Prophetic Art for the Non-Artist Beginner (Like Me!)

My newest piece of prophetic art had me in all the feels. You see, over the last few years, God has been walking me through a powerful season of understanding my true “identity” in Him and this piece of art – a combination of paint, gel matte, and collage work – was a heartfelt visual representation of the healed place that He had brought me into and a beautiful reminder of where I wanted to deeply root and remain.

For your ease of navigating and reading, the rest of this post is divided into four distinct sections:

My “Why” For Creating Prophetic Art

The Message Behind My Most Recent Piece of Prophetic Art

But What is Prophetic Art?

Prophetic Art Tips for the Non-Artist Beginner

My “Why” For Creating Prophetic Art –

If you’ve read my book, A Time to Dance: Chasing Joy in Difficult Seasons, you know that my healing journey started out in the most unexpected of places – on the bathroom floor. After hitting a season of deep pain that absolutely fractured my identity, security, hope, and faith, I had crumbled into a heap of brokenness, surrounded by what felt like the ashes of my previous life. People say that when you go through experiences like that, your life becomes divided into a “before” and “after” story; chapters that reflect life before that moment of brokenness, and chapters that reflect life after. And I was sure, in that moment, that any chapters left in my story were destined to be filled with pain, insecurity, and hopelessness.

But what I didn’t expect was to meet an incredible God that day that would become my best friend. A Father that was so real that His presence became tangible in my space. A Father that was so beautiful that His voice and His love became the lifeline to my soul. A Father who picked up all the broken pieces and made my “after” more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. And for that, I sing His praises – finding ways to worship Him – in everything I do… including my love of art!

Now, about that art – Well, I love art! I love to create anything artsy. I love to dabble in paint and collage and basket-making and knitting and ANYTHING artsy fartsy! BUT… I am not an artist. The truth is that I’m not very talented at art… at all! In fact, during my high school years, I often knew that when I enrolled in art classes, I was letting go of a 4.0 gpa because I never managed to get an A in the course. Why? Because my art was never original; never unique. I could decently recreate a piece of art, but I could not envision something and just create it. Little did my (wonderful) teacher know that a few years down the road one of the most popular publicly traded companies in the world would be built on the backs of people just like me and it would have 447 million monthly users! Hello, Pinterest! But I digress. My point here is that I am writing this post from the perspective of someone who, arguably, has almost no artistic ability. So, if you feel the same way, you’re in good company!

But all that said, I turned 40 last year and something inside me just clicked. This is 2023 and I am so tired of letting my inabilities direct or shape my passions or my pursuit of them! I may not be the most artistic, but when I share my art, and the heart and message behind it, others feel the encouragement in their spirit! I FEEL the encouragement in my spirit. And it’s a beautiful thing! So don’t let what you can’t do dictate or shape what you want to do or feel called to do… chase it and shine bright, my friend! God WILL use it! (Just like He used Moses!)

The Message Behind My Most Recent Piece of Prophetic Art –

During that season of brokenness, one of the most difficult challenges that I faced was finding “who” I really was in the mess of ashes that laid all around me. What defined me – and what didn’t? How did God see me – versus how I see myself? It was messy and hard and just plain painful, at times. I had to learn to lean into God’s voice and allow Him to gently correct so many of my absolutely broken and flawed ways of processing who I am and my worth/value.

What I found was that as He removed each one of those labels that bound me, He faithfully began to pour in His words … daughter, chosen, loved, held, called, known, cherished, and irreplaceable!

Now, as a recovering people pleaser and perfectionist, I have struggled to stand in my own identity many times over, choosing instead to walk with my eyes down and my heart sheltered. But God was calling me to step out of that battle of shame and fear and step into the calling that He was laying before me… and then I had a beautiful God-given vision –

God as a lion, fiercely protective of His children (a lion’s roar can be heard for 5 miles), walking behind me as He powerfully repeats these words into my spirit… “Mine. She is mine. And I love her.”

And friends, I knew in that moment that I wanted to create a piece of art from that powerful vision.

You see, I knew that He was encouraging me to walk into my calling, not skirt around it or avoid it due to fear, but confidently face it knowing that I have a Father that loves me unconditionally and beyond comprehension and He will always be with me. He will faithfully see me through.

Where my identity was once a piece of putty that I passed around and placed in other people’s hands, asking them to shape, mold, and define me, to determine my worth and my value…

I now have an identity that is securely anchored TO MY FATHER. His truths define me. His truths determine my value and my worth. His truths are where I find rest, hope, faith, and joy! … And they are the/His same truths for each of you!!

