Bible Art Journaling (An Experiment)- Psalm 91:4a - He shall cover you with His Feathers :-)

Hi Everyone!

I wanted to share with you my second Bible Art Journaling page that I created this past evening....

Originally I was planning on journaling on cardstock pages and putting them into a binder but I changed my mind (just like a women to do so :-)) and decided to use NKJV My Upmost Devotional Bible.  This is a daily devotional Bible that allows you to read the entire Bible in a year and since I will be experimenting on the pages, I can use my main Bible to read God's Word if it is completely covered (as in this experiment) :-).

The passage reading that I focused on for this artwork is Psalm 91:4a “He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge.”

This past year has been a year where my husband and I have truly felt covered by His wings...some of you are aware that my husband was diagnosed with a very rare non-Hodgins lymphoma in November 2014 and has been through numerous tests and chemo treatments since July 2014.  

His cancer has no cure but does have a good response to chemo and my husband is now in the maintenance chemo portion of the treatment (will be in maintenance for two years or more). 

He has blessed us so along this journey and we are so thankful to have the Lord by our side!  We have trusted fully in the Lord with each and every day and take comfort in knowing that He is in charge- To God be the Glory, great things He hath done!!

When I contemplated on Psalm  91:4a, I thought that the wings would be a good image to try to draw.  I "google" for free angel wings art and used some of the art on the internet for inspiration:-)

The steps I took are as follows:

With a brush , I applied a coat of Liquitex® Professional Clear Gesso® and used a Heat Tool to speed up the drying process.  

***NOTE*** One thing I noticed is that the this brand of clear Gesso® definitely has a gritty texture on this thin paper.... not sure if there are other brands of clear gesso that may be smoother but the texture definitely played a part in the rest of the process....

A piece of scrap paper was inserted under the page to protect the sheets below from the indentation of the next few steps. 

I used a regular mechanical pencil to lightly draw the feathers on the page, then applied Silver Metallic Gelatos® to fill in the area (I tried to spread the Gelatos® with my finger but it was difficult with the grit of the paper and to get it into the thin points of the feathers, so I decided to use a watercolor brush with water to dilute the Gelatos® and fill in the feathers).

Once the Gelatos® was dry (again, I used the Heat Tool), I tried to outline the feathers with a Gray Prismacolor Pencil but was not getting the definition I wanted, so I tried a Pigma Micron™ 05 Pen (.45), a Faber-Castell® Pitt Pen S and M Black Marker, a Black Fine Point Sharpie® and had difficulty with all of the pens over the Gelatos® and Gesso® (the surface was so gritty- it was jamming the points on the pens).  

I was able to letter the verse above the wings over the Gesso® using the Pigma Micron™ 05 Pen (.45) followed by the Black Fine Point Sharpie® (I did taed to work on my lettering- lol!)

I was still not satisfied with the wings so I decided to watercolor a bit of Ranger® Tim Holtz® Picket Fence Distress Stain over the wings to lighten the gray color, then added more pencil shading and Lukas-Nerchau® Opaque White watercolor over the feathers.

After this layer, the wings seemed a bit more realistic so I added the Metallic Blue Gelatos® (sorry, I forgot to write down the official names of the colors- this may be Blueberry) to the outside area and used water to spread the color around.

I am still not completely thrilled with how this

a bit closer view of the feathers and lettering- still needs work:-)

turned out but it is a start and the point  of  Bible Art Journaling is to focus on God's Word and express with the art- not to criticize yourself into not journaling because it is not  perfect :-)   I tend to be a type A perfectionist person, so I have to keep reminding myself of this- lol!!

I was pleased to see that the artwork and colors did not bleed through at all but the back of the page is a bit “bumpy”- not really wrinkled but sort of dimpled...

I could do artwork on the  other side of this page but most likely will not at this time.  

Lesson  learned- watercolor and Gelatos® worked great on the clear Gesso® but will need to figure out a writing utensil that will write smoothly on the gritty surface (again, the surface feels like a fine grit sandpaper).

I had fun with this experiment and will share more soon- so thankful that you were able to stop by to visit.  Hugs and God Bless!

Luke 7:50- Your Faith has Saved You, Go In Peace... Bible Art Journaling- Day One :-)

Hi Everyone!

