Jars of Clay from 2 Corinthians 4:7 - 9

Sorry this lesson is late.  I've been behind for a couple of weeks, and I don't think I will be able to catch up until summer!

In 2 Corinthians Paul writes:
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;  persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed

These scriptures are telling us that we are a vessel made of common, run-of-the-mill clay--fragile and easily broken. And yet God can place His treasure of the gospel in such a vessel, just as ancient people stored their valuables in common clay pots. God does this to show His glory and power through us. 

I am posting 2 versions of this image - my practice one  and the one in my Bible.  They have different lettering and the practice version has splattering.  I meant to do the splattering in my Bible but forgot.

This is the practice page with the splatters.

The final (or almost final) entry.  I need to splatter this one.

I used Intense watercolor pencils.  I used three similar colors on each jar - a light, a medium, and a dark to give them depth.  I laid down the light color first on the outside edges of the jars and moved it toward the center with a slightly wet brush.  I tried to leave the center light or white.  I added the other darker colors one at a time, using less than the original layer.  After all layers were on, I used the straight colored pencil to add detail and a few darks.  I outlined all of the jars and leaves with an 01 Sepia Micron.