Dragons at the Nativity

Kate made a nativity set to display at this year's Festival of the Nativity. It was definitely her own unique creation--Kate's set is made up of Sculpey dragons.  She worked on it for probably a couple of weeks, off and on.  Everything turned out so cute.



She's really been developing her Sculpey skills lately. She comes up with some great detail.



I love the eggshell pieces.



You can tell this is the angel because it has a halo, and is holding a star.



Kate's set was displayed in the whimsical section, which features nativity sets of teddy bears or rubber ducks or other things, and this year a couple of very cute Lego creations. They just happened to have the perfect spot for her dragons.



Displays from another section. (No dragons.)



We took Tavah along, and she and Kate had fun checking out all the exhibits. The backdrop that Anne Marie and I painted was the centerpiece on the stage. Once they got it up there I realized that we had missed the edges. Whoops! When we were putting on the blue base coast we discussed doing the edges, decided that they should be black, and then promptly forgot about it. Ah well. If anyone noticed, they didn't say anything to me!

Nativity Painting 2016

Anne Marie and I painted this backdrop for The Festival of the Nativity. It went so much faster than last year's. That one, with all the outlines and complicated shading, took about three weeks. This one was done in three days. Whew! (This was a relief, as we're both pretty busy!).



We were given the image to enlarge and paint on the backdrop. I don't know who created it originally, but on the last day of painting I realized that the two camels on the ends are actually the same camel. We were laughing over how we didn't notice at first, even after tracing and painting both of them.

We had a little trouble when we used up some leftover black paint from last year and then started a new can, only to discover that the two blacks didn't quite match.  Anne Marie came up with some creative solutions so  we didn't have to completely go over everything.

The theme is "Star of Wonder, Star of Light."  Oooh, pretty!

Nativity Painting

I finish one painting project and start another. This was for the Festival of the Nativity at the stake center, this year's theme being "Through a Child's Eyes."



Karen Hemming sent me a picture back in October and asked if I could paint it. I said, "Sure!" It sounded like fun. It looked like a fairly simple image.



Doug was able to check out a laptop and projector from school, so we used that to trace the image onto plywood. Definitely a time-saver! This was taken after a few days of painting. As it turns out, the image is not as simple as it looks. There's a lot of shading. The whole thing took about three weeks.



I thought it would be fun to involve Kate, so I told her I would save the donkey hooves for her to do. I took a break over Thanksgiving, and then Saturday morning we went hoof painting.



She enjoyed it so much that she also did the donkey's eye and nostril (which I did have to touch up, but I'm sure it was a positive experience!)



Anne Marie had some free time on Monday and spent a few hours helping me do outlines. She is awesome. (She probably saved me a day of work.)



The light on the stage was not great. Outlines are tedious. Squinting does not help.



Painting with a buddy is more fun! I got us some posole for lunch, and we sat on my drop cloth and had a posole picnic. It was fabulous. 



While the painting was taking shape on the stage, the rest of the church was transforming into a Christmas wonderland. I finally finished up on Thursday, the day before the festival opened.  I was confident that I didn't have much left to do, so I was just enjoying  being there, taking my time getting nice clean edges, and listening to the Jenny Oaks Baker Christmas Pandora channel on Karen's phone. Kind of a zen experience. 



Finishing up the star! Laura Call came in to volunteer, and I got her to take a photo for me. The lighting turned out pretty cool in this one!  



Setting up the painting at the front of the stage. They used some of the arches from Savior of the World, which I painted ten years ago. (Elsewhere they also used the rocks that I painted for Pirates of Penzance. Everything gets reused!) It looks bigger like this, somehow. 



Grandma Mary came up to see us, and we all went to the festival together. Kate got to tell a few people that she painted the donkey hooves.



It's fun to see all the different nativities. I liked the style of this one.



Everything is so bright and pretty!

People sometimes ask me how I feel about volunteering so much time painting for church projects. I figure it's my consecration.  It is a lot of work, and not always convenient, but it's a blessing for me and for others.  The experience is always good.

At the Nativity

We stopped by the Festival during setup, and the first thing I saw when we walked in the door was Fiona's library down the hall. (The gold paint on the book spines catches the light.) That was a fun surprise! I went back the next day and got some pictures.



I hear they had quite a time getting it into this room. It's taller than the doorway.



The festival is always gorgeous and they do such a great job putting everything together.



Our backdrop in the Christ room.



Doug's leather nativity.

We went back in the evening for the Messiah sing-along. We really enjoyed it last year, but we had to take turns sitting with Kate and watching Andy back in the childrens' room. This year we took Andy over to the McGiffins' house (thanks Mary!) so we could enjoy the singing together. And the alto and tenor sections were right next to each other, so we even got to sit together. (Yay!)   Kate was drawing dragons in her notebook the entire time, but I think she enjoyed the music.   It is amazing and stirring--and I had somebody sitting behind me who knew the part really well, so that was a big help! 

Nativity Singing

The Festival of the Nativity, which lasts for three days and displaces the three wards that meet in our building, includes hundreds of nativity sets on display, live performances, and the opportunity to dress up and get your picture taken. It's quite the production. I volunteered to be the photographer Friday evening, so I was there for three hours. It was pouring buckets that night but a fair number of people braved the rain and kept me busy taking pictures.



Kate was part of a multi-stake children's choir that performed Saturday afternoon. First time she's really done anything like this--I expect it was a good experience. Her favorite song was "Sing a Song of Merry Christmas," which is fast and fun.



Kate communes with Fake Sheep and Baby Jesus (also fake).



Checking out the nativities.



Saturday evening there was a Messiah sing-along. I thought we'd just go for part of it, but Kate didn't want to leave, so we ended up staying for the whole ninety minutes. (Andy had to be entertained elsewhere, so Doug and I took shifts.) It's hard to tell how Kate is taking these things--either performing or listening--she doesn't exactly sit there in rapt attention, soaking it all in. But she said she enjoyed singing, and she apparently loved the Messiah. It was very stirring, with the live orchestra and big audience. We ended up in the soprano section, which isn't what I normally sing, but I wasn't really familiar with the music anyway so it was just as well. (But boy, it does get high in places!) We'll definitely do this again.



We appreciate all the work that goes into the festival.  It's really a lovely way to get in the Christmas spirit.

Nativities R Us

The first weekend in December was the Festival of the Nativity at the church again. We went on Saturday to check it out. (Right after Andy's nap!) I was hoping to get a family picture like last year's but it didn't work out so well.





Kate was not interested in family pictures, but she did want to wear the sheep costume. She makes a cute little lamb.





With all the look-don't-touch nativities on display, it was nice that they also had a room where the kids could actually play with things, along with this cute Little People backdrop. We spent a lot of time in that room.





They used the backdrop that I painted for Savior of the World in the Relief Society room. It's always fun to see that again.