Watercolor Tutorial | Courage – Whimsical Watercolor Lotus Flowers and NeoColor II Stems

Greetings Illustrated Faith Family –

How exciting to see my friend’s writing in the Illustrated Faith Revival Camp Kit.  Heather Greenwood is a beautiful sister in Christ.  She is an artist and one of the “behind the scenes” power houses that makes this Blog and Illustrated Faith possible.  I love her devotional about courage.  I love seeing her use the “hard” in her journey to encourage others.  This is what following Jesus means!  Use your journey to bless, to encourage, to extend a hand out and pull someone up out of the dark.

As I prayed about how and where to weave her writing into my own journaling Bible, I was drawn to Isaiah 41:9-10.

I took you from the ends of the earth,
from its farthest corners I called you.
I said, ‘You are my servant’;
I have chosen you and have not rejected you.

 

So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

And then God reminded me of the Lotus flower.

The Lotus flower means so much to me.  She grows up out of the muck.  She becomes the beauty that her Creator wove into her cells before time.   As she rises to the sun, the mud and muck fall from her petals and she stands strong, courageous and tall, petals reaching upward to her Master.  She exists purely to glorify the King.  Tears.  Amen.

Gotta regroup….you are here to read a tutorial.

Let’s journal truth friends.

Gathering Supplies

I loosely washed in some petals using a light pink coral and a mop brush that keeps me from being too exact.  More on Watercolor Brushes here and here.

More petals.

When you use this technique, it is important to dry between layers.

I added a bit more pigment to my coral pink on the pallet and added some more loose layers of petals with an oval brush.

More layers with  a bit more pigment.  I am starting to add some more defined lines to the petals by turning my oval brush on its side.

Adding more pigment and more lines.

A quick dry.

Exactly what I want.  Loose, kinda messy lotus flowers.  Next I am adding some scribble lines with my NeoColors. Stems.

Leaves and more greens.

I am using an olive NeoColor to contrast the Phthalocyanine green (say that a few times fast!) and tie into the olive in the Courage badge.

I want a loose kind of whimsical image so I am just touching the NeoColors with water.

Love.  I want my beloved sister’s Devotional to stay with my journaling.  I grabbed a pretty pink envelope from my stash.

It was a bit big, so I folded it in half and then cut a piece of the 12 x 12 Gratitude Documented paper to layer.

A quick staple with my tiny stapler.

I love using the thin Illustrated Faith washi to highlight scripture and text.

Tucking the devo into its pocket and trimming the gratitude paper.

I brought a bit of pink to the top with the Revival Kit washi and used my tiny stapler to attached the badge as my tab.

Date stamp.

I added a cute little camper paper clip that Llanet @topknotsandJesus sent me from Simple October to the tab area.

My beautiful friend shared her heart.  I love that it is forever in my Journaling Bible.

Jesus is our Courage.  Jesus is our strength.  Jesus is the reason we rise from the darkness into the Light.

We are called, chosen.  We have nothing to fear because the King of Kings is with us and He will help us.  Makes you want to fall on your face in gratitude.   We are never alone friends.

Please tag me on Instagram @designsbyamybruce if you try some watercolor flowers.  I love to see your journaling pages and see how God is speaking to you.

Rising Up in Jesus,

amy bruce

Addtional Supplies: Daniel Smith Quinacridone Coral Watercolor | Ranger Craft Heating Tool | Ranger Tiny Stapler | Glacine Envelope | Simple October Paper Clip | Smooth White board | NeoColor II – Olive and Phthalocyanine Green | Watercolor Brushes – Mop, Oval, and Round