This year the December challenge of 'Goed gezien - Goed Bekeken' is Gold, frankincense and myrrh which are the gifts of the three Kings - or Three Wise Men to the new born Jesus.
Of course these gifts symbolise much more than a present for a new born baby, they also stand for the positions of King, Priest and Prophet that were to be the future of Jesus. Another explanation is that these gifts are what is needed for a funeral; myrrh for embalming, frankincense for a nice aroma and gold to pay for all other things.
The three kings themselves symbolise the three continents Asia, Africa and Europe and that can be found in the shapes of their head coverings. Some imagination is needed here because I have only painted the outlines of the three kings, wrapped in cloaks.
The star had to be there as well, I would not forget that and its light shines on the scene in the night. The little manger is there also, a bit of cloth hangs out and this suggests that the gifts are already given and the three kings stand aside (wise as they are) so they will not wake the sleeping baby.
For this work I have used my heavy black cardboard again and my white gouache, all the colours are done with a variety of pencils. Deciding about my composition was not easy for this one, I had some help from my mother to establish the proportions.
The information about the materials I have used, the size and availability of this work can all be found at my Tumblr blog.
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