Hi friend,
I have been slowly working through tutorial requests from you guys, and one of my most asked for is this forest/woods page I did a few months back.
This is a fun tutorial to do because though it looks complicated, it is actually pretty straightforward. I did a tutorial on a completely different style forest, with four tips on using watercolor in your Bible back in September- you can find that HERE.
This time around I decided to make the colors a little brighter!
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If you wanted to try this tutorial- remember, you can use other mediums like colored pencils or acrylics instead of watercolor to do this as well– I have a printable to make things easier!
If you want to try and paint or color the forest yourself, but would like some guidance on where to put the trees, I have a traceable version for you! I also have full-color versions that you can use as tip-ins! Both with lettering and without!
There are other ways you can use the printable as well, such as printing it on sticker paper and sticking it (or part of it in your Bible!
Get your free printable by clicking here!
No sign up necessary.
I also have a few things to touch on before we get to the tutorial video.
First
In the first version I did of this page, I covered up the text in my Bible. I personally made the decision not to worry about covering the text if that is what I feel God is calling me to do with my art worship. But, if you do not like to cover the words, you can totally still make use of this tutorial! Just scale it down and do a few trees instead of the whole forest! Or of course, you can use one of the tip-ins from the printable above, or create your own art on a separate page to add to your Bible!
Another option to look into if you want to do art directly in the Bible but not cover the text, is getting and Interleaved Journaling Bible. This is the Bible I used to do my second version of this page. It has a completely blank page on every other page of the Bible, so you don’t ever have to worry about covering the scripture, and you have a bunch of space to work with. I got mine from Amazon HERE.
Second
I used the “salt technique” on this page, and since it is my first time using it in a tutorial I thought I would touch a little more on it.
If you are familiar with watercolor, one of the most common techniques is this “salt technique.” It is rather simple! Basically, when your paint is still wet, you sprinkle salt over the top of the paint, let it dry, and then rub it off! The salt reacts with the paint and pushes the pigment away from the salt grains, so it creates this really neat textured effect!
For this forest page, I only put the salt on the green “leaves” of my trees. I think it adds a little somethin’ extra to my forest, but it also is just a fun technique to try in general! So I encourage you to give it a go!
Just remember, the salt will only stick to (and create the effect on) wet paint, so you may need to work a little quick. And also be sure to let the salt/paint dry completely before trying to rub it off!
Lastly
I get asked frequently about prepping my page and what the backside of my page looks like. So I figured I would show you!
I hardly ever prepare my page (with gesso.) It’s just one of those extra steps I don’t have the patience to do; so I avoid it and only prepare my page when using stamps or supplies I know may bleed-through. I did not prep the page for this entry.
I have never had any bleed-through with my Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolors. However, I have heard that some brands of watercolor do bleed-though. So if you are not sure how your paint will act, preparing your page with gesso beforehand never hurts. I have a post on how to prep your page HERE.
I also have a post on all my favorite tried-and-true supplies HERE if you are interested.
So here is what the backside of my page looks like.- There is super slight ghosting around the lettering, and some paint slipped around the edge of my page. Those things won’t be noticed when I create a Bible journaling entry on that side though :).
Alrighty, let’s get to the tutorial! If you have any questions, let me know in the comments below.