I wanted to share with you today my very first Bible Art Journaling page that I created using the Splitcoaststampers CC537 Color  Challenge – Hello Honey, Cucumber Crush and Watermelon Wonder (minus the dessert- although salvation is "sweet" for sure!).  

Recently, it has come to my attention that there is such a thing known as Bible Art or Bible Faith Journaling.   I have always taken notes in my Bible and highlighted certain verses of Scripture but it never occurred to me to actually create art as a form of worship with my daily devotions or Bible Studies.

There are so many inspirational artists out there doing this very thing- I was inspired by the art of Karla Dornacher for this page (I drew the images by free hand but Karla does sell bookmarks that have this verse along with art that you can use for your own coloring and artwork).    I love her whimsical style and modified the artwork and lettering a bit to make it my own.

Another artist, Stephanie Ackerman at Homegrown Hospitality has a section called DocumentedFaith and in addition to teaching, also has numerous ideas on her blog.   Also, there is Illustrated Faith and ArtsyFaith- not to mention many more (just google "Bible Art Journaling" for a tremendous source of ideas).

If you are interested, I have set up a Pinterest board called Bible Journaling and we have started a challenge thread at Splitcoaststampers for Bible Art Journaling (first challenge is “Getting  Started” - see details here).

After fiddling around some more with song lyrics and "peace" doodling 

In addition, there has been a Splitcoaststampers' gallery designated for Bible Art Journaling, and if this is something that you are working on, we would love to see your artwork in the gallery.  If you do not have a profile on Splitcoaststampers, it is very easy to set up and there is no cost...  unless you decide to become a Fan Club Member, (which I highly encourage you to do so)- no, I do not receive commission from Splitcoaststampers :-) , but they have such a wealth of information for stamping, tutorials, etc. that the $25.00 US yearly cost for membership helps to maintain their massive site...pennies a day for a site such as theirs- the best bargain around!!

To get started in Bible Art Journaling, you do not need many supplies.  You may want to use a Wide Margin Bible (which I do own but it is in hiding right now :-)) and since the rest are not wide margin, I decided to create a journal using sheet protectors and a ring binder.  This way I can practice before drawing right into my Bible :-)

Today, I decided to start my journal using a printed page of Scripture from Luke 7:36-50 using the NKJV from the free website BibleGateway.   

Luke 7:36-7:50 is very meaningful part of Scripture to both my husband and I since this was the section of the Bible that spoke to both of us (almost twenty years ago) when we accepted Christ as our personal Savior. 

A former State Policeman, Tom Harmon had come to our local church for their Family Weekend,  and he preached on this message... unbeknownst to either of us, my husband and I both prayed to accept Christ during the invitational prayer that very same night!!  

I realized that if Christ could forgive this women and her faith could save her, then He could forgive my many sins and save me as well!!  At that point, I believed that Christ came to earth as a man, died on the cross for my sins, rose again on the third day and now sits at the right hand of the Father!   Our lives have been forever changed and even though we are still sinners, we are saved by the Grace of God and will spend all eternity with Christ, our Lord and Savior!!  Hallelujah, what a Savior!!

Original layout

This is the very reason why I have decided to start Bible Art Journaling!  He has given us all talents to use to glorify Him and I want to use my art for that very purpose :-)

So, I copied the NJKV verses from BibleGateway into a Word document, changed the font to Tempus Sans ITC and printed out the page onto Whisper White cardstock.   What I did not do was proof read before printing and noticed that some of the words that were in italics did not space properly- note to self…proof read before printing- lol!!

At that point, I used a ruler to space out what I wanted to draw and penciled in the drawing.  I used Pigma Micron™ Pens in .20, .25, .35 widths along with Stampin’ Up! Hello Honey, Cucumber Crush and Watermelon Wonder inks and markers and a Rexel Derwent® Turquoise Blue #39 Watercolor Pencil.

After first layer of coloring :-)

One of the things that I discovered was that the Pigma Micron™ pens are not completely waterproof, so next time, I will either not add watercolor or use Faber-Castell® Pitt Pens for watercolor (another note to self :-)). 

I also discovered that I kept adding elements- the lyrics for part of the song “InChrist Alone” by Keith and Kristyn Getty, the scroll border, more arrows, etc.  So I believe that you may find that you are never finished your page- lol!!

I am looking forward to this new type of art form and will most likely incorporate stamps along with other mixed media in the future.

Thanks again for stopping by- I hope all of you have a blessed week!!