The Lemon Seed (+ Embellishing a Mat with Gouache)

Hello dear friends! Today I have another 100 Word Story to share with you, and, as with both of the others, this one is something really special to me—a tiny world I so enjoyed building and living in for the several days it took me to put it together. I hope it's a hospitable tiny world for you too. 🤍

(After reading the story, scroll down to see photos of the illustration in its custom-painted mat and to find out a little bit about the creation process.)

The Process
"The Lemon Seed" was an especially fun piece to illustrate because I tried out some new techniques and materials, and was really happy with the end results—a thing that can't be said for all experimentation. 😆

For this piece, I decided it would be fitting to upcycle a plain green mat I picked up at a local thrift store. I'd never painted a mat before, but thought I should probably tackle such dark surface material with an opaque medium, and settled on using some of Holbein's thick high-quality gouache and adding in details with my set of Faber-Castell's Polychromos colored pencils. As with most gouache pieces, the mat border painting started out a little rough, but I was pleased with how it came out in the end after several hours and the addition of all the little fussy details. Here's a look:

After painting both the mat and its accompanying watercolor illustration, I ventured into the territory of another first: learning how to properly attach the painting to the mat using archival methods that will allow it to be easily removed without damage to either the painting or the mat. Following loads of research, I decided (as I usually do) to go full pro and make my own wheat starch hinging paste on the stove. Using any kind of adhesive on a finished watercolor painting is terrifying to me as I am of course concerned about the potential for tears or discoloration over time. But mulberry paper attached with wheat starch hinging paste can be easily removed with the gentle application of water to the mulberry paper, and it worked great for me when I tested it.

I'm not sure what my next custom-painted mat project will be, but I do have a few other mats waiting around in my studio, and after the success of this project, I'd love to give this method another go!

I framed this piece in a simple but richly-hued wooden frame I found at a thrift store and touched up with an oil-based wood polish. The lighting isn't great in this photo, but I just have to show off the final result: 

And to close, here's the original cozy watercolor with no accompaniment except for some of the tools I used to create it: a splotchy paint rag, a jar of masking fluid, some Sennelier half-pans, my beloved ceramic palette, the painting's swatch card on gloriously textured Arches paper, and assorted brushes:

If you'd like to bring this piece home or gift it to a friend, a small number of prints are here and the original painting is here. 

Thanks for reading, my friends!

All the best, 
Bryana