The Night Before Christmas Cover 

Editor: Here we have "The Night Before Christmas Cover," by Scott Gustafson, created with watercolors and acrylics. It’s got such a warm and nostalgic feel; the colors are so rich! I’m really drawn to how painterly it is, almost like a dream. What grabs you when you look at this painting? Curator: Well, isn't it just steeped in the very essence of anticipation! It's that feeling of Christmas Eve, remember? That prickly, excited awareness before slumber. Gustafson really plays with light here, wouldn’t you say? The way it almost vibrates off Santa's fur-trimmed coat – that isn't just skill, that's a storyteller with a brush, evoking magic and warmth. But I wonder, do you feel the sense of something older here too? Something beyond just Christmas cheer? Editor: Hmmm, older? You mean beyond Santa? I’m not sure I see that at first glance. Curator: Perhaps. It’s in the detail for me, though, a certain texture he lends to the toys on the floor or the garland hanging off the mantle, not unlike a Rembrandt. Consider, even the colour palette and the staging give that away: it could very well have illustrated a tale for Dickens. Tell me now, do the contemporary eye bring anything else for us in all those little secrets he is so very careful to lay out? Editor: You're right! There *is* this timeless quality, now that I look at it more closely. Like he’s pulled together the best parts of every Christmas, ever. It almost makes me wonder if my own memories aren't made up, borrowing someone else’s nostalgia! I will think of him now as a Vermeer of holiday cheer, for I did see those magical and cozy colors from Vermeer now in these scenes! Curator: Aha! Indeed it is, an artistic exchange we are seeing on a continuous basis. He creates a Christmas story which invites all audiences, no matter the place, into this warmth.