Gansai Tambi Watercolor + Faber-Castell Pitt Pens – Bible Art Journaling Challenge Week 24

Jun 16, 2015 / 3 Comments

Shares 388

Hello Everyone! Welcome to week 24 of my Bible Art Journaling Challenge! This week I have created something which feels closer to “my style” than many things I teach on. I can do all sorts of styles and love creating and teaching a variety of things. Sometimes its fun to just let your hair down and get engrossed in the creative process. For today I just gathered the supplies I wanted to show you, found some scripture I really wanted to hear God speak to me more about, and let myself get lost in the process. Such beauty in all this.

I LOVE mixed media. I LOVE creating with no rules. I LOVE getting lost in God’s presence while creating. I LOVE God’s Word. This was even more fun for me than usual, if that is even possible. 🙂 The creativity today expresses “me” and my relationship with God quite well. Today I used Gansai Tambi watercolor, Faber-Castell Pitt Pens and also did some die cutting with my Sizzix Big Shot. You don’t need all the supplies I used. Just join me! 🙂

Important diversion…

Public speaking is something I used to do for a living, so it comes fairly naturally for me. As for my creative journey, until starting this Bible Art Journaling Challenge, I mostly created without others needing to learn from my creative process. I simply created in front of people during public worship times or taught the process in workshops. Not the actual painting process, but rather empowering groups of people, to help establish the ministry of prophetic arts in their church worship and outreaches. Something I love to do.

For this Bible Art Journaling Challenge, I’ve tried to be mindful of your need to follow along with my creative process and will continue to do so. This week, I had enough tutorials I can refer you to, to allow me to refer you to those and simply give you a peek into my prophetic arts creative process and also my relationship with God. I think you’ll enjoy this. 🙂

Prophetic arts

I’ve mentioned before that I started a Facebook group in 2008 called Prophetic Arts for Jesus. It amazingly has grown to represent over 50 nations around the world, with thousands of members and hundreds regularly waiting for me to have time to manually process their requests to join. It is a wonderful group of creatives who seek to hear what God is saying and create from that place – to bless and invest in the world around us in beautiful and loving ways.

A while ago I wrote a blog post about Prophecy And The Creative Community which really goes into more depth about my thoughts on prophecy and their connection with creativity. If you’re new to the concept, I’d recommend you read that post to learn more. To briefly quote what I said in that post about prophetic art…

As far as I am concerned, prophecy must build people up, encourage them and draw them to Jesus. Prophecy delivered in a creative manner, should follow these core values and together, we can create a safe place for people to encounter God, draw near to Him and become the very best version of themselves through edification and encouragement they receive.

Why am I bothering telling you about prophetic art? It doesn’t even have anything to do with my scripture this week! Follow me here. I want to welcome you in to ALL parts of my creative world that may encourage you.

Prophetic art is a term you may not understand. Yet, you may already be creating it. If your creativity builds people up in their relationship with Jesus… If your creativity encourages people… If your creativity draws people nearer to God… If your creativity is breathing life on people… If your creativity does these things, you’re creating prophetic art. It’s art that is causing people to be drawn in to God’s love story for all of us.

As I said, I’d encourage you to read my blog post about Prophecy And The Creative Community if you’d like to learn more about this topic, before drawing conclusions with the limited detail I can provide in this blog post here.

Let me say… please never under-estimate your ability to build up, encourage and draw people nearer to God, through your creative skills. People have literally been won into God’s Kingdom through stick figures which my friends have drawn, to depict what they felt God wanted to say to others. Anything is possible. This is not a topic about skill. God can use a donkey to speak to people. 😉 He can use any of us.

What we create in our Bibles is a huge blessing and encouragement to our own selves, but it can also be a huge blessing and encouragement to others. Get out your Bible and share what you’re doing with others. As Heather Greenwood said in my recent Bible Art Journaling Artists Roundup Interview blog post…

“…have courage to bring your Bible with you to church and share it. God tells us to GO and make disciples of all nations and that includes people in your own church who may need to see that art journaling in their Bible is a way to focus and remember what they’ve learned…”

Last week, in my week 23 Bible Art Journaling Challenge, I talked with you a bit about creativity among God’s people throughout history. Do also check that out if you haven’t yet. I’m building a bigger picture for you guys as the weeks go on. 🙂

You could call all of what I am doing in the Bible Art Journaling Challenge, prophetic art. Each week I take time to ask God what He wants to say to us. I then find scripture about what I feel He is saying to me and then create to help draw us in to what He is saying. To encourage us. To breathe life on us through His Word. To build up our relationship with Him. To help us draw nearer to Him.

