Merry Christmas! Today I decided to share a little footage of the painting of a Christmas page…and there are two ways to watch it!

I was re-reading the Christmas story in Luke, and was thinking about how Mary and Joseph would have had a heck of a stressful Christmas Eve. Far more than those of us still shopping like mad! Trying to find a place to sleep, with a pregnant woman – and an uncomfortable donkey for travel! Yeesh! And in that day, Mary would have been side-saddle, which I never was able to do without falling off a horse, so….being pregnant I have no idea how she did it!

Anyway….here’s the first video. Just music, and sped up so it’s a little shorter, and keeping all the footage intact.

Second way to watch: realtime painting (with some footage cut out), with a reading of Luke 1-2.

A few tips on Tomoe River paper

This is a Bible-like paper – not exactly the same, but very similar.

• Plan to trim. It’s of course larger than a Bible page, so note how big to paint so you can trim it down to the size you need. (Not all Bibles are the same size.)
• Deal with paper warping. Most of the time a second layer of color can recover some of the “stripes” made by paint collecting in the low points in warped paper. Or tap with a baby wipe to sop up excess. Just know there’s going to be some texture from it.
• No bleeding. Well, as long as you’re using a medium that wouldn’t bleed on Bible paper either!
• Dry as you work. If keeping it taped onto a board, a heat gun or hair dryer will flatten the warping – no need to iron as I normally do when flattening Bible paintings.
• Choose a tip-in adhesive. My preference is a very thin strip of doublestick tape; others put a tiny line of elmers glue in the gutter and slip the page in.
• Round corners. I use the 1/4″ side of my Corner Chomper that makes the corners fit my Bible. A little snip with scissors can round them a bit too.

Last chance: signed books

Ellen Hutson has the last 10 of my books and workbooks that are signed – once they’re gone, they’re gone, unless I ever hear from my new publisher on how to order more! (I had to order 100 of each in bulk myself to supply them to small retailers, which was so weird….and am now out of those. Not having heard from the publisher who bought my contract in the last 2 years, I’m pretty much in the dark about getting more.)

Merry Christmas!

I hope you have a blessed celebration, no matter what it looks like this year. Make room in your heart for Jesus!

Supplies

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• Tomoe River Paper
• Daniel Smith Watercolors EH – BLICK
• Schmincke Palette EH – BLICK
• Half pans EH – BLICK
• Brushes:
  • Silver Brush Black Velvet Round #8 EH – BLICK – AMZ
  • Winsor Newton Kolinsky Sable Series 7 Round #10
• Corner chomper
• 1/8″ double stick tape