dry I stencilled the circles with white acrylic paint and added more interest with black using Cell Theory.

I stamped the Cherish Heart twice, once directly onto the tag and then onto some smooth white cardstock. This one was coloured with Copics and cut out. To complete I used stamps from Wild Meadow and Artistic Expressions, ran a Tuxedo Black around the edge of the tag and attached the heart with strong adhesive, making sure to match up the trailing leaves with the image already stamped.

Finally I used grey Copics to add a shadow around the heart to give a three dimensional apprearance (the tag is actually flat to the tag). Here is a close up of the colouring and shading. The cutting out is a little shaky, but hey ho I still like it.

Whilst writing this blog I have come to realise one thing for certain there is a direct link between how you are feeling in your heart and what comes out in your art; one is almost definately a reflection of the other.

That's it for today, I will see you tomorrow. Oh and if you want to while away a few minutes why not see how many phrases or song titles you can come up with that have the word heart in them.