Journaling the Bible

Bible Art Journaling...a lovely past-time that combines spending time in The Word with pleasurable art activities! 

Here are some pages I have journaled during the past few months.

In my original Crossway Bible with two-inch lined margins on each page (ESV Single Column Journaling Bible (Black).
:

Matthew 25:14-30-The Parable of Talents

John 21:18  My reaction to being immobile due to ankle surgery

Habakkuk 3:19 God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet  like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places.

The page with the deer was inspired by the visitors outside my window during a recent snow event. The verse just happened to be referenced in my daily devotional Jesus Calling on January 18.

Since I have filled so many pages in my first Crossway journal, I purchased another one.  This time I bought the hard-cover interleaved version.( ESV Journaling Bible, Interleaved Edition, Cloth over Board, Tan)  There is a blank page next to every page of Scripture.  This allows for a full-page illustration without covering up any of the Scripture.  It is much heavier, but I enjoy the space provided for artwork.

Psalm 8-How Majestic is Your Name

My artwork on this page was inspired by a video lesson by Gina Lee Kim on Interweave.com (The Versatility of Blue).  It is done in watercolor with the addition of white acrylic paint.

Exodus 38:18

I also illustrated this page while the ground was covered with snow, and I was desperate to work with some bright colors!

Ezekiel 36:9  You shall be tilled and sown.

These pages were colored with Derwent Inktense pencils and softened with a water brush.  I find this is the easiest method to use outside of my studio, especially while confined to the couch.  The image is my version of VanGogh's Landscape with House and Ploughman.  I enjoy trying my hand and learning from paintings by the masters of art.  Coincidentally, Charlie brought home the handout from church that Sunday, and the theme of the sermon was "The Sower."

 I started Bible Art Journaling in February, 2016, when my husband was finishing up seven months of radiation treatment in Sarasota, Florida.  It was a stressful time.  I had been art journaling for about six years when I discovered by browsing Pinterest that people were journaling directly in their Bibles .  This immediately caught my attention, because I was using Scripture in some of my journaling already. 

I googled "Bible Art Journaling" and discovered the website of Rebekah R. Jones from Great Britain.  She has offered several free online workshops for Bible Journaling, with suggested verses, devotionals, and YouTube videos with art lessons to complete each page.  I began with the Original Bible Art Journaling Challenge, which was a weekly challenge in 2015.  All the archives are online on her page.  I tried to do these in order, and it was amazing how frequently the lessons featured scripture that was exactly what I needed to get me through that day.

A perfect example is this page, which followed the prompt for the day we met with Charlie's doctor at the end of his radiation treatment.  He was pronounced in remission that day.  I had done this page with colored pencils in the car on our 90-mile daily commute to the cancer center.

Jeremiah 29:11  For I know the plans I have for you, to give you a future and a hope.

Following the OBAJC, the next year Rebekah offered the series Heaven is Calling, a monthly challenge, and in 2017 Deeper Still.  That one is still ongoing since life interfered with her offering the monthly videos.  You can view the tutorials directly from You Tube (Rebekah R. Jones).

If you are interested in Bible Art Journaling, Rebekah's online challenges are a great place to begin. I really did not know that much about the Old Testament, but have learned so much from completing the lessons and doing further reading.  I have almost never followed her lessons on artwork, preferring to choose my own illustrations, but she has helped many new artists confidently produce beautiful Bible pages.

There is a wide array of journaling Bibles available from Amazon, Lifeway, or other book sellers.  Rebekkah offers advice on which one to choose on her website.  You can also journal on any Bible if you don't mind covering some of the text with your artwork.  Some people prefer to do Bible journaling in a conventional journal.

Now I often journal in response to the readings from Sunday church service or the Jesus Calling devotional.  Sometimes I search for a verse that might support my need for that day or just something that I feel like painting or drawing.

Good luck if you decide to try Bible Art Journaling.  Feel free to ask any questions via the comments.

