So there I was, wanting to do a nativity scene. Luckily Floss and Dave managed to produce a Wilf and offered their services as models. Now Floss is impossible to draw/paint, as mentioned in a previous post in the drawing blog.
Anyhow, as far as I could recall, the nativity involved a couple, a baby, a shelter of some sort and animals. They seem to divide between the more cheerful celebration of a birth and the ones where Joseph is looking quite despondent somewhere outside of said shelter whilst Mary and her new born are safe and sound. Clearly I did not want Dave to look despondent so I plumped for the cheerful version (there's a surprise) and added a collection of animals. The Donkey and cow are pretty standard and as the three Magi are normally shown with some pretty spectacularly exotic animals (at least in Santons set ups) I added an elephant and giraffe. Farm animals also feature pretty heavily in Provencal Santons so I added those too. The racoon is not standard, I am aware, but I am very found of them. The dinosaur head is not quite standard either but Wilf likes them.
Luckily, just as I was adding the final touches, I received a Christmas card from a Catholic friend made by her son and hols and behold, it was a nativity featuring a large star. I had completely forgotten about this, but in my haste I also thought I had forgotten to add a dove with sprig in its beak and it is only afterwards that I realised I had muddled two animal heavy scenes.