Watercoloring Through the Days of Creation

For art we have been making a Days of Creation Book using the book, The Days of Creation: Teaching the Glory of God's Work through Art. This book provides a way for children ages 9 and up to learn about the days of creation through painting representations of each day and making their own book about God's work of Creation. This is a really neat study and we have learned a lot about watercoloring.
The colors we used.
For this course, we used a wet-on-wet method. First we soaked our paper in water for 45-60 seconds, spread the paper out on our painting surface and then used a sponge to smooth out any air bubbles.
Each watercolor represents a different aspect or day of creation.
Nathan used a wax resist for the title on his cover.
Day 1
Our first class, we painted three times. The paintings were very simple and allowed us all to get a feel for watercoloring. We learned how to hold the brush for best control, the proper way to apply strokes and the amount of water and color we should use.
The goal in our first painting is to make the paper as dark as possible, representing the verse, "The earth was without form and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep" (Genesis 1:2). First we used blue and added a touch of red to darken it.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was unformed and void, darkness was on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered over the surface of the water.
The second painting represents the verse, Then God said, "Let there be light and there was light"(Genesis 1:3). So, we filled the paper with yellow adding a few gold accents.
Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.
The third painting represents the the verse, "And God divided the light from the darkness" (Genesis 1:4). We learned how to prevent the mixing of two colors.
God saw that the light was good, and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. So there was evening, and there was morning, one day.
Day 2
In this lesson, we learned a technique called "dry brushing." This is a method of removing some of the paint which has been placed on the paper. We do this by painting with water, and then with a dry brush to remove some paint. The dry brush technique was used to create a light, curved area between the two colors. This is done to achieve a sense of movement and separation between the two shades of blue.
God said, "Let there be a dome in the middle of the water; let it divide the water from the water." God made the dome and divided the water under the dome from the water above the dome; that is how it was, and God called the dome Sky. So there was evening, and there was morning, a second day.
Day 3
In the first watercolor, we filled the page with a light layer of ultramarine blue, and then used red and yellow to make the land. It was difficult to find the right proportions of blue, red and yellow to make the land. Once the land was painted, we used Prussian blue to paint the waves beating against the shore. The blue for the waves was painted with sweeping strokes in a circular form. We used the dry brushing technique to produce the splashing effect on the edges of the land.
God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let dry land appear," and that is how it was. God called the dry land Earth, the gathering together of the water he called Seas, and God saw that it was good.
In this painting, we learned three more techniques. The first technique is that of painting a form from the inside rather than outlining it and filling it in. This painting did not show up well in the scan, but the yellow oval was painted first, and then the tree painted in the middle. The second technique was to use the narrow side of the brush (up to this point we have used the broad side only). The third technique was using mostly pigment and very little water to paint the fruit and grains of wheat.
God said, "Let the earth put forth grass, seed-producing plants, and fruit trees, each yielding its own kind of seed-bearing fruit, on the earth"; and that is how it was. The earth brought forth grass, plants each yielding its own kind of seed, and trees each producing its own kind of seed-bearing fruit; and God saw that it was good. So there was evening, and there was morning, a third day.
Day 4
In this lesson, we learned yet another technique ~ how to blend colors. It is hard to see in the scan, but all the colors of the rainbow are present in this painting.
God said, "Let there be lights in the dome of the sky to divide the day from the night; let them be for signs, seasons, days and years; and let them be for lights in the dome of the sky to give light to the earth"; and that is how it was. God made the two great lights - the larger light to rule the day and the smaller light to rule the night - and the stars. God put them in the dome of the sky to give light to the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. So there was evening, and there was morning, a fourth day.
Day 5
Again, here we are using the technique of filling out (rather than filling in). The whale begins as a horizontal line and the shape is gradually added. The dry brush technique was used on the whale's spout. Then various combinations of colors were used to paint the marine animals.
God said, "Let the water swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open dome of the sky." God created the great sea creatures and every living thing that creeps, so that the water swarmed with all kinds of them, and there was every kind of winged bird; and God saw that it was good. Then God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful, multiply and fill the water of the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." So there was evening, and there was morning, a fifth day.
Day 6
Two paintings are done in this lesson to make a distinction between the creation of land animals and man. Of course, the first painting includes a dinosaur and this one happens to be a sauropod, since the description in Job seems to match this kind of dinosaur:
Now consider Behemot, whom I made along with you. He eats grass like an ox. What strength he has in his loins! What power in his stomach muscles! He can make his tail as stiff as a cedar, the muscles in his thighs are like cables, his bones are like bronze pipes, his limbs like iron bars.
Since we had trouble making the land brown in day 3, we just used brown in this painting.
God said, "Let the earth bring forth each kind of living creature -each kind of livestock, crawling animal and wild beast"; and that is how it was. God made each kind of wild beast, each kind of livestock and every kind of animal that crawls along the ground; and God saw that it was good.
The painting for the creation of man is based on the painting for day 4 with the addition of moving water on the bottom. Adam is painted with his hands raised in praise to God. This painting represents the creation of man and his preeminence over the rest of creation.
Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, in the likeness of ourselves; and let them rule over the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the animals, and over all the earth, and over every crawling creature that crawls on the earth."
So God created humankind in his own image; in the image of God he created him: male and female he created them. God blessed them: God said to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea, the birds in the air and every living creature that crawls on the earth." Then God said, "Here! Throughout the whole earth I am giving you as food every seed-bearing plant and every tree with seed-bearing fruit. And to every wild animal, bird in the air and creature crawling on the earth, in which there is a living soul, I am giving as food every kind of green plant." And that is how it was. God saw everything that he had made, and indeed it was very good. So there was evening, and there was morning, a sixth day.
Day 7
The final painting shows Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. You can't see it in this scan of the painting, but behind the tree on the right is a lion in the grass which represents that the animals lived in harmony with man until the Fall.
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, along with everything in them. On the seventh day God was finished with his work which he had made, so he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. God blessed the seventh day and separated it as holy; because on that day God rested from all his work which he had created, so that it itself could produce.
Days of Creation Book
Organizing the pages and getting them ready to be bound.
Nathan's finished book.
Each page includes copywork of the Scripture verses pertaining to that day of Creation.
Note: All italic Scripture verses are from the CJB.

6 comments

  1. I love it! They all did such a great job. You have a way of explaining things in such a way I want to grab my brush and get with it...the painting that is! : )

    ReplyDelete
  2. Awesome! I love this. Thank you for bringing to light a great resource.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a beautiful book! They did a wonderful job :D

    ReplyDelete
  4. I loved looking at how well my children did with this book. It was delightful and filled with a lot of beautiful colors that I felt really glorified our Creator!
    Also, I couldn't help, but read what Job said about the Behemoth in using such things as Iron pipes and cables. I feel challenged to look those words up in Strong's because one wouldn't really link cables to that era of time.
    -Luke

    ReplyDelete
  5. Chel - How wonderful! I love them all - sounds like everyone had a great time!

    ReplyDelete