An artist breathed new life into a 50-year-old nativity scene in Oak Harbor.

Gathered in front of the Concordia Lutheran Church stand brightly colored figures depicting the birth of Jesus, and notably bearing no signs of their previous dilapidation. Linda Bounds spent nine months repairing and repainting the perforated display, which the church installed last weekend.

Every year, new holes were created in the plywood figures in order to set them up for display.

“It was going to be tossed. It, originally, had not been taken care of properly,” Bounds explained. “It looked like a machine gun had gone up and down (the figures).”

Originally, a church-goer ordered a display kit and traced the figures onto plywood but failed to do anything to preserve their quality and, in Bounds’ opinion, painted some of them in rather unusual ways. Bounds said the Mary figure lacked a face underneath her blonde locks and posed like an angel. The shepherd wore furs, which she found uncharacteristic, and the angel bore stained glass wings.

Bounds got to work, and once each hole had been filled in and sanded over, she broke out some acrylic paint to freshen up the designs. Although she is experienced in painting, the nativity scene figures presented a new and unfamiliar challenge.

Bounds moved to Whidbey from Colorado three years ago, where she painted Western art while living on her and her late husband’s ranch. Today, she paints portraits and other pieces from her home studio, and wants to sell art and display her work in a gallery in the future. Oil paint is her go-to, similar enough to acrylic in texture but which dries much slower.

“It was a challenge because I had not worked in this medium before,” she said. “So, it was a learning process. And it was fun.”

She brought each piece home to work on, and referenced other images to guide her painting. Mary’s hair is brown now, the angel’s wings feathered and the shepherd sporting a tunic and sandals. A polyurethane sealant finished the work off. Remnants of the holes can only faintly be seen from the backs of the figures.

Bounds is glad she could revive the nativity scene.

“We’re just thrilled,” she added. “Hopefully it’ll have another 50 years.”

Photo by Allyson Ballard The task challenged Linda Bounds out of her artistic comfort zone.