Has your gnome lost his color? Has the twinkle faded from his eyes, the rose from his cheeks?
You can recolor him, better than he was. Cleaner, brighter, gnomier!
All it takes is a small flat brush and a small round one. I used artist’s acrylics, deciding not to worry about the paint fading because whatever paint the gnome factory put on them faded, too. You won’t need that many colors – look for the hues you need with the highest light-fastness ratings, since that will indicate how quickly they’ll fade. These gnomes needed titanium white, phthalo blue, lemon yellow, raw umber, quinacridone red, permanent green light, Payne’s gray and a bit of mars black. There is no red that will really hold its color without fading, so don’t spend a lot on a fancy color. There might be pre-mixed flesh color out there, but I didn’t have any. So, start mixing your red and white, then add a tiny bit of green, yellow, brown… until you get the perfect gnome skin color.
Gnomes, if you go by the book, wear brown pants, blue shirts, and tan boots made of deerskin. Their hats are red felt. One of our gnomes originally had a red vest, but this made him much too Santa-like. Now he’s back to his roots in a blue shirt. You must resist the urge to paint them with blue skin; these are gnomes, not Smurfs (also known as Stroumpfs).
Some day in the future, the long years spent in ultraviolet light will take their toll and your work will fade. You’ll once again find yourself with a gnome in one hand and a brush in the other, watching your gnome return to life and health. No gnome stays colorful forever and painting is just one of the many responsibilities of gnome ownership.