Bible Journaling: some Old Testament goodies (BJ-27)

Well, this evening’s Bible Journaling Session was due to take its inspiration from some Old Testament verses. Unfortunately, not enough people could attend today and the session has been postponed to Monday, 8th April. For those unfamiliar with Bible Journaling, using the provided templates and examples participants trace and colour into their own wide-margin Bibles, reflecting on the verse as they do so. There’s also a lot of space for chat, catching up and not forgetting a cup of tea/coffee/hot chocolate. The sessions are monthly, cost £5, and are suitable for artists and non-artists alike. More details are on my workshops page or by getting in touch with me. This month’s choice of illustrations are pictured below, and the templates are available as a free download from my online shop.

Old Testament verse Bible journaling illustration: Deuteronomy 4:39

Old Testament verse Bible journaling illustration: Exodus 6:7

In preparing the designs for this month, I dipped my toe into using AI image generators to create most of the illustrations. It seems the trick is to hone the text description of what you want and then press the create button lots and lots of times. If the same type of image comes up repeatedly, it’s time to tweak the text prompt. I tried Adobe’s Illustrator beta generator and also their Firefly generator, but had the best interpretation and results from Microsoft’s Bing/Image Creator. I don’t feel a fraud for using AI image generation, mainly because I still have to have the idea and inspiration to feed into the process and the patience to click and click and click until my vision is realised. AI design also prompted further inspiration, such as the art deco styling of the verse from 1 Samuel.

I have no firm plan for my colouring in of the samples when I start and take the risk of experimenting with techniques directly into my Bible. The verse from Psalms is a case in point… I started by tracing the outlines as normal, then added the shading to the lettering. All ok so far. Then added the turquoise/teal background using watercolour pencils and a water brush, building up the depth of colour around the text. That was flat and uninteresting and I decided to add some contrasting colour, accidentally flicking water/paint from the pencil tip onto the work below. So I carried on with that technique, but in the process flicked paint randomly into the otherwise uncoloured text. That wasn’t pleasing – perhaps a masking fluid would have helped at this point but a) I hadn’t considered it in time, and b) I’ve not checked to see if it would come off the thin paper safely. As I know the pigment/dyes in watercolour stain white Posca pen, I thought I’d seal the work so far with Mod Podge. I didn’t stir it first, so the result was gloss varnish rather than matte. So I covered with ultra matte varnish. Which then crazed as the Mod Podge probably wasn’t fully dry. Unintended, but attractive, added texture. The Posca worked well to re-white the text and there wasn’t colour seep. I got there in the end, and learnt a lot, but I would suggest a different approach next time! And a discreet masking fluid test…

If you’d like to come for a session, as a regular or as a taster, let me know. The next is scheduled for the second Monday evening in April (8th), starting at 7:30pm.