A New Stool

Yesterday, a lovely cool Saturday, brightly sunny with the slightest breeze, was the perfect day to go to Blicks and look for something I have wanted for some time. A stool. I had seen it, I knew what I wanted, but when I got to Blicks I found that what I had in mind, the vision I had in my head, didn't exist in their catalog of furnishings for the artist's studio. That would have been fine but that I had a 40% off coupon for any non-sale item and $35.00 in gift certificates which should have made the stool cost free for me. Instead, I wound up buying some paint (I've been trying different artist quality paints to find that which I like best - today I bought some Gamblin paints) and some 5x7 and 6x6 canvas covered board. And I spent cash money. Artist quality paint is not cheap. But I have done enough now to know the difference between an artist's paint and the student grade stuff. I won't use the student grade anymore. The texture and feel of the artist's is so superior, it's just impossible to go back to cheaper paint. So the gift certificates put a dent in the cost, but did not defray it entirely.

On the way home from Blicks, I had to pass Hobby Lobby. I almost just drove on by. But, I love Hobby Lobby. It's where I buy the frames for my paintings. And when I first started that drawing class a year ago, Hobby Lobby is where I loaded up on the necessaries for drawing and sketching. I stopped and went in and I looked around. There were easels and lamps and all sorts of furnishings and there, in a box on the bottom shelf, was one lonely stool - the very one I had in my mind and had gone to look for at Blicks. It cost 20 bucks. I took it home and put it together and now it sits in front of my easel. It's just a little wooden stool. But the product of persistence. I could have given in to the disappointment. I could have given up and gone home and looked for what I wanted another day. And I almost did. But I wasn't going to let a little cloud ruin my sunny day. Nope. I drove home in sunshine. And all in all, it was a very nice day.