Home » Bible Journaling » 2 Minute Bible Journaling Video Tutorial: Brush Pen Doodle Entry

2 Minute Bible Journaling Video Tutorial: Brush Pen Doodle Entry

Join me for a quick two minute video tutorial on how to create a brush pen doodle entry in your Journaling Bible!

Thanks to my new *gooseneck cell phone tripod, I was able to shoot a flat-lay process video of my recent Bible Journaling session where I create a two page spread on Matthew 23, The Seven Woes to the Scribes & Pharisees!

Brush Pen Doodle Entry | 2 Minute Bible Journaling Video Tutorial. Check out the quick n' easy process video on how to create a two-page spread with hand-lettering and brush pen doodles like this one from Matthew 23! Over at thinkingcloset.com

Read on for a transcript of the video with my step-by-step process, a linked list of supplies, as well as more details on the discoveries I made while studying this passage.

Video

And without any further ado, here’s the video for your viewing pleasure:

Supplies

For your convenience, below is a list of Amazon affiliate links of the supplies I used on this entry. You can also check out all of my favorite Bible Journaling supplies in my *Amazon Storefront HERE.

My Inspiration

Flashback to 2016…. These doodles were actually inspired by an ad from a piece of junk mail I had received, which goes to show, you never know where you’ll find creative inspiration.

This was such a fun one to create, so I decided to riff off of that same style on a two page spread in Matthew 23, The Seven Woes to the Scribes & Pharisees.

"All the promises find their YES in him." 2 Corinthians 1:20 | My inspiration entry...these brush pen doodles were inspired by an advertisement on a piece of junk mail. Ya never know when creativity will strike! Process video tutorial on how to create this style of a Journaling Bible entry over at thinkingcloset.com

Step by Step Tutorial

1. Apply acrylic paint background: After laying my Bible mats beneath my pages, I applied a thin layer of acrylic paint for my background. I added a little bit of water to satin Robin’s Egg acrylic paint and went to town.

2. Dry brush atop text: Then I did some dry-brushing atop my text to add a touch of color there.

3. Add brushstroke pattern: Next, I mixed a hint of the satin Robin’s Egg acrylic paint with some white heavy body acrylic paint and painted a somewhat haphazard brushstroke pattern across my background, just to add a little bit of texture and dimension.

4. Highlight text: Then, I went through with my Crayola Twistable pencil, highlighting the parts of the passage that had stood out to me in during my Bible study.

5. Draft doodles in pencil: Referring back to my original entry, I drafted out my text and doodles in pencil, first. The pencil is my best friend when Bible Journaling. So is my eraser pen!

6. Letter with brush pen: And then, I grabbed my FaberCastell big brush pen and traced over my lettering, quickly realizing I’d need to go back go over everything a second time to achieve that rich black I was going for. This was worth the effort considering I had zero ink bleed-through on the other side of the page.

7. Tab & date the entry: I always tab and date my entries, so I went ahead and took care of that step using my tab punch and date stamp.

8. Doodle with brush pen: Then, I used my PITT artist brush pen for the doodles. Pretty florals like those in my original entry would not fit the content of this passage where Jesus is angrily calling out the religious leaders for their hypocrisy. So, instead I worked in wilting flowers, falling leaves, thorny vines, sharp-angled triangles, coins, and of course flying gnats, which refers to a joke Jesus made.

In fact, let’s dive into the text a little deeper and see what we can learn from Jesus’s anger in Matthew 23.

Brush Pen Doodle Entry | 2 Minute Bible Journaling Video Tutorial. Check out the quick n' easy process video on how to create a two-page spread with hand-lettering and brush pen doodles like this one from Matthew 23! Over at thinkingcloset.com

Deep Dive into Matthew 23

In counseling, we’ve been talking a lot about anger: my relationship to it, why it scares me, & how I’ve labeled it as “negative” when emotions aren’t positive or negative…they just are.

We’ve been talking about our daughters’ expressions of anger through tantrums and how important it is for Mark and me to model appropriate expressions of anger (instead of keeping our anger hidden from them), so our girls can learn how to do the same.

Isn’t it funny how we want a quick fix to parenting dilemmas, but the answer is usually so much more complex and the road so much longer?

And isn’t it funny how we often think our kids are the problem who need fixing when in reality a lot of the problems start with us?

Flipping through the gospels this past weekend, I was drawn into Matthew 23, The Seven Woes to the Scribes & Pharisees. And Jesus is all-caps ANGRY.

For my musical theatre friends familiar with Godspell, this is the text that the song, “Alas for You,” is based on. The one where Jesus calls out the scribes and pharisees for being hypocrites and blind guides. “For they preach, but do not practice” (Mt 23:3).

