Art Journaling Psalm 5:2 – Prayer

For this Friday’s art journaling post I decided to show a step-by-step of my most recent project – Psalm 5:2. I’m currently working in the Crossway ESV Singe Column Journaling Bible to get a Various Art Medium post ready.

I chose this verse while reading passages about prayer during my Bible study time. (What else would I study on the National Day of Prayer?)

Blank pages – inspiring and intimidating at the same time.

I decided on a stencil I was going to use for the emphasized words and worked up a rough sketch on a scrap piece of paper cut to be about the size of my blank column.

I wanted to get an idea of what kind of spacing I’d need and get use to the stencil a little bit.

Next I decided on my color palette (yellow-orange & blue, I decided to add the green later) and art mediums (pastels and gel pens).

I put the pastel on in layers; yellow, than orange, than gold; using the side of the pastels in a circular motion. I wanted to blend the colors (and avoid pastel constantly getting on my hands and facing page) so I blew the obvious dust away and rubbed the page lightly with a paper towel after each layer. Then to add a little visual interest I put a couple diagonal stripes on top in orange one direction and yellow the other.

I added the lettering working from the top down. I had a bit of a problem with the last “N” in attention and realized I probably should have penciled in the letters under the pastel so I wouldn’t have to repair the pastel if I erased. I did the stenciling lighter from then on and decided to do the small words in ink using my Pigma Micron pen instead of penciling in first. (I’ve used this lettering style for years and didn’t think I’d have any problems.) You probably noticed this layout isn’t exactly like my sketch. I used a lot more capital letters in the stenciling and altered spacing slightly as I went.

Next step inking over my pencil lines. A thicker black pen is going to the top of my journaling wish list. I wanted the lines on the word “Attention” to be a bit bold and that would have been much quicker (and smoother) with a wider tipped pen.

I used gel pens to fill in the stenciled letters and crown. A glittery blue for “King” and “God” a dark turquoise for the rest of the letters and gold for the crown. The gold ran onto the outline sightly so I re-inked that. While I waited for the gel pen to dry I practiced a few leafs on a scrap piece of paper. (I almost forgot to take this picture before going on to the next step.)

I thought it needed a little more color so I drew in sort of heart shaped leafs with my green Pigma Micron pen. I drew a vine connecting the tiny leaves at the top and bottom and colored in the leafs with a light green gel pen.

If you want to know exactly what products I used for these pictures: (the clickable ones are affiliate links)
ESV Single Column Journaling Bible (Black)
Artist’s Loft Soft Pastels – 36 Piece (I think I got mine at Michaels Arts & Crafts)
Show-Offs 1/2″ Upper and Lower Case Alphabet Stencil – Funky (I got mine at Hobby Lobby)
Pigma Micron Inductive Bible Study Kit 8pk
LolliZ Gel Pens 48 Gel Pen Tray Set

I had a lot of fun working on this post so I’ll be doing more of these step-by-steps (unless you have better ideas?). Any suggestions or tips you think would have been useful when doing this project? Would you like these posts more detailed? Less detailed? In what way? Would You prefer a different kind of post? What type? Please let us know in the comments.