How to Paint the Sorrowful Heart of Mary Using Watercolors

In today’s tutorial, I walk you through how to draw and paint an Our Lady of Sorrows heart step-by-step. We use simple lines and shapes. Feel free to use your favorite art supplies!

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Original artwork created by Amy Heyse.

Supplies needed:

Watercolor paper (Student Grade) or Arches Hot Press

Pencil

Water

Paper Towels

Masking tape and something sturdy to tape your paper to (like cardboard)

Master’s Touch Watercolors or Winsor and Newton Watercolors

Brushes (I used my Kolinsky travel watercolor brushes)

Optional:

QoR Watercolor Iridescent Gold

Salt

Ruler

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Holly

Two things I’ve always known: I’ve always wanted to be an artist and I’ve always felt called to be a mom. I’m very blessed that I have been able to be both as my vocation. To date, this is the largest watercolor painting I’ve ever worked on. It’s a slightly larger than life-size portrait of my daughter, Holly, just shy of her 4th birthday. The final painting measures 24×36″.

I started off by sketching Holly on a separate piece of paper before transferring the final drawing to a hand stretched watercolor canvas I made. Because I’m on-duty mom during the day, I could only work on the painting after the girls went to bed (and after getting some “veg out” Netflix time with the husband). Most nights felt like chipping away at an iceberg, but I actually finished what I set out to accomplish.

Holly with an in-progress painting of herself.

There were lots of late nights after the girls went to bed, lots of tears throughout the painting process, lots of prayers, and a whole lot of love for my sweet daughter…

Two days before finishing this painting, I was in tears because I was struggling with part of the painting. I started to tell myself the lie that I’m not “good enough.” I struggle with anxiety and depression, and since things had been a little hectic over the last few months, I felt a little more on edge. My kind husband suggested that I take a “night off” from the painting and return to it with fresh eyes. When I picked up the brushes again, I painted feverishly while the baby napped. It was like my hand couldn’t stop moving. I told Holly she could watch all the TV she wanted while I worked and then I was done within the hour!

“Holly.” Watercolor, 24×36”.

Lots of people ask what Holly thinks of her portrait. In the early stages when I would show it to her, she was always excited that I was painting her, but she would point out things like, “Mom, you still need to paint my eyes” or “I need hair.” Four year olds… ha ha. The day I finished, she told me, “That looks great, Mom” and wanted to take a picture with the painting.

Kevin and I posing in front of Holly’s portrait.

I finished the painting a couple days before a call for entries for a regional art show at the Lincoln Gallery in Loveland that I had been eyeing. The painting was accepted into the 2018 Regional Fine Art Show. Though the opening reception was a little bit rocky, it was a very positive experience. I was honored to be featured with all of the other INCREDIBLE artists. All of the pieces in the show were truly top notch. I felt really honored to be featured among such great talent.

My dad and grandpa standing next to Holly’s portrait.

We took Holly and Mayumi to the gallery to see the painting on display. Holly was acting really bashful, but enjoyed seeing the art and perked up a little bit when our family was offered candy by the gallery attendant.

Holly and Mayumi sitting on the gallery floor.

The experience has been a really emotional one for me. This is the first year that I ever dared to submit artwork to call for entries. There was a part of me that feared rejection and another part of me that would try to tell me, “You’re not good enough. Why even bother?” My inner voice isn’t always very kind, but I’ve learned a lot over this past year on how to quiet that voice and listen to God’s encouraging voice. I felt called to paint Holly in this simple moment in time, I felt called to enter this particular call for entries, and I was accepted. It was a big accomplishment for many reasons.

The closing reception was a few days ago, and when I went to pick up my painting, I received nothing but encouragement. The two staff members helping artists sign-out their paintings were very kind. When I entered the gallery, they said, “We were just talking about you! We loved having your painting. Everyone who stopped by loved looking at it and talked about how sweet the little girl and her pose was.” They proceeded to tell me that they would love to have my work in their gallery again and encouraged me to apply for the National Fine Art Show next spring. I can’t wait to make some new artwork, so I can hopefully experience this gallery adventure again.

Here’s some more details of the painting:

Mr. + Mrs. Lowry

Happy one month anniversary to Hannah and Zach Lowry who were married on November 1st at a beautiful ceremony at the Tapestry House. Hannah was a stunning fall bride. It was fun attending and seeing a bunch of my former co-workers and celebrating their marriage.

Both Hannah and Zach have ridiculously kind families (no wonder they both turned out to be such great people). It was really nice meeting everybody.

My go-to wedding gift in always a handmade portrait of the couple. This little watercolor of the happy couple measures 4×6” and I’m glad that the bride and groom said I did them justice! Below is also a start-to-finish time lapse video of the painting process. Enjoy!

“Hannah and Zach.” Watercolor, 4×6”.

Kristy

The first time I met Kristy was through our church’s religious education program, but I’ll always associate our friendship with our high school marching band where she played flute and mellophone. Speaking of marching band, when I think of Kristy I think of the phrase, “March to the beat of your own drum.” She is very passionate, and when she finds something she cares about, she throws herself into it with full enthusiasm. That gung-ho attitude balanced with sensitivity and intellect is something I’ve always loved about her. She’s a voracious reader, loves her dog, and has a very caring family.

The painting of Kristy is all done in watercolors on Arches hot press watercolor paper. I’m especially happy with how her eyes and hair turned out.

“Kristy.” Watercolor, 8×10″

Raven

Right before the beginning of the new year, I was watching a Blessed is She talk that recommended that you pick a word to reflect on for the new year. The word that was whispered to my heart was “ordinary.”

Shortly after, I was brainstorming ideas for a collective body of artwork to produce. I wanted to build up a new portfolio and though I had a couple ideas of directions I was interested in, I wasn’t sure what I would ultimately create. I do a lot of portrait work which means I need lots of human references. I thought it might be fun to use friends and family for portrait practice or references for future paintings.

I sent out a “model call” on Facebook asking if anyone would be willing to let me use their photos for practice. I was only expecting maybe 5 people would volunteer. I ended up getting over 30 (and counting) interested friends and family members. Inspiration struck and that word “ordinary” went through my mind. I wanted to create a series of portraits of ordinary women using mixed media processes.

The first of these portraits is Raven, a talented photographer I met through a mom’s group at church. When I saw this self portrait of her, I knew this was the image I would use for the piece I wanted to create. She had some beautiful photographs of her children that had a really lovely purple and blue lighting that I wanted to draw into this piece as an underpainting.

The majority of the painting was created with watercolors. I used pens for the linework in the hair, varnished the piece, and added thin layers of acrylics on top.

In progress shots of my portrait of Raven.

The finished portrait of Raven. Watercolor and mixed media 8×10”