Bible Art Journal page

Not feeling very productive...I have had a sinus headache for about a month.  Today I started my second round of antibiotics, and the doctor also suggested Claritin to see if allergies were part of the problem.  I took one of the "non-drowsy" formula and felt drowsy all afternoon!  I may be going to see the ear, nose, and throat doctor soon.

Meantime, here is one more page that was fun to do and did not require much concentration.

The Bible pages are thin, so I prepped both front and back of the page with clear gesso.  The background is watercolor.  I find that it just splashes around on the coating of the clear gesso, but I like the haphazard mixing of colors.  The birds and branches are drawn with an Inktense pencil in Deep Indigo, and the text is Winsor and Newton watercolor marker.

Mountain Weekend

This weekend it was back to our mountain cabin.  Finally, there are leaves on the trees there!

I went on a walk looking for signs of spring, and found many!

I thought it was about time for the wild "flame" azalea to be in bloom.  I found some on the very top of the mountain.

The pink ladies' slipper orchids are somewhat elusive, but we have a nice crop growing along our driveway.

Before we left home, I started work on a watercolor painting  Here is a preview of the unfinished scene.  It does not have much left to do except add some detail.

A few weeks ago I gave my sister the Inspire journaling Bible.  She had seen what I was doing with my Bible art, and was interested, but not sure how to get going illustrating the pages.  The Inspire Bible has line drawings and text in the margins on many pages, but also has many blank margins to fill as desired.  She came over this afternoon and we painted together.  She was doing a page from Revelations, so I turned to the same page and chose to illustrate the Tree of Life from Revelations.

I tried out my new Derwent Inktense pencils.  They are a water-soluble colored pencil, but not watercolor.  The color is acrylic ink.  Once it dries, you can not reactivate the color by wetting it.  I love the vibrant, rich color and the ease of drawing with pencil rather than paintbrush.

Must stop...time for Game of Thrones!

Bible Art Journaling

Recently I have gone in a new direction with my art journaling.  I discovered that many people are journaling directly into their Bibles, either illustrating certain passages or writing journaling notes in the margins.  This project really helped me when we were in Florida for my husband's cancer treatment.  I could get a page done on the way to Sarasota while hubby drove.  (I always drove him home.)

I bought the ESV Double Column Journaling Bible at the Lifeway Christian book store.  There is whole section of these Bibles with wide margins that have light lines for writing.  Now that I have more experience, I wish I had purchased the ESV-Interleaved Bible which has an entire blank page on the right side of each Bible page.  Then I would not be covering up the text so much with my art.

In 2015 Rebekah R. Jones began a weekly Bible Art Journaling Challenge with a You Tube video lesson for each week.  She offers insight and ministry into the selected passage, as well as journaling advice on techniques and materials.  The challenges are still available in the archives of the website.  If you choose, you can publish your journaled pages on Facebook.

I decided to do the pages in order of the challenge.  It was amazing how each one seemed to be just what I needed for that day in my life.

Here are some of the pages I have done.

                                   

 I used watercolors on the more vibrant colored ones.  Prepping the thin Bible page with clear gesso is key to prevent wrinkles and bleed-through.  I did a few pages before we left home, but the ones I did in Florida were not prepped before-hand.  I used watercolor pencils, watercolor markers, and ink pens, mostly while riding in the car.

This is the one that I illustrated on the way to Sarasota on the day we found out that Charlie was in remission.  Our hope was well founded.

I hope that you like these and perhaps might try something similar if you are so inclined.  I will share the ones that I have done since coming back home in a future post.