I feel like creating in my Bible always breathes God’s life into my every situation and draws me closer to Him. And when I share it with you, it can do the same for you. This is how prophetic art works.

General speaking, art draws a viewer in to a story which the artist is telling. The Bible is essentially God’s love letter to us. Prophetic art draws people in to God’s love story for us. How fitting we create IN our Bibles on the very pages that share that love story.

In a topic I love and know intimately, I must somewhat crash land it for now, I suppose. Please forgive me for that and enjoy this journey with me over the weeks and months as it unfolds.

This weeks Bible art

As a random freebie tip… if you want to watch this video (or any of my videos!) in HD, slow it down or even speed it up, just click on the cog in the bottom right of the video for those options. 🙂

Here are links to my blog posts and their videos which I referred to in today’s video:

Learn about page prep and how I prepare a page in my week 22 Bible Art Journaling Challenge and week 21 Bible Art Journaling Challenge.
See my blog post and video about Gansai Tambi watercolor.
Learn how to use Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens in my week 20 Bible Art Journaling Challenge.

This weeks scripture

This week for the Bible Art Journaling Challenge, I actually started filming a totally different page and then stopped partway through and came to this set of scripture in Psalm 46 and 48 instead. The other page is about the same topic, but I felt this challenge should come before the other.

At first glance, these verses don’t appear to belong together or make sense in context with one another. But there is a bigger picture they touch on, which is threaded throughout the Bible.

Psalm 46:8a says…

Come, behold the works of the Lord,…

Psalm 46:10a goes on and says…

Cease striving and know that I am God;…

In Psalm 48:12-13, we read…

¹²Walk about Zion and go around her; Count her towers; ¹³Consider her ramparts; Go through her palaces, That you may tell it to the next generation.

When we read these verses as a few separate verses, we miss something. When we read them together, we get an interesting insight. When we study these topics in scripture as they link with one another, we start to see God saying something about them as a whole.
So what is God saying?
Firstly, take time to ponder, “behold” and meditate on what God has done – His works.
Secondly, stop. Stop striving. Rest. You know that stuff that weighs on the heart? God is God! Meditate on who God is and He’s hugeness will become larger than any problem you face. What we focus on, grows. If you’re used to striving, it’ll take practice to learn to live from a place of rest. You can do this. When God tells us to do something, He gives us the grace to do it. You can rest. You can stop striving and know He is God.
Lastly, while you’re resting, don’t JUST ponder what God has done. Go one step further and be sure that what you’re pondering isn’t just for you to enjoy pondering. That stuff your pondering? Tell all about it to those who will live beyond your time in history. That might mean telling your friends, your kids, your grand-kids, neighbors, strangers, others….
Remember that miracle God did for you? That healing that took place? That year your garden grew awesome vegetables? The time you had more than you needed? Tell it to the next generation. Record God’s works for those who will come after you. Our Bible art journaling is a great place to start with this.
Because we rest, we then have time to ponder God’s works – His goodness in our lives and those around us. Psalm 48:12-13a says, “Walk about Zion and go around her; Count her towers; 13 Consider her ramparts; Go through her palaces,…” The point is that we should be detailed in our ponderings of what God has done for us and then share it with others. Here they were referring to a place where God had enabled them to build these towers, ramparts and palaces. Take a restful “walk” around your life history and record what God has done, so you may steward His acts and make them available to the next generation. 
We have the great privilege of reading the Bible to learn of works God did in a time we were not there to experience. Because people in Bible days took time to ponder what God had done and to pass it on to future generations, we get to learn from and gain insight into more than just what God can reveal to us personally. The Bible itself is an act of following that command to “tell it to the next generation”. We are richer when we think generationally.
I will leave this topic here to be picked up in further weeks.

