Bible Journaling Video Tutorial: Watercolor Tips for Beginners

Join me for a quick 2 minute video tutorial on how to create a watercolor and pen iceberg entry in your Journaling Bible–perfect for beginners!

Since 2015, Bible Art Journaling has been my favorite way to meditate on God’s Word and pour out the prayers on my heart using creative mediums.

And five years ago, I began a project of art-journaling my way through the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Clearly, I embraced the slow ‘n steady approach, but when I recently realized I only have 15 entries left to complete this goal, I felt a surge of energy to SEE THIS THROUGH!

In fact, if you would love to see a flip-through video tour of all four gospels when I finish, be sure to subscribe to my email newsletter and my YouTube channel so don’t miss it!

VIDEO TUTORIAL

For the quick run-down of how this entry came together, check out my 2 minute video tutorial full of beginner watercolor tips by watching the video HERE on YouTube or below:

Read on for more details about my step-by-step process, a linked list of supplies, as well as more tips for beginners when it comes to using watercolor in your Journaling Bible.

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.

• E.S.V. Crossway Single-Column Journaling Bible (here’s the black cover version of mine!)
• Bible Mat by Illustrated Faith / Dayspring (no longer in production)
• Dots & Dust Handmade Watercolors (this set was “Home Sweet Home”)
• Paintbrushes
• Tab Punch by We R Memory Keepers
• Trodat Economy Date Stamp
• PITT Pens by FaberCastell
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Eraser Pen
• Heat Tool
• Double-Sided Tape

INSPIRATION

Before I bust out any of my art supplies, I take some time to read the scripture, open my heart to hear from God, and do some prayer journaling. When I get curious about a passage or a word, I’ll look it up on Blue Letter Bible, my favorite online commentary. And sometimes I’ll look up a sermon on the passage, which is what I did for this one!

Waaaaaay back in the Bridgetown Church archives, I found a sermon by my go-to teaching pastor, John Mark Comer called “Look Beneath the Surface” on Luke 4 & 5. In these passages, we see Jesus’s rhythm of retreating to the “eremos” (the solitary or desolate place) to spend time alone with God the Father. When He emerges, He comes out with 4 things:

• clarity about who He is and what He’s supposed to do
• the ability to say “no” to good things
• immersion in God’s presence
• empowerment for kingdom work

There’s a lot more where that come from. I scribbled two pages full of notes in my new “Sermon Notes” journal from The Daily Grace Co. My friend Hannah gifted this journal to me for my birthday last month, and after using it once, I promptly bought five more to give as gifts because I’m obsessed. Check the pink linen HERE. And check out the spiral teal HERE.

The “Sermon Notes” journal is both beautiful and functional. The pink linen cover with gold lettering looks and feels divine. And I love the note-taking layout they’ve designed. My favorite part is the “remember this” box at the bottom for jotting my key takeaways. I find it so helpful to listen to murmurings of my heart and write down what I sense God speaking to me.

Once again, HERE’S the link to visit The Daily Grace Co.

PLANNING OUT MY ENTRY

After I’ve spent some solid time studying the scripture passage, I plan out my entry around an image or craft supply…or both!

In his sermon, John Mark Comer uses an iceberg metaphor to challenge us to invite God to bring awareness to the layers under the surface in us that He wants to transform. And I was excited to create an iceberg on the page as the focal point of my entry.

And so, I ran a Google image search for simple iceberg drawings and found THIS simple, geometric design that I felt confident I could re-create on my Bible page.

I decided to use pen and watercolor for this one. Watercolor is one of my favorite mediums to use in my Journaling Bible because you can still read the text through the paint. And for some time now, I’ve been eager to use the “Home Sweet Home” watercolor set by my girl Angeline from Dots & Dots. The color palette was the perfect fit for this iceberg, and I ended up using every color except for “snuggle bug.” I’ll have to use that one in my next entry!

STEP BY STEP TUTORIAL

Here’s a breakdown of what you see flying by in the video tutorial:

1. Sketch out iceberg drawing: With my inspiration image nearby, I used my pencil to sketch out my iceberg drawing, erasing and re-working the design time many more times than you see in the video.

2. Go over the pencil lines with a ruler and pen: Once I was happy with my sketch, I laid my Bible mat beneath my page, grabbed a ruler, and my favorite PITT artist pen set (size M), and went over all my pencil lines to make them permanent! The great thing about the PITT artist pens is they are waterproof, so you’re safe to use them before watercolor painting. Also, they don’t bleed through my Bible pages unless I linger on a particular spot. I highly recommend them for Bible Journaling.

3. Erase pencil lines

4. Create tab and paint one side: I tab every Journaling Bible entry so I can easily reference my entries in the future, and I always like the tab to match the page. So, after using my Tab Punch to cut out my tab, I painted one side with my “Home Sweet Home” watercolors and set it aside to dry.

5. Paint the entry: Next came my favorite part of the Bible Journaling process: watercolor painting! It brings me so much joy to put on some worship music and just go to my happy place, layering watercolor paint onto the page. It’s even soothing for me to watch back my timelapse video and see the iceberg, sea, and sky come to life to vivid color!

I know painting on the very thin pages of a Bible can be super intimidating, especially if you haven’t done it before, so here are a few WATERCOLOR TIPS for BEGINNERS that I’d love to offer:

• invest in a beginner watercolor set! If you’re looking for an excellent set of 24 watercolors that is small but packs a mighty punch, I recommend the Sakura KOI Pocket Field Sketch Set. This has been my go-to watercolor set over the years, and as much as I use it, I’ve not yet run out of any of the colors. It also comes with water brushes.
• place a mat or piece of cardstock paper behind your page to protect the other pages from getting damp or bleed-through.
• try to use very little water when possible. This will keep your pages from getting too wrinkly or easily ripping.
• if you do want to use more water so you can blend multiple colors (like I did for my sky and sea), do so with caution. Your pages are most vulnerable to ripping when they’re soaked through, so don’t overwork the painting more than is necessary.
• always keep paper towels nearby. You never know when it will come in handy for soaking up some paint or a spill.
• use a heat tool like I did to speed up dry-time so you can layer more watercolors on top or move on to the next step.
• embrace the wrinkles! It is very hard to use watercolors and to avoid your pages getting a bit crinkly and wrinkly after they dry, so I’d encourage you to embrace it and see it as a way of adding texture and character to your pages. Also, I’ve found that over time with your Bible closed, the wrinkles will smooth out a bit.

6. Paint the back of the tab.

7. Highlight text: Then, I went through with my PITT pen (size XS) and bracketed the parts of scripture that had inspired this entry.

8. Journal in the margin: Using my sermon notes as a reference, I wrote a prayer in the margin.

“Lord, give me the hunger to go to the ‘eremos,’ the solitary place, to meet with you. Give me the courage to sit in my emotions, listen to them, learn from them, and then change how I live. May my courage come from knowing I’ll find you in the place of pain, ready to change me with your love and healing touch. Amen.”

9. Hand-letter a title: Taking some inspiration from my entry on the opposite page, I decided to do some bigger hand-lettering of a title for the entry. And so, I borrowed the sermon title and wrote out, “Look beneath the surface,” first in pencil and then in my PITT pen (size M).

10. Tab & date the entry: I wrote out the same title on my tab, applied it to the page using double-sided tape, and then used my date stamp to mark this moment in time.

And here are some pics of the finished entry:

And of course, a silly selfie because we can’t take ourselves too seriously, now can we?

FINAL CHARGE

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit me here at The Thinking Closet today. I hope this video and post have stirred within you a desire for you to meet with God in the “eremos,” the solitary place, to listen, and then to respond in praise–perhaps even in the margins of your Journaling Bible.

As a recovering-perfectionist, I would like to offer this encouragement: that God delights to spend time with you, whatever that looks like–and whatever your finished Bible Journaling page might look like. It could be a “hot mess express” by art standards, and a masterpiece to your Creator-God simply because it was made by His beloved child in whom He is well pleased (Matthew 3:17).

Where to next?

I have another 2 minute video tutorial for your viewing pleasure if you have a hankering for playing with acrylics and a brush pen! Check out that post HERE.

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

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!