For my 36th birthday I was gifted a journaling bible. Ever since, my quiet time has taken on a new look, new peace, new fresh ideas.
Art-journaling in my bible has become such a gift to me. Spending the time to slow down and sink in to the word of God and allowing artful worship to manifest. I truly believe that everyone has it in them…creativity. Creativity just requires time and stillness…waiting on it to come to fruition. First and foremost, it requires communion with God. Typically I will start my morning by listening to worship music to help bring me into His presence. Sitting in silence and listening to the phrases and praises and turning my heart towards His. Here’s a link to my worship playlist.
Beyond this, I think there are many ways you can worship with your art and your bible. It can be painting, coloring, copying scripture. You can use different mediums: paints, glitter, crayons, pens. My biggest piece of advice would be to sit and soak in the verses. Don’t just put pen to paper and begin. Sit and hear from God. Let God’s vision become your vision, and let your vision line up with His. Ultimately, this process is glorification of the Him and the gifts He’s given you. I wish there were some easy step-by-step guide to creating something beautiful. But the truth is, only you can create what it is that you can create. Your vision, your heart, your worship is all unique. By sitting with God and choosing to allow your creativity to manifest this way, it’s already beautiful. It’s already glorifying God. The most important part of the whole process is that you just begin.
Here are a few items I use almost daily:
- I was gifted an ESV Journaling Bible from Crossway Books last year and use that for journaling. I often will look up other versions and add it in the margins if I feel it necessary or significant.
- A mix of pens: Micron, Sharpie, Faber-Castell and good old GellyRoll pens.
- When water coloring or using any kind of paint, I apply a coating of clear gesso to prep the surface. It gives the paper a little more durability and texture. I use the Liquitex brand, available at Michaels or Amazon.
- I use Derwent watercolor pencils for details for things like mountains or leaves or trees.
- I love Winsor & Newton watercolor markers for script and text lettering.
- Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolor paints are beautiful to work with and extremely buildable when I want to layer color.
- I picked up some watercolor brush pens from HobbyLobby. A 3-pack. Love using these for things like florals and abstracts.
- And lastly, a cheap watercolor paint palette from Michaels.