Art supplies in flux

No sooner do you release a few supplies and tools, others rush in to take their place - the technical term might be horror vacui - or it might be insecurity, or false hope, or just greed. Or all three! (Interesting that the link given, which is