Here’s what I noticed about Jesus’s anger:

1. He expresses his anger in community and not in isolation (which is my bent). He is among the crowds and with his disciples. He talks through his anger with them.

2. Not only does he talk through his anger, he teaches through it. Anger can be instructional… what an interesting, new thought! When I’m angry, things feel out of control, and I fear what might come from my rage. This is a good reminder to me that we can feel rage and choose to act on it in productive ways.

3. He repeats the phrase “woe to you” seven times. In Bible times, repetition was used to emphasize a point (since listeners couldn’t easily re-listen to a recording or read a transcript). My own takeaway from his repetition is that anger isn’t to be rushed through, but we can linger there to learn from it.

4. Jesus got jokes! 1st century humor landed differently than 21st century humor, so it’s not always easy to spot. That’s why I love a good commentary to give context and uncover these subtleties (Blue Letter Bible is my go-to).

Vs. 24: “You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel.”

Here, he’s painting a picture of a man so committed to a kosher diet, he carefully strains his wine to avoid swallowing a gnat not bled properly, but has no problem swallowing a camel whole. No doubt that got a laugh from the crowd. Humor can be such a helpful outlet for perspective in the midst of expressing anger.

Brush Pen Doodle Entry | 2 Minute Bible Journaling Video Tutorial. Check out the quick n' easy process video on how to create a two-page spread with hand-lettering and brush pen doodles like this one from Matthew 23! Over at thinkingcloset.com

5. Jesus’s immediate action after anger is lament. He laments over Jerusalem and expresses a very maternal instinct to gather Jerusalem’s “children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” (Mt 23:27).

This is the 2nd place in scripture where Jesus’s crying is noted (Luke 19:41), the first being “Jesus wept” when His friend Lazarus died. His tears tell us something…

6. His anger toward the religious leaders actually comes from a place of love. His heart broke to know the implications of their sin and rebellion–how it would destroy them and lead others astray. He was speaking harshly in hopes of their repentance and not just to judge them. This begs me to ask, what is my motivation when I express my anger? Is it to judge or fiercely love others? May our hearts break for others like Jesus’s does.

You Still With Me?

Whew! That was a lot. If you’re still with me, well then you deserve a foot massage because we just journeyed all over that chapter together.

But y’all I’m fired up learning what fired up Jesus. And as I take steps toward letting myself get angry and letting myself process anger with others, I want to refer to back to looking at how my master did things. He was 100% human as much as He was 100% God. He felt fire rise up in Him, too. He didn’t avoid it. He didn’t pretend not to get angry. He let Himself go there. He taught through anger. Joked even. Loved still.

Anger is not my enemy. Fear of it is.

To Close

I hope this video and post has inspired you to meet with God in His Word, and maybe do some doodling in your own Bible margins.

Remember it’s not about the creation, it’s about spending time with your creator who loves you no matter what.

This is Lauren, signing off.

Where to next?

NEW: I have another 2 minute tutorial for you, this time using pen and watercolor, with lots of tips for beginners. Check it out HERE.

Beginner Watercolor Iceberg Entry | 2 Minute Bible Journaling Video Tutorial. Check out the process video and step by step tutorial for how to create a geometric iceberg with pen and watercolor! This is do-able for beginners. Join Lauren for the run-down, beginner tips, and supply list at thinkingcloset.com

If you’re curious to check out more creative Bible Journaling entries like this one, here’s my Flip-Through Video of the Gospel of John.

Flip-Through Video Tour of My Journaling Bible: The Gospel of John | Join me for a fun tour through the gospel of John in my Journaling Bible in which I share tips, tricks, favorite supplies, and what God has been teaching me through my time in the Word. I hope it inspires you in your faith journey, especially if scripture study has been a struggle for you in the past!

And after that, you can check out my Ultimate Journaling Bible Resource Page for Beginners, which is a rabbit trail of creative inspiration. Hoppy exploring!

*Full Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, meaning that if you make a purchase after clicking through, The Thinking Closet may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.  Thanks for helping to support this site!

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2 Comments

  1. Wow, so much more here than the art of Bible Journaling! That was spectacular and you made it look very do-able. But I was also struck by what you learned and are learning about anger through studying Christ in this section of Matthew’s Gospel, and how Jesus dealt with anger and used it to instruct others. All six points of what you noticed about Jesus and anger are so powerful.

    Thank you for sharing with us!

    1. I love a good deep dive into scripture…and this topic of ANGER has been one I’ve been learning a lot about personally and in counseling. It was neat to see what Jesus had to teach me on the matter! Thanks for watching and for processing all this with me.

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