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Cruisin'. . .

I am really becoming a fan of Santa Claus/ Father Christmas in purple robes.  They give him an almost regal bearing.

As the title of today's post suggests (perhaps?), I am cruising on the current batch of five RSM95 musketeers.  Maybe it is just that have completed enough of them at this point that the slightly revised painting process has become more automatic, requiring less thought as I go through the various steps, and thus speeding up appreciably.  Good!  Things don't always go so smoothly at the painting table.

I tried to shoot a couple of close-ups last night, to show how nicely the thinned fleshtone oils had settled into the surprisingly well-detailed faces of the RSM figures, but the battery on the camera was dead.  Blast!  So, that will need to wait a few hours until I have applied the orange undercoat and the Cadmium Red glaze the the five coats.  And, sadly, today is kind of busy, since I have a meeting after lunch and some late grading to take care of before I submit final grades for the term tomorrow morning.  In any event, be sure to check back later tonight for a photo update of these five figures.  They are turning out to be the five that I am most pleased with to date.

As for today's old-fashioned seasonal illustration, well, what can I say?  Purple is the color of the day!  The more I think about it, I see a company or two of Pandours in my not-too-distant future in brown uniforms with light purple facings. 

Anyway, we've begun telling Young Master Paul about Santa Claus and how he (our son) really needs to watch his P's & Q's in the final ten days before Christmas (not a problem, he is amazingly good for a 25-month old), but I'm not quite sure he understands just yet.  The Young Master has, however, made fast friends this morning with a stuffed Grinch, which I gave the Grand Duchess several pre-Christmases ago, that I placed at one end of the sofa last Saturday afternoon, but it has taken Paul several days to notice or care.  The two of them were, however, very busy together earlier this morning following breakfast.

A rather different pre-Christmas image, but one that has become part of the season in the last half-century since Dr. Seuss's book How the Grinch Stole Christmas first appeared.

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