Charlie's Art Heart

Charlie  10" x 10" mixed-media

Today I am continuing with artwork for the Heart Art project with Olivia's Heart Fund. This next Art Heart is for Charlie, who was diagnosed with Truncus Arteriosus before she was born. Due to additional complications she was born a tiny 4 1/2 pounds.

Charlie's parents had 5 wonderful days with their daughter before her health declined and an emergency surgery had to be performed. She still needed surgery to correct the Truncus, which was pushed back another week. For 2 1/2 months her parents spent nearly every moment by their daughter's side as she fought for her life.

Unfortunately Charlie lost her battle with Truncus. In her parents letter, they expressed how loving her has changed their lives - in volunteering, sharing her story and raising awareness of congenital heart defect, they honor her memory. She has created purpose in their lives.

Knowing that this painting is for a CHD "angel", (the term is used to describe children who have passed in their battle with CHD) I began my design with white wings as the focus of the heart. This will be a common theme with each of the angel hearts, as it was in Olivia's painting. I had been picturing butterfly wings for this piece, and after discussing imagery with Charlie's mother Beatriz realized this was a perfect fit - for when her parents see butterflies they think of Charlie. The wings I based on a white morpho - a very rare butterfly.

The printed sketch - notched so that I could align the heart edges

I spent more time working on color options during the sketch phase this time - I wanted to keep pink as a one of  the core colors based on Beatriz's description. Also after some research I added peonies to the base of the heart, as they represent ambition - and to they correlate with the sense of purpose that Charlie brought to her parents' lives.

The sketch transferred to watercolor paper

After I was happy with the sketch, I printed it and transferred it to watercolor paper. The peonies are a complex flower, so they are outlined simply.

The watercolor underpainting

I added a base of watercolor to the sketch taking care to keep the main butterfly wings clean. With the delicate shading, I thought I would be better off adding details in water media instead of pastel. I also added some washes of metallic silver inks to get a shimmer on them.

Detail of the peonies in pastel

I started filling in the flowers with pastel, using sharpened pastel sticks and the occasional pastel pencil. Once they looked softer and more realistic, I filled in the inner and outer heart shapes.

Detail of the wings. The silver leaf really picks up the light.

I did go back and touch up all of the butterflies with paintbrushes as they are very tiny, and detailed. The last step was to revisit the large wings. I had rendered them as carefully as I could, but they didn't quite stand out enough for me. So I went over all of the inked spots on the wings with size and silver leaf. I also added white acrylic to the edges of the wings for more contrast with the background. 

The completed painting

This piece has a very delicate look, and the colors have a purity and innocence to them. I want each Heart Art to be individual and take on a life of its own, and I think that came through here. If you like this project, and would care to, please donate to Olivia's Heart Fund. All of the Heart Art will be framed and shown this coming February in support of the families who participated in the project, and all of those who have struggled with CHD.