So, behind the lion, I glued some of my favorite verses and stories with these truths. They are reminders of His faith in me and His incredible love, goodness, and faithfulness to us. They are the words of His identity that He pours into us. They are His gifts, never earned, given freely… and all we have to do is ask…

Jesus, who am I in you and how do you see me?

And if you are reading this post and you feel something stirring in your spirit, I’d like to share some encouragement here before we move on – If you ask our Father these questions, never fear the answer because His love is beyond comprehension and completely irreversible and unconditional, no matter the road we have walked. Just wait for the rush of love, grace, and healing to flow! It may feel like a small stream at first, bounced about by rocks of doubt and shame, but let it journey down into your spirit and let it water the seeds that He is faithfully planting in you today.

God, I am completely overwhelmed by you. My cup overflows. Thank you for loving me so much!

But What Is Prophetic Art?

Well now that you know my “why” behind creating prophetic art and my most recent example of it, I think you’ll find it easy to wrap your head around the general idea of prophetic art. If you’re like me, you’ll probably struggle to NOT overcomplicate it. I know that I did. And in this case, be gentle with yourself. You’re not alone. But here is the definition that I ultimately came up with –

It’s both beautifully and simply any art (in any artform) that you create from or within that space of sitting with the Holy Spirit.

So maybe you paint a vision of something that God promised or showed you. Or maybe you create a basket that demonstrates how He reweaves your broken seasons into something beautiful. Or maybe you choose an artform like photography, collage, drawing, or etc. of something that God spoke to you through His word. Maybe your art is a form of prayer, created from a space where you are faithfully leaning into His goodness before your breakthrough arrives. Maybe you’re crocheting baby booties for a child that is not yet born but promised. It can really be any form of art that is created from your relationship with God and your beautiful dance through a life walked hand-in-hand with Him.

So now that we’ve defined it, let’s lay out some great tips for beginners (like me)!

Prophetic Art Tips for the Non-Artist Beginner (Like Me!) –

Approach prophetic art like a form of worship. When you worship, your focus is not on the person next to you. You’re not comparing yourself against them, wondering who does it better. You simply and beautifully just worship. It’s Jesus-focused, Kingdom-focused, and heartfelt. And it is as perfectly unique and individual as your relationship is with the Father. There’s no grade. There’s no right or wrong way to do it. There’s no pressure about flaws or imperfections. It’s just worship. And when you let go of all of that other stuff, it frees you to let the prophetic art flow right out of the conversation between you and God. It frees you to explore what’s in your heart and create from what’s transpiring and growing in your spirit. And that will be truly powerful and beautiful… no matter what the final piece looks like to your natural eyes.

Play with different mediums. When you are a non-artist beginner (like me), you’ll want to play with different mediums to find which one suits your style best. You may even find that different pieces call for different mediums. Why? Well, let’s dive in and I’ll explain.

Some mediums are more forgiving – This painting here was my very first prophetic art piece. It includes a skirt that had a powerful meaning to me (you can find the story in my book, A Time to Dance: Chasing Joy in Difficult Seasons) and it includes my feet walking on water. You see, this piece was made during a time when I could hear God calling me to step out of the boat of knowns and into the water of the unknowns, trusting Him to hold me and my heart. And I created this piece from both that message and the vision. But again, I’m not an artist. I struggled a lot! I cannot tell you the number of times that I painted and repainted and repainted the lines and the colors for the legs. And although the feet are still imperfect, they are a far cry from the first round! All of that is to say this – some mediums are more forgiving and will let you play with them over and over until you get something that feels right to you. This is especially important for those of us that may take a few tries to get something to look the way we see it in our minds. This painting was done with acrylics and I dare say it ran through about six version of legs before I finally let it go and called it done. Start with a more forgiving medium and give yourself time to learn!

Some mediums allow you to fill in skill gaps with creativity – I was trying to find a way to say this without it sounding negative because that’s not what I’m implying at all. Remember, I’m on this journey with you! When I was working to create my lion, I had concerns that I would deeply struggle to create a mane that looked anywhere close to artistic. I also knew that I didn’t want my lack of skill to take away from the powerful meaning behind the message and the piece. And that’s when I had an idea – one that I thought just might make the piece even more powerful, while simultaneously minimizing my lack of skill – effectively filling in the gaps: extra heavy gel matte! I had never used this medium before, but I jumped right in and had so much fun with it! It made the mane flow and pop and jump off the canvas and it was super easy to use for a beginner! And the best part – I didn’t have to do any shading or make anything look realistic. It did all the work for me. I just had to add color and let it be. I LOVED the results! So as a beginner and a non-artist, using different mediums can allow you to fill in your skill gaps with creativity that actually adds beauty, originality, and power to your piece! Don’t ever let your lack of skill hold you back from creating something that will speak into the hearts of you and others – just improvise, explore different mediums, and let God flow through it!

