Dick Blick’s Bag of Tricks and Hairy Sticks
I visited the new and improved “Blick” Art Supply and they’re still annoying. They’re not as bad as some, but the “attitude” is so thick it piles up in the corners and has to be swept out at night.
You get the impression that these are “real artists” and you, clown, ARE NOT.
Fortunately, I have learned to deal with them by ignoring them completely.
Just as an example of the Blick approach to customer service, I asked one of their stout hearted men if they sold any disposable brushes. This is not a stupid question. The guy, who was busy planning his next great masterpiece as well as sweeping the floor, continued to sweep and replied “Well, technically, they’re all disposable.”
Why is it illegal to punch people in the mouth?
Seriously.
I went there to get some Golden Open thinner, and I was amazed and amused to discover that, similar to their retarder (which may previously unanticipated effects on unsuspecting Blick employees) it is a thick, syrupy kind of stuff. Not a liquid.
Golden seems to believe that thin paint is a PROBLEM and I kinda agree, because in most cases their customers put a glob on a palette and VIOLA there ya go. If it’s too thin, it runs off into the corner and makes passionate love to the burnt sienna, making a messy pool of mud.
Where was I?
I also stopped by everybody’s favorite Nerd clubhouse– The Source in Roseville. The Source is a game, comics, miniatures place with some hobby supplies and a they have a LOT of stuff. The problem is that, now that I know what paints are good for minis and what a “mini” is and so I’m hip and cool– I know that The Source has mediocre paint. They specialize in MSP, Vallejo, Citadel and The Army Painter. These are not “bad” but the store doesn’t carry any “premium” lines like Pro Acryl and Kimera.
Anyway, it seems like mini-painting is in the middle of a “boom” and so we see hobby shops like Hub Hobby swinging wildly toward mini painting and away from gunpla (they sell Citadel Paints now), which is a sentence I never thought I’d write. But it’s happening. All of this, and the arrival of Revell paints in the USA, give me reason to hope that it may be a few more years before we are forced to buy our paints online and leave it to the Shipping Gods (Break-ibal and Lose-y) to see our packages through.
But in my tireless pursuit of a winning bottle of paint, I have to say that it is becoming more and more clear to me that you can, in fact, get good results with just about anything. Even Walmart’s craft paint can be made “usable” with additives from the nice people at Dick Blick’s and a wad of money.
So who can complain?
My next paint will be stick brushed Aqua colors. Thanks to the brave folks who have imported them into their emporiums. Their color variety is astounding my brain is pounding. I don’t mind they don’t match any RLM, Federal standard, Brit or any color chip shit on a shingle. I go by eyeball, best photos I can find and what I like.