Not a Leg to Stand On

July is nearly over- unbelievable!  I do not have much to show for this summer as far as sewing or art projects.  I've had some medical issues, the worst of which is a broken bone in my right leg.  I did not fall or anything, but both of my legs started bothering me at the beach when we were walking on the long boardwalk.  I finally got to see my orthopedic foot specialist, who diagnosed a displaced fracture of the fibula.  I was walking around on it for a month, so he thinks it may heal on its own with just a lace-up ankle brace.  The other ankle is the one that has bothered me most for years, so I guess I am falling apart.

I have been looking at ideas for a baby quilt for my new granddaughter, due in September.  The nursery theme is going to be garden...think flowers, birds, butterflies, and topiary.  Here is one I made a few years ago for a Capital Quilters Guild challenge.

The color scheme is not too far off from Layla's nursery palette, with pastels mixed with a few brights.

Baby's mama Emily liked this pattern that I found on Pinterest, so I have been making drawings for something along that line.  I'll probably use the light green for the border.

I also have done a few more Bible art journaling pages.

Joshua 15:16-19

Matthew 2:9-11

John 10:11-14

This weekend we are going back to Carolina Beach for a special family wedding.  My daughter-in-law's mother is marrying a wonderful man.  They live near Raleigh, but have been renovating a house on the Intercoastal Waterway where we stayed with the family last April.  Our little granddaughter will be a flower girl.  I can't wait to get back down there!  I need to get a pedicure...or should I bother  when my toes will be peeking out from this black lace-up brace?

SaveSave
SaveSave

Life's A Beach!

Our beach vacation has come and gone!  How could two weeks go by so quickly?

It was great to have our whole family together.  We celebrated several family birthdays (including mine!) and Fathers' Day together.  Charlie and I took two of the older grandchildren on an excursion to the North Carolina Aquarium in Fort Fisher, NC.  That involved a ferry ride that we all enjoyed as well.

This summer they have a special exhibit of animated dinosaurs on a nature walk outside the museum.

I took many projects and art supplies with me, but did almost no art work the whole time other than coloring with the kids and making Fathers' Day cards with them.  I have gotten a few new Bible journal pages done, however.

This is one of my favorites, and was inspired by a video lesson by Gina Lee Kim titled The Versatility of Blue (available from Interweave.com.)

I tried collaging a paper napkin onto the Bible pages for this one, and added watercolor background and stamping.

This one is just ink pen drawings and watercolor.

La Vie on Rose

This week has been kind of slow as I recovered from minor surgery.  I managed to get a little bit of painting done in between naps!

I decided to finish the roses from the Strathmore Online Workshop with Steve Mitchell  (The Mind of Watercolor.)  When last seen, I had done the first washes on the roses.  Here is how they turned out.

This is the one in my watercolor journal. I am pretty happy with it.

This is the first one I tried, on watercolor paper.  I liked it okay, but thought the edges looked too hard.  I sprayed it with a fine droplet sprayer to soften the leaves and petals.  Not sure how great that looks, but it is what it is.

And since I was practicing watercolor roses, I added one on my latest Bible journaling page.

This is actually my favorite Bible verse  (Philippians 4:6), and now it is my favorite Bible journal page.

Tomorrow we leave for our annual family beach vacation.  Look for lots of photos and maybe some art journaling while I am there!

Trying on a Little Hockney

Here is my watercolor version of a David Hockney painting called Red Pots in the Garden.

I really liked painting this way, with lots of movement and a bright palette.  The original is done in oil.  I have been enjoying studying and learning from the painting styles of great artists.

Red Pots in the Garden, David Hockney.

I also managed to do one more Bible art page.   I took the same little deer that was in my forest painting and added it to this woodland scene.

I got through my outpatient surgery with faithful hubby taking good care of me.  It was not as bad as I feared.  I have mostly stayed on the couch all weekend, but we managed to go to church and lunch with our family this morning.   Hopefully, I will be good as new by our beach vacation next weekend.

Last Stop on the Amazing Race Art Journal Challenge...India!

I finally finished my journal page for the last country to "visit" on the Amazing Race art journal challenge on Facebook.  Last stop was India.

I had several ideas, but as I was browsing the Internet for ideas, I fell in love with elephant eyes.

I used painted and spattered with watercolor paint, then used Inktense pencils to work on some of the facial crevices and the eyes.  This was so much fun.  I love adding unexpected color to add an element of surprise to familiar objects.