Lightboxes! Oh my gosh – this right here is a huge gamechanger! Call it cheating, if you will, but this tool opened up so many doors for me, artistically speaking. So, if you consider yourself a non-artist beginner, you may just want to buy one of these today! For less than $20 on Amazon, you can order yourself a lightweight, easy-to-use, 2023 version of the old-fashioned projector! Okay… I’m dating myself. But seriously, do you remember using a projector to trace your projects that you were working on in school? Well now they sell lightweight, super compact lightboxes that do the exact same thing! My sister bought me one of these for Christmas and I started out using it to art journal in my Bible. But then, I decided to use it behind the canvas of this lion and … TOTAL GAME-CHANGER! I was able to print out a picture of a real lion, place it between the lightbox and the back of my canvas, and trace the outline of the face onto the front of my canvas, allowing me to get the starting dimensions right before painting! This is huge for a non-artist because sometimes getting the dimensions right is quite literally the hardest part. So, if you’re looking for something super helpful to just get you started, grab yourself an inexpensive lightbox and have fun with it! Let it help you get your own prophetic art journey off the ground with a little less frustration!

Visit your local art store! As a beginner non-artist, it can be very intimidating to visit a brick-and-mortar mom & pop art store. We don’t want to ask dumb questions or the wrong questions. We don’t know the lingo. We don’t even really know what we’re doing. Am I right? We’d much rather consult Google and YouTube (no offense to either one of those platforms). But what I’ve found in my short journey through beginner art exploration is that often-times these small mom & pop stores are staffed by very passionate artists who are not only more than willing to help you discover your own world of art, but they also give advice and help that’s priceless! They listen to what you need – even when you stumble through an explanation of your problem (trust me, I’ve been there) – and then they place the solution (product) right in your hands, along with tips and help on how to use it! Let me give you two personal examples:

First, when I was painting the legs on my first piece of prophetic art, I was using a peach color paint with white and black for shading. It made sense to me, but the legs looked like zombie legs with all forms of gray and even green! How was this even happening? When I visited the local store, she told me to ditch the peach and black and she placed all these reds and pinks in my hands. I just knew this wasn’t going to work… at all! It simply didn’t look right. But much to my surprise, the color came out perfect! I know that the lighting on the picture I included above is terrible, so you don’t get a real feel for the color, but the combo that she gave me that day was absolutely on-point! She knew from experience what colors would work, and it completely changed my piece of art!

As another example, when I wanted to add texture to the lion piece in this post, I watched endless YouTube videos trying to find a way to do it. As a beginner (and a non-artist), I was completely overwhelmed. Some would say this method worked, but this method would crack. Others would say this style works but not this one. So, I finally decided to just visit our local store. The amazing artist that helped me that day not only placed the product in my hand that would get the job done, but she let me feel examples of what the texture would feel/look like and how to apply it. She talked about tools to use and ways to get the effects that I wanted. It was amazing and I left there fully confident that I had not only purchased the right product, but that I could definitely tackle the next part of my project!

Brick-and-mortar mom & pop stores are amazing! The artist there love to share their passion, offer amazing advice, help you find your product, and … best of all – you get to support a local small business! That’s a win-win in my book!

So, if you’re considering jumping into the world of prophetic art, even as a beginner and especially as a non-artist, my #1 piece of advice would simply be a heartfelt word of encouragement… Do it, my friend! And here’s why…

I believe that God skillfully, thoughtfully, and intentionally designed every unique detail of your being. The Master Architect and Master Artist doesn’t see you as just one of many, slapped together to fit inside a mold. No, completely to the contrary. He designed every intricate and beautiful thing that makes you… well… the very individual and incredible you! You were made to shine in your own glorious way! And your art – yes, yours – will reflect that! It will touch the hearts of others that were meant to see it, experience it, and understand it. God will use your art to tap and even heal places deep inside others that have shared your same journey or experienced your same seasons. Don’t limit what God can do with you (or your art) just because you feel unskilled or underwhelming. Shine bright! If you feel a passion or a calling to create something to share His glory or His faithfulness, lean into that and let Him do the rest. You’ll be absolutely amazed what He can do in that space… within others and within you!

Blessings on a beautiful journey ahead!

Shannon

Some of this post includes excerpts from my book, A Time to Dance: Chasing Joy in Difficult Seasons. If you would like more information about the book, you can click the image below to be redirected.