Art Journaling Joshua 1:9 - Strong and Courageous

Today I’m showing you Joshua 1:9 in the Inspire Bible: Large Print Edition as the 3rd of my step by steps.

I’d been thinking about joining a Bible art challenge. I thought joining a challenge would be a great way to hear how God has spoken to others through their journaling, learn about various art products and techniques, and possibly find some inspiration. I’ve spent more time than usual on Rebekah R Jones’ site this week looking at videos and checking out her fantastic giveaway (ends 8/18/2016 so hurry if you want to enter). I decided I’d start with one of her’s but ran into a problem. I knew it would need to be in the Inspire because that’s the journaling review I’m currently working on. I looked up the verses for both challenges (the other verse is I Samuel 1:1-20) and the margins for both verses were drawn in and so was the margin on the facing page. Now what? I noticed that they had actually done an illustration for the Joshua verse. A beautiful promise “the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” but not the part of the verse that was speaking to me. So there was my answer color the illustration and do a tip-in to go along with it.

The coloring part went quickly using gel pens and colored pencils after I decided on a color palette. I wanted to add a little something more and decided on light tan “tiger” stripes stenciled in with pencil.

For my tip in (after experimenting a little with various types of papers I had on hand) I decide to use a 4″x 6″ inch blank index card. They warp slightly when wet but I was very surprised but what doesn’t bleed through an index card.

Part of the reason I wanted to do this verse was because of the way it spoke to me. In this verse we are commanded not to give in to negative emotions like fear, discouragement, and depression because God is with us. It’s often not easy to do as I had experienced the previous weekend. So I wanted to have this picture to remember the next time discouragement tried to take over. I chose a lion because they are strong and majestic (like God, and us through Him), because I like cats of all kinds, and because I thought I could manage a passable drawing of one.

I found a line drawing of a lion and traced it onto a different piece of paper before free-handing it onto my card while looking at both the original and my tracing. I tried to go fairly lightly so the watercolor would cover my lines well. (I’m going to have to practice drawing with a light hand a bit more.)

I blocked in most of the color using my watercolors and a medium sized brush.

I switched to a smaller brush to fill in gaps and details. I could not get the watercolor to work well for the eye or whiskers so I ended up inking them in after heat drying the paint and then penciling in the words.

I then used a brush pen over the lettering and did a little more touch up of the paint.

I ended up going over the lettering again. I smoothed out lines and covered up pencil marks. While I was doing that I noticed the thick part of my first “g” looked a little like a lion’s tail so I decided to embelish it.

Here is the finished card laying on my Bible so you can see all the elements at once.

I decided on the my placement and used two pieces of washi tape to secure the card to the Bible.

And here is the card tipped in.

I love journaling Bibles with illustrations because they make you want to draw in them instead of intimidating you. Sometimes however they don’t see the same thing in a verse I do or I want to start at the beginning. I’m glad someone came up with the idea of tip-ins.

Have you participated in any journaling challenges? If you have what was your favorite part? If not what would make you want to? What verses do you find most useful when you are afraid or discouraged? Please let me know in the comments.