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Buying art supplies in a shopping desert

Buying art supplies in a shopping desert

Carol L. DouglasOct 12, 20224 min read
When I was in Cape Ann last week, I broke my brush washing tank. (It retaliated by dousing me with filthy mineral spirits.) Eric Jacobsen took me to a neat little art store in Beverly called Art Supplies Wholesale. Alas, they don’t sell metal tanks. “No matter,” I said, and asked Rae O’Shea for a …
Monday Morning Art School: stop seeing your peers as competitors

Monday Morning Art School: stop seeing your peers as competitors

Carol L. DouglasOct 10, 20224 min read
Driving home from Cape Ann Plein Air (CAPA), I listened to an episode of The Side Hustle Show featuring a sobriety podcaster called Gill Tietz. She said, “stop seeing your peers as competitors; see them as marketing partners instead.” That’s exactly why plein air festivals like CAPA work. Obviously, we’re competitors for prizes and sales. …
It’s a wrap, more or less

It’s a wrap, more or less

Carol L. DouglasOct 7, 20224 min read
In the deep woods, the gender differences in the pipi sauvage, the business of peeing in open spaces, is reduced. Men’s clothing is designed for it; modern women’s clothes are not. (Yes, I have a SheWee; it’s more trouble than it’s worth.) Laugh if you will, but this is a serious issue for women plein air …
We’re all in this together

We’re all in this together

Carol L. DouglasOct 5, 20224 min read
Autumn, I like to tell visitors, is the most beautiful season in New England. This year is determined to make a liar out of me. It was wet and cold during my watercolor sailing workshop. Here at Cape Ann Plein Air (CAPA) neither the wind nor sky have cooperated. Natalia Andreeva saw me shivering in …
The game is afoot

The game is afoot

Carol L. DouglasOct 3, 20223 min read
Back when I was raising children, they used to say (jokingly, I hope) that the oldest one was an experiment. You should throw that one out and try again once you knew something about parenting. That’s not true about my kids, but it is often true about my painting. I should have remembered that in …