Scavenger Chic

Painting on Driftwood DIY, Santa Claus

• By Joan
• November 17, 2021
• 3 Comments

Driftwood Santa Claus

Hi folks, today we’re painting on a beautiful piece of driftwood   To be more precise, this 34″ piece of driftwood is about to become Santa.

You may remember this same piece of driftwood from the easy peasy  driftwood tealight candle holder.

The tealight holder  was perfect for summer beach decor but I had to pack  it away in favor of some fall pumpkins.  When I undecorated the table it occurred to me that not only would this piece of driftwood make a great tealight candle holder but if you turned it over, it would also make a great Santa. 

Two projects in one.

By the way, you can find three of my past projects on this table, wood candle holders, painted “tin” chargers, and a farmers market tin bucket.

A quick search for driftwood santas on google will confirm to you that I am not the first person to think that the shape of  driftwood somewhat resembles a Santa.  They may also give you painting ideas for your own Santa.  These are all ornament size, but for mine, I’m thinking big!

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With a marker, roughly sketch on your driftwood where you would like your Santa hat, hat band and top of your whiskers.

Make sure you have all your colors on hand.  Luckily I didn’t have to go out and buy any paints, these were all colors I currently had .  You can use just the little jars of acrylics but since I had some of the bigger jars of chalk paint, I used those as well.  You’ll need white, gray, red and flesh color.  I also used just a little blue and black for the eyes.  The rusty orange color helped tone down the red in his very rosy cheeks. I’m also using antique wax, but since I’m using it like a paint a medium brown would work just as well.

Start with the hat.  I always like to do the easiest part first.  This coat of paint is not too thick, I’m letting some of the natural creases of the driftwood show thru.

While the red paint is still wet and you have some of the red paint in your brush, add a little of the antique wax (or brown) wherever you would like a little shading or darker areas.  Maybe a crease in the hat fabric, or the side edges.

Moving on to the beard.  Mix up some of your white paint with a little of the gray.  You probably can’t tell, but there is gray paint on the end of my brush, just enough to lightly tint the white.

Beards are rarely perfectly white.  

Add a little more gray to the white paint to create a shadow underneath where a droopy moustache would go.  Make sure you blend this gray shadow with the white beard underneath while the white is still wet.  Blend in with your brush or a paper towel.

Again, with your dirty white/gray brush, add a little of the antique wax to the shadows of the moustache.  Just dab it on.  If you get too dark, you can always wait until it dries and add more white highlights or rub off the excess while it is still wet.

More of the white/gray is dabbed on to the band of the Santa hat.  Add a little more of the gray to the sides to make it look like the hat wraps around the driftwood and a little more of the pure white to the center front. You’re not using the gray alone, it’s always combined with the white.

Now for the face, my least favorite part.  Give yourself a background on the face with the flesh colored acrylic.

Mix some of the red into the flesh color, just a couple drops is all you need.  I did end up adding a drop of the rust colored paint since my red was too rosy.

Paint a couple of pink rosy cheeks just above the moustache.

Highlight the cheeks with a streak of white at the top and a white/red on the sides. If you paint while the original paint color is still wet it’s easier to blend.

Combine the vintage wax (or brown if you’re using it) with the flesh color to make some highlights around the eyes, sides of the nose and below the cheeks.

Dab on some eyebrows above the eye shadows and make an eye shape with the white.  I used more of the gray on the sides of the eyes to make them appear rounder.

Finish off Santa’s eyes and you’re ready to hang.

He can’t join the rest of my holiday decorations just yet because, unlike the stores, I am nowhere near ready to start Christmas decorating. But there is still time to get out there on the shore or in the woods and find a nice chunk of aged wood or driftwood.

Until next time, Stay inspired.

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