Mouse Lovers

I finished the art journal spread I made using my recent watercolor painting, and I think my instinct to use the painting in a spread led me in a fruitful direction. I like the journal spread better than the painting.

art journal spread incorporating bits from a watercolor painting

To be fair, I began the painting just as an exercise in seeing how far I could go with watercolor in a fairly complication (for my watercolor level anyway) design.

my watercolor painting of a mouse looking for his beloved. She's in the bouquet

I definitely learned things while working through the painting, so the painting served its purpose. But as a finished piece of art, I prefer the art journal spread because there’s more to it. Specifically, it tells a story. In contrast, the painting seems sort of boring, not to mention that the composition is lacking. It could perhaps be improved with cropping. But with the art journal spread, the main components of the watercolor painting have found a home.

The main comment I have on the spread is that the vertical floral strip on the right side is, in my mind, absolutely critical to the composition, not only because it balances the bouquet but also because it provides a strong boundary on that side.

Secondarily, I’ve used more text in this spread than I usually do. In fact, I often use none at all. But here, the text spells out the story and also is a visual element in itself.

Here are a few detail views from the spread that I particularly like:

detail of the mouse in the bouquet

It may well be that our lost mouse is only visible in this detail! And I really like the little bit of writing.

is his beloved in her burrow?

I just like the primitive feel of this bit – and the border across the top which changes in value.

the mouse hero

I can never resist a mouse, nor can I resist heartwarming mouse lovers!

she was lost, but now she's found!

And here are the lovers together. She was lost, but now she’s found!

I really enjoyed developing this piece. The colors were fun to work with, as were the mice and their little story. In a few different ways, I was successful in turning parts I didn’t like into parts that ended up holding their own in the overall piece. The prime example of this is the vase, and particularly the bright green color on it’s right side. When I first added that color in the watercolor painting, I absolutely hated it. Now, I really like it.

Working this way—which I would describe as having very limited plans but allowing each step to invite the next one—is just such an adventure, and I absolutely love it!

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I have a YouTube channel and there are several videos there about art journaling, as well as art project videos. In fact, I just added another art journal flip through video. You can access my channel by clicking the button below. Why not check it out? And if you like what you see, please subscribe. Subscribing is free and helps my videos get found.

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