Bible Journaling - Genesis 1

The story of Genesis is such a familiar one, that one is inclined to miss out some of the more unfamiliar detail. Most of us became familiar with this story through some or other Children's Bible version of it. While these versions are pretty accurate, there are some finer points in the story that goes beyond the scope or grasp of a child's ability to understand and make sense of. That restores this story to its rightful place in the 'adult' version of the Bible. In today's blog, I take a fresh look at Genesis 1 and this time I make my notes in pictures.

When confronted with the first chapter in Genesis, I was both given an empty page to use as a clean canvas to do my own thing on, as well as a page with lots of colouring detail in the margins.

The first step was to get the foundations right. I started by coating the two pages with a layer of Zellen Clear Gesso.

Once the gesso was touch dry, I slipped a protective shield between the two pages and wedged the Bible closed to straighten out the pages that were buckling and warping as a result of the wet medium.

This was what my pages looked like when I opened the Bible again.

I used Mont Marte Duo markers and a single ProMarker to colour the picture on the right hand page. This picture turned out to be a picture summary of the account of creation. I had something similar in mind already, but the two different takes on this would support each other nicely, so that I wasn't put off by the fact that this was already done.

When the given picture was coloured, my page looked like this.

I used the Duo markers to colour the page with. Verses 1 and 2 tells us about the darkness that existed before creation and how this persisted after God created the heavens and the earth. These verses are simply coloured grey, as black would obscure the text. Verses 3-5 tells us that God created light. I coloured these verses orange to illustrate light. although this was probably rather a white light, as it had nothing to reflect off as yet. In verses 6-8 God separated the waters above the earth from those of the earth, leaving a space in between these two waters. I colour the verses in two shades of blue, with an uncoloured line separating the two colours. Verses 9-13 tells us that God made dry earth appear. I coloured the first part of these verses brown, accordingly. Then He created plants and I coloured the remainder of the verses green.

When I had painted the back of the page, I found that some colour had bled through to this section on my page, despite the precautions I had taken. I simply turned this blotch into a drawing of a tree, using the duo makers.

Verses 14-19 tells us that God created the sun, moon and other heavenly bodies in the galaxy. It differentiates between day and night and speaks of the establishment of time. Science has since confirmed that time is indeed regulated by these bodies, which I find very interesting. I shade these verses in paler and darker blues to represent day and night. Then I use metallic pens to add celestial bodies to the two sections.

In verses 20-23 we learn that God created the birds and the fish. I again use two different shades of blue to represent sky and water. Then I use the metallic pens to draw fish in the waters and birds in the sky. I keep the drawings very simple as the focus should remain on the text.

The last part of the story of creation can be divided into three sections, which I coloured in shades of orange and yellow. Verses 24-25 deals with the creation of animals. What has always fascinated me about creation, is how things were not only created, but that God went one step further and also created these things to be alive. And then He went even further by creating them with the ability to procreate. Indefinitely. As a creative person myself, I have to stand in absolute awe at this. I have never been able to replicate this in any of my own creations.
In verses 26-27 God creates mankind in His own image. He also placed them in charge of the rest of His creation. And whereas we know that all other creatures also had to have been created as male and female if they were to procreate, this is the only time it is specified that He had made them to be different from each other. He made them male and female. I simply stuck a cute little transparent sticker of a female figure into the Bible at this passage, to represent the creation of human beings.
The last verses in the chapter, verses 28-31, gives us an account of God's instructions and blessings. Humans were to procreate, were to govern the earth's creatures, and were to eat plants, as were the animals that had been created as well.

I then turned my attention to depicting the creation of animals and other living creatures. I had more space to use in the margin of the Bible at this stage and opted to use it. I drew a very simple elephant in the margin of the Bible, using a drawing pencil.

I then used my Duo Markers to colour the elephant. That concluded everything I wished to to on this page.

I paged back to devote my attention to the blank page opposite the story of Genesis 1.

Throughout the Genesis 1 account of creation, we are told that God spoke things into existence. I therefore choose to draw a huge speech bubble to fill the whole page. I also draw lines to represent wind or breath, as if this was proceeding from the mouth of the Creator. The reason I do this, is because the Hebrew word God's Spirit, is Ruah, which can also be translated as wind or breath. Thus, by drawing these lines, I include God's Holy Spirit in the story of Genesis 1, as we are told in verse 2 that He was present. If we refer to John 1:1-5, we learn that in the beginning the Word already existed, that all things were created through Him, and that the Word was God. If we read on, we discover in verse 14 that the Word became human, and that it was Him that John the Baptist proclaimed as Saviour. He identified this 'Man' to be Jesus Christ Himself. So, with this simple speech bubble, I have included God the Creator, the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ in the story of creation.

I then draw a very simple landscape in the speech bubble, with sun, earth, plants, and a chicken included in the picture. I also wanted to be sure to illustrate the addition of the ability to procreate in the illustration. For this reason, I add a nest full of eggs in the foreground.

I use my watercolours to paint the landscape and chicken.

I then fill the background in with Gellatos. I also continue working on the chicken.

Once the painting is dry, I complete the illustration with my duo markers, adding more detail to the trees, chicken, nest and the speech bubble itself.

The completed double page layout.

You can watch a short compilation video of the steps above on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/YR_w2AziX6c

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2005,2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois, 60188. All rights reserved.

Inspire PRAISE South Africa edition copyright 2017 by Christian Art Publishers, PO Box 1599, Vereeniging, 1930, RSA. All rights reserved.

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