Advice, please: Techniques for painting wood carvings for outdoor exposure

Hello all...

I'm doing some woodcarvings for outdoor Christmas displays, and
need advice and suggestions on the proper way to prime, seal and paint
these. They're carved from spruce 2x4's glued edge to edge with
waterproof glue, I thought Kilz Exterior would be a good base coat,
but apparently nobody in this area carries such a product. So I'm open
to any suggestions and advice, positive OR negative. Please feel free
to tell me if you've tried something that DIDN'T work so I can avoid
that.... But someone out there has probably found the right
combination that I need... Thanks much in advance for any help!

Bill Alcott