Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh - Christmas 2013

A hand painted, abstract, mini-canvas and part painted wooden mini-easel. Hand painted, white hammered card with minimal, simplified, 'Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh' design. Both acrylics with gilding and fluorescent yellow. Sketch/exposition insert.
The items were wrapped in red, gold flecked tissue and sealed with a heart motif sticker.

This is the second Christmas card that I have based on gold, frankincense and myrrh. This time I have simplified the three into elements, colours and shapes. The canvas is abstract; the card illustrated with three icons. Both use a palette of primary colours plus black and white and gold. Both contain the same recognisable shapes. 

I was inspired this year by my visit to Matisse's chapel at Vence in Provence and wanted to try using bright, primary, stained glass window colours and simplified shapes to illustrate a theme. It's a great deal harder than it looks.