Ma crêche provençale

This is my Provencal nativity scene, which is enriched every year with a few new santons. Each santon, purchased unfinished, has been painted by me with the utmost realism. I particularly like to paint the ladies' dresses with colorful prints, just as we like them in Provence. It's worth noting that setting up a nativity scene is a tradition in Provence that goes back several centuries! Santons (or "little saints") are subjects made of clay (and even dressed in fabric for the bigger ones) that represent a staging of the Nativity and that you set up in your home, just like the living nativity scenes in churches. These "Pastorals" teach us the role of typical characters. There's Mary and Joseph, of course, the "Little Jesus" (who is not installed until midnight on December 24), the donkey and the ox, the Magi, the shepherds and other characters who come to pay homage.

These include "Lou ravi" (shown with his arms in the air), the fisherman and the fishwife, the water carrier, the woodcutter, the gardener, the farmer, the miller, the grinder, the washerwoman...

First, you hold it in one hand, with your fingers on the top and bottom of the base: these are the parts that will be painted last. Traditionally, santons are painted with oil paint, which is resistant but takes a long time to dry. For amateur painting, acrylics are ideal, or natural paints that dry very quickly. If several figures are to be painted, the faces and hands are painted "in series". ΜThe eyes are often barely marked by professional santon makers, as they are tiny and barely visible in a crib. I use a wooden pick and needle for the iris. As for the women, some of them are dressed up and look as if they're wearing make-up.