The meaning of it all

Why is this page more “me” than possibly others I’ve shared with you in this Bible Art Journaling Challenge? I suppose because I filled it with cryptic messages and it really doesn’t “make sense” to the naked eye. Understanding its meaning, requires a question or two, some pondering… some thought.

The cogs (aka gears), are often part of clockworks. They represent time to me. Psalm 48:13 said to “tell it to the next generation”. That speaks to me of time passing. So, I put a reference in my artwork of time passing.

As for the colors, green often speaks to me of new life and growth. As each generation passes on what God has done, to the next generation, a richer growth happens in history. Each generation gets to stand on the shoulders of past generations rather than having to learn everything for themselves. Such growth as history unfolds.

I chose to other things/colors into my artwork for this challenge that mean various things referencing my topic today. Some of which is between God and I. A reminder to myself. Some of which points as an encouragement for others.

What does this piece say to you? What can God encourage you in as you look at it? I’d love to hear from you in the comments. 🙂

Your turn to create!

I would love you to try any of the techniques I’ve shared in my process with you today if you’re interested in them. I also want you to feel free to gather inspiration for this scripture in other places and create right on your page if you want. I’m looking forward to seeing what you Bible art journal for this weeks challenge!

You can find answers to most any question you may have about the Bible Art Journaling Challenge over on my Challenge page found in the top navigation. It also has a full archive! Be sure to head over to our Facebook group and/or Google+ Community, to chat about this weeks Bible Art Journaling Challenge and get started on your own page!

Today’s Bible art journaling supplies

As promised, here are the supplies I featured in this weeks video which you can click on to view or purchase. I hope it helps you find anything you may want to try out. I receive a small percentage of each purchase when anyone clicks on my art supply links, to go get supplies I use like you see below, or on my YouTube videos. This has no effect on you and makes a real difference for me!

I am excited for you to get great deals on supplies anywhere, so you can join in on your budget. When you find deals which I’ve searched for and recommended below, I get supported. Thank you, I so appreciate your support which helps me provide these free tutorials for you!

Be sure to also view my Bible Art Supplies page for Bibles, art journals and other art supplies I recommend for Bible art journaling.

You’ll notice I’ve added that Tim Holtz clockwork stencil to the list here which I didn’t actually use. If you don’t have a die cutting machine, you could use something like that stencil! 🙂

Click images to view art supply details or to purchase.

NASB Note-Taker’s Bible, Imitation Leather	Tri-Art Clear Gesso, 250ml	Foam Paint Brush, 10 Piece Value Set	Ranger Heat It Craft Tool	Tim Holtz Layered Stencil, Clockwork
Sizzix Big Shot Die Cutting Machine	Sizzix Die Cutting Magnetic Platform	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Tissue Wrap, Melange, 12 in X 15 ft roll	Tim Holtz Scissors, Non-stick, 7 inch	Xcut 4-in-1 Embossing Pen
Xcut Chronology Cogs Die Set	Spellbinders Nestabilities Dies, Sprightly Sprockets	Tim Holtz Sizzix Bigz Die, Gadget Gears	Ecstasy Crafts Die, Gears	Sizzix Bigz Die, Love Gears
Ranger Multi Medium Bottle, Matte, 0.5 oz	Pampers Baby Wipes, 72 Count	Kuretake Gansai Tambi 36 Watercolor Set	Winsor & Newton Goat Hair Wash Brush, Size 1	Aqualon Round Paint Brush Set, 6-Piece
Paper Towel Roll, 1 Count	Micron Pen Set, Black, Assorted Sizes	Faber-Castell Pitt Pen, Permanent Green Olive 167, 1 Brush Pen	Faber-Castell Pitt Pen, Dark Naples Ochre 84, 1 Brush Pen	Faber-Castell Pitt Pen, Pink Carmine 127, 1 Brush Pen
Faber-Castell Pitt Pen, Manganese Violet 160, 1 Brush Pen	Faber-Castell Pitt Pen, Crimson 134, 1 Brush Pen	Faber-Castell Pitt Pens, Manga Shonen Set, 6 Brush Pens

InLinkz.com

If you have not done so yet, be sure to join my newsletter on the right-hand side of this page, so you can be notified when I release new Challenges and other exciting creative things.

Don’t forget to share this with any friends you think might want to know about it.

You are loved. x

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.