Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Nativity Figure Painting


Last year I joined a nativity making group at Yahoo groups. The extent of the hobby then, was to purchase a Fontanini Rug Merchant figure to join my DiGiovanni Nativity and print out some Oriental rugs for him to sell. 

This year, I have been researching the possibility of painting the figures. The picture on the left shows how the Rug Merchant appears straight from the box. 

The picture on the right shows my painting; the rug went from pink to red, his turban went from pink to green, his vest changed from tan to light green, his pants from tan to terra cotta and the base went from tan to dark brown.




The second picture on the left shows the DiGiovanni figures that I painted, as they appear out of the box. This year, I painted Mary, Joseph and the Three Kings.

You see Mary and Joseph in their finished state to the right and the Three Kings below. Joseph got a robe in terra cotta and a cloak in brown with a dark brown base and Mary kept her pink robe and added a blue cloak with a white veil and dark brown base.

The Kings were quite fun to paint.  One got a purple cloak with a white collar and spring green robe, one got a pink cloak, dark green robe and navy pants and the third got a red cloak.  Each monarch got a base in medium brown. 

 Painting these figures makes them much easier to see against the dark stable that I have and gives them individual personalities. 


6 comments:

Renee said...

I love the deeper richer colors you painted the figures.

TACParent said...

That is so awesome! I have never been a good painter. They look beautiful. What a neat project!

Michele said...

very nice!

Staying in Balance said...

Thanks everyone! I think my recent attempt at putting on makeup, including eye liner has honed my painting-small-things skills. Thankfully, I had the paints on hand from a project that I never completed.

The gentleman who runs the yahoo group contends that painting these types of figures raises their value.

It was fun to do, at any rate. Dh says I should paint the DiGiovanni shepherd we have. I don't know whether I'll do it this year or save it until next year.

Anonymous said...

I decided to make our ornaments this year but now I want to do this too. Thanks for the idea.

Staying in Balance said...

You're welcome, Gunter!

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