Here is one more Bible page, this one from the very end in Revelations 22:2.

I embellished the tree of life a bit by having all of the twelve fruits (or thereabouts) ripening at the same time.  Watercolor background and Inktense pencils for the tree and fruit.

Strathmore Online Workshops- "The Mind of Watercolor"

Once again I am participating online in a free art workshop offered by Strathmore Artist Papers.  This time the theme is The Mind of Watercolor, and the instructor is Steve Mitchell.  Steve has many instructional videos on You Tube.  For the Strathmore workshop, we did a landscape first, and are now working on a botanical painting of a rose.

Here is my finished landscape.

I am finding the rose more difficult.  It requires more precision and taking the time to paint petal by petal.  I have tried two versions for the first layer.

I think the first one is a little dark for the first wash.

The second one is in my watercolor journal  I don't like the drawing as well, but am pretty happy with the first wash of watercolor.

And here is one more Bible art journaling page.  The other side of this page was already painted and lettered with very dark colors that showed through.  I gave this side two coats of clear gesso.  Then I painted mostly with my new Inktense pencils and blended with water.  I added some dark Royal watercolor.  There was still some ink showing through in the yellow sky, so I printed the scripture and added it there.  I was pretty pleased not only with saving this page, but the outcome of the painting.

Signing Back In

It has been a very busy couple of weeks!  A weeklong stay in the mountains, four days at Merlefest, a house full of company, and then a sinus headache that has lasted for 13 days have kept me occupied.  

We finally got the propane gas heater installed in the basement of our mountain cabin.  Just in time for summer!  Doesn't matter, I am looking forward to being able to quilt in the colder months.  One of these days, we will also have a ceiling, sheet rock walls, and a floor!

Here is another journal page on the Amazing Race Facebook challenge...next stop Italy.  Of course I thought of the great wines of Italy, and decided to try to paint wine glasses/bottles.  For this I looked once again to the free Bob Burridge videos on You-Tube and on his website.  He gives such insight into how light is reflected and bounced around in glass and liquids.

Both of these paintings are in acrylic, and are blatant copies of Bob's paintings as I try to learn his methods.

Then...off to Germany.  I decided to try to paint like Wassily Kandinsky, who although a Russian, spent a great amount of time in Germany.  Here is my impression of his painting Houses in Munich (1908).

I love the bright colors of his palette and the freedom of his brushstrokes.  I painted this freehand with no drawing ahead of time.

I am also working on two paintings of flowers inspired by Bob's videos.  They involve painting bright splotches of color, and then forming the shapes of the flowers and vase by negative painting around the original colors.  Mine are both works in progress on top of some old unsuccessful journal pages.

You would never believe what these two pages once looked like.  I like being able to paint over some bad attempts.  These are both done in acrylic paint. It is much easier to do the negative painting with a more opaque paint than watercolor.

Next up are some more Bible art journaling pages.

In the first one, I used Bob Burridge's techniques again to apply the light pastel colors of the angel, and then use darks to negative paint the shape of the angel and wings.  This one is done in watercolor. I like that you can still see some of the original bright colors under the dark blues and purples of the background.

Judges 6:12

Here are some other recent pages.

Psalm 145

Hebrews 4:10-11

Romans 5:8

Jeremiah 31:3

On Wednesday, I babysat for my three-year-old granddaughter, Charlie.  I used to keep her two days a week until last summer, and I still enjoy having her stay with me when possible.  We did lots of painting together, and I used her paintings to make a Mothers' Day gift for her mommy.

We painted the butterfly and bubbles together, and she painted some vast expanses of paper with colorful glitter paint that were cut up and used in the flowers. 

And here is a beautiful bouquet of my own from my South Carolina family.  Inspiration for a future painting?

We are lucky enough to live close to our other son and his family.  This morning it was church and brunch.  Here is Charlie with the balloon from her Mack-Mack that did not get away or get popped all through breakfast.  I am looking forward to my luxurious pedicure with which they gifted me!

That's it for now.  I went to my quilt bee meeting last week and have a few photos from that meeting.  

Happy Mothers' Day to all of you beautiful mothers out there!