Bible Journaling with PanPastel - My First Page

This year I started out declaring that all things were possible... I've truly seen my limits stretch and expand into new territories and it brings so much joy to my heart knowing that God does listen to His children and that He is faithful always.

For years I've been flirting with the idea of Art Journaling, but something about having to start from scratch on a white page felt intimidating. Nevertheless I've studied and tried out techniques and somehow today I find myself doing exactly what I was the most intimidated by... Bible Journaling. So please join me as I rediscover myself through this beautiful artistic and spiritual outlet. I'll be sharing some tips today that you might find useful!

Bible Journaling with PanPastel
I knew that one of the first things I wanted to journal on my bible was the journey of women of God.. Each of their stories encourage me and that is how this illustration started off. I sketched it in pencil and knew right away that I wanted to color it with PanPastel.

PanPastel Colors are professional artists’ quality soft pastel colors packed in a unique pan format (cake-like). The special qualities of PanPastel Colors mean that artists can blend and apply dry color like fluid paint for the first time. All PanPastel Colors are made using a unique manufacturing process requiring minimal binder and fillers, resulting in rich, ultra soft and super-blendable colors. Each color is loaded with the finest quality artists’ pigments for the most concentrated colors possible. The colors have excellent lightfastness and are fully erasable. Uniquely, for pastel color, they can be mixed together for a complete painting palette. Use them with Sofft Tools to get a smooth application every time.

Before starting, I prepared my page with two light coats of clear gesso. I used a heat gun to dry the page, being careful not to over heat it. Once dry, I began layering color, adding shading to the face using Red Iron Oxide Tint, Magenta Tint and Violet Tint. I blended all the colors with a Colorless Blender Pan Pastel. I used Pearlescent Red for her cheeks too!

For the hair I used a beautiful Pearlescent Orange and Diarylide Yellow Tint combined with a little brown watercolor crayon that I used to show you how versatile and blendable PanPastel with other media also! To add highlights to the hair I smudged some paint from a Sharpie water based marker and then added some more Pearlescent orange.

I used Permanent Green, Chrom. Oxide Green Tint and Pearlescent Red for the flower and branches. Pearlescent PanPastel Colors have a beautiful subtle shimmer and they give your projects a lovely finish!

For added details I used color pencils, a white gel pen and a white pen marker, that again work perfectly with PanPastel Colors.

I sealed the the page with two light coats of Workable Fixatif spray and let it dry. Finally I stamped a sentiment from a set called Sending Kindness with black Archival Ink, that I felt went perfectly with the qualities Ruth had! She was bold in a kind, loyal and sincere way... She was patient, she had faith and she was redeemed in the end! To think that she is part of Jesus' geneaology! So inspiring!

I truly recommend PanPastel for Bible Journaling. It is a dry, easily blendable media with a large variety of colors and finishes. The color goes on smooth and you can keep layering it to create more depth on your image. Do try it out if you can! That's all for today. I will be back with more art journaling projects soon! Until next time.