Artistic Scripture Journaling: Koi Watercolors

I have been spending a lot of time studying and journaling about Lehi's vision in Chapter 8 of 1 Nephi. I have never before gone into it with so much depth. Although there is more about the vision I've journaled about, I wanted to dedicate one layout to the different symbols of the vision and what they represent. Here is how I did this page:

I got my inspiration from this digital scrapbook layout:

I love the concept of the boxes with doodles and journaling. Since my scripture journal has lots of text and little pictures, I thought this would be a great way to incorporate both. I had to make adjustments based on the size of my journal and the amount of information I wanted for each symbol. First I did everything lightly in pencil and then filled it in with black micron pens and colored pencils. Because my paper has ridges in it, there were darker lines showing and I wanted a smoother look. So I busted out my new Koi watercolor brushes that I have never used before. I was a little intimidated to use them and wasn't quite sure how they worked. I checked out some tutorial videos found here. They have a lot of different ones you can learn from. Here's an example one:

Finally feeling brave I gave it a shot. It was super easy and really fun! I felt like a kid in art class.

I also used other materials such as gelly roll metallic pens and perfect pearls. I took a picture with the light shining on the journal so you can sort of see the shimmery effect perfect pearls has on the tree when it is in the light:

and the glitter glue on the fruit:

This was a liberating experience for me because I am a true perfectionist and to freehand the boxes knowing they wouldn't be exactly straight was really hard. But I like it that way.

For the straight and narrow path, I made it straight, but I changed the texture along the way. Starting on the path to Heavenly Father can be rocky and difficult. Repenting isn't easy. As you make your way to baptism the path gets less rocky. And then the closer you get to the presence of the Lord the shinier, more beautiful and smoother the path gets. 

There are a lot of beautiful paintings that already exist of Lehi's vision. But this page is special to me because of the time I put into it. I will remember so much more from this experience. I hope it helps you to think outside of the box when journaling what you are reading about.

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