30 days of lists

Weekend Dreaming

1. wear hoodie
2. go for a run
3. drink coffee
4. knit
5. laugh with a friend
6. take a nap
7. read a book
8. clean the kitchen
9. change the linens
10. make a meal
11. draw or color
12. watch a show or two
13. take another nap
14. eat popcorn
15. sip tea
16. bake something yummy (granola maybe...)

Scripture Art - behind the scenes!

I'd love to do a video of doodling my sermon notes but I don't have all the pieces necessary so in the meantime, I did a little step by step photo tour of a scripture I doodles this morning.

Big ideas here

1. I don't really plan ahead and yes, I use pen. I love living on the edge
2. Most of the time I can make a "mistake" work out and it becomes a "feature," as we say in our house. Sometimes I just have to start over (see below)
3. I start by finding the words or phrase I think should stand out and consider that as I begin, leaving bigger spaces and reserving fancier fonts for those.

I was trying a new font and I just went too far, it felt beyond saving so I started over.

So here is a step by step with commentary of how I worked through a new verse that I am memorizing this week.

Here is the verse that I'm using for reference. I have this nearby so I can keep looking at it throughout the process.

1. I want "blessed" to stand out but I'm not ready to commit to the details so I do an outline font. This gives me the option to color it in later, add stripes, scallops, etc.

2. I decided to highlight the word "peacemakers" and wanted a script because it feels smooth and connected and, well peaceful. The words in between transition in a contrasting way with squarish letters that match the width of the first word. "Peacemakers" got longer than I planned but since it's pretty vital to the verse, I'm okay with it spilling over.

3. I want the word to stand out a bit more so I begin tracing back over to help it standout.

4. In th end I stick to making the entire shape bolder rather than just the rounded parts or straight sides of letters. Now we will see if the rest spills to the right like this word or if I go back to keeping the words a similar width.

5. I decide to mix it up with s tall skinny font. This will allow me to get all three words onto one line and return to the width of the first few lines.

6. I'm all about contrasting here and to make "be called" stand apart, I go with short wide letters now. The are not quite bold enough so I'll need to go back over them.

7. I've traced over the phrase and I love how it stand out more. I might even consider adding color to this line later.

8. "Sons of God" seems like the big moment the verse is leading to, so I make it big. I go with a differs script than above to make it more casual

9. I decide to add thickness to the round bits of the letters and start filling in the first word. The little bars are nice but too plain.

10. I end up with my go to of stripes only I try to vary the width a little here and there. This would also be another spot to add little pops of color, but that's for another day.

 

I've added the verse title at the bottom and it's done! Well, for now :) I may go back and add colors but I want to sit with it for a bit. I also may add a border or some small icon in the lower corner. As you can see, there is a bit of thought but not much preplanning. No major mishaps that needed to be covered up this time, but when that happens, arrows and hearts are great for patching errors.

Hope that gives you a peek into my process and I'll work or a video or photo tutorial of how I do my scripture notes! Have you been doodling? Link in the comments so we can see your art!

 

 

One Little Word Wednesday

I forgot to bring colored pencils with me on our trip to the ocean. Though I love the power of black and white, I decided this one could use a little color for added emphasis. So I took a photo of my page and converted it to balk and white.

Before

Then I imported the photo in an app on my iPad called Annotate+. It has highlighting tools, text, etc. that I've previously used to annotate PDFs. I used the highlighters to trace over certain parts and here's what I ended up with.

After

Kind of a fun way to add color without committing. I might leave the page black and white for now but I love that I have some options.

This is my scripture verse for the week and it seemed appropriate as I sat on the beach listening to the powerful roar of the waves.

 

Bible Journaling

Have you seen this yet? It's art and your bible mushed altogether!

I used to have a sunday school teacher who CRINGED at the thought of writing in a bible. When I got to college and the bible teacher told us to make all over the place I was so nervous. But that class really opened my eyes to what a fun story it can tell. Having help various ministry positions, and being active in church since I was a kid, I've inherited a lot of different bibles. Not one of them is the same translation another, which I especially cherish.

So, in deciding to try this illustrated faith idea I realized that buying another bible was not the first option. Perhaps, down the road, but for trying something new, let's see what I've got! As I flipped through each one i discovered treasured notes, some written into the bible and others on slips of paper, receipts, napkins etc. and tucked inside. Almost every single note sparked a memory. One of the bible still had the receipt from when I purchased it in 2003 at our local christian bookstore (sadly gone for year now). I remember going in there and choosing that exact bible for it's size and translation: New King James Version. Why that one? Not really sure except that I didn't have it yet and it maybe was recommended to me by the youth director I was interning under. I dragged this bible all of the place on many adventures. It traveled with me to France and through Germany to Switzerland. It has notes from the small group of 7th graders I led and from Sunday morning worship services I planned.

Each of my bibles has a special story as well but this one seemed perfect for this project. It was already laden with notes and underlines and I loved the idea of adding layer upon layer of notes and images. It made me think of a wall that's been painted and repainted many times. Each layer add character and texture and are a part of the story even when hidden beneath new layers.

The bible is about 4"x6" and I used colored pencils with a regular ball point pen to draw. I mostly used scripture sunday verses to draw or my scripture cards from naptimediaries.com for inspiration. Reading through the verses and context gives me the ideas and sometimes it's just a matter of highlighting the part of the verse that stands out to me. I'm enjoying the process and seeing where it takes me! Check out #illustratedfaith to see other people's art. There are amazing artists sharing their work!