This evening’s Bible Journaling Session used verses loosely based on the theme of ‘renewed connection’. I don’t do New Year’s resolutions, but even so, this is a great aim to consider for the year. Alongside coming to the monthly sessions as well, of course…
Back in the day, when there were still many crafting magazines available, free clear stamps were included as a cover gift. Somehow I still have a collection of these, which are all still clear and functional. Finding them in my stash, I came up with this month’s theme for the art journaling session at The Studio: twinchies. For the unfamiliar, twinchies are 2″ square elements for crafting and the giveaway stamps fit perfectly. Using mixed media and appropriate papers, I created this:
My normal journaling Bible is pretty much full of my illustrations. I tend not to decorate both sides of the page which starts restricting the number that will fit in. I also prefer to have the illustration on the same side or spread as the actual verse, which further reduces the options. Making five illustrations for each monthly Bible journaling session has further strained the spaces left.
So, the time had come to think about a new Bible. I came across the concept of an interleaved journaling Bible – a blank page between each page of text. This was exciting as it opened the possibility of larger illustrations. The only version I could find was ESV, but there is a super leather-bound version that ended up on my wish list. Then I found a new NIV journaling Bible – it has thicker paper, introduces a few blank pages, and is specifically geared toward art journaling.
Black Friday saw the Bible art journaling NIV translation discounted, so that was purchased. And then, handily, Christmas came round and I was given the ESV leather-bound Bible by my mum.
Yesterday, I took the opportunity to do my first illustration in the ESV interleaved Bible, working with a new full set of Polychromos colouring pencils. My normal process worked nicely: design on computer, trace and colour. ChatGPT helped with colour choices once again.
These five illustrations were used in this week’s Bible Journaling Session on Monday evening at The Studio to reflect on a loose theme of ‘secure in God’. At some point, I will need to find the confidence to do the illustrations myself from scratch, but for now, I still have an image in mind and then search for it online. For this month’s templates, I have also used text-to-image AI to generate some of the graphics – this takes just as much time to tweak the prompt and generate tens of possibilities to get the image I have in mind. Overall design, text and colouring are all done by me.
The templates are available as a free PDF download via my online shop here.
In the first of a series of posts, I am going to update you on what I have been doing during my blog’s radio silence… Several groups have been postponed for various reasons, so I have not posted about them, and I have spent the time on a number of projects. This week has been a new Online Card Class; Extraordinary Embossing Folders. For five days there were two videos per day with techniques to expand your use of embossing folders. It’s been a while since I did any card making, so it was good to do some today based on the first day of class:
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.
It seems (on a quick search through my posts and pics) that I have been remiss and have failed to share a project I designed, completed and taught last year. I’ve created another version this month – hence this post. May I introduce my Christmas and Easter pebble painting…
You may have heard of a way-side pulpit – the posters with a meaningful, or sometimes witty, quote or remark designed to catch the eye and prompt thought as you walk or drive past. Well, at my church this has been taken to another level… a pee-side pulpit. Taking note of the eye level advertising that seems to be in public conveniences, similar frames are strategically placed in the building’s toilets. I’ve been asked to contribute toward the ‘verse of the month’ designs and for January came up with this:
For the first Bible Journaling Session of 2024, we’re having a colour challenge. All of us have our favourite colours that we reach for… Sometimes we can get stuck choosing new palettes and our work becomes a little samey. During our session, we will use different colour palettes to try and break out of our tonal rut. Here are my samples – carry on reading to see the colour palettes I used.
We have a colour challenge over at Less is More this week… Your clean and simple card should feature blue, pink and white to enter our gallery. Now, my cards don’t necessarily fit the guidance for ‘simple’ or ‘easily reproducible’ but I find them rather pleasing and am running with them! Here’s my first card for the design team inspiration page and below is another I made:
