A Landscape Background

This year I bought myself a new Nativity set.  It is quite simple and each figurine has a verse of Scripture on the front. It is unusual.  But it is pale - off-white with some light brown or antiquing to create simple detailing.  However, my dining/kitchen area has  pale peachy-pink walls.  So the figurines tend to blend into the walls and are not clearly detailed. They almost seem to disappear into the wall behind them.

So I decided I needed to put something dark behind the Nativity scene but what?

I decided what made the most sense - and was the most economical - was for me to paint a backdrop for the Nativity scene.

I bought some larger canvas boards to work with -- and my son-in-law will come up with a way for me to stand it up straight without the danger of it falling over on the Nativity figurines.

I used some regular tubes of acrylic paint I had on hand but I felt there not enough variations in the colors of the hills and one hill blended in to the next hill. So I decided to pull out my Art Antholgy Gel Medium paints. I blended some greens and browns and yellows and a clear coat called Splashed.

I used a cloud stencil on the sky using a variety of blues and cream  to create the sky. Then I used the cloud stencil with more blues and white and pale yellow acrylic paints with the stencil to create the cloud look and the variations in color in sky.  Then I added a moon. For that I used the universal tool that  all artists own and use frequently -- your finger tip!. I it some acrylic pain and made a circle with my finger tip. I decided it was "too white" so I used a little bit pale yellow on the white.

What do you think? Will this work for a background for the Nativity scene? I hope so.

So This is a PS. to my post.  Pat Huntoon asked ot see it behind the Nativity scene -- so here it is.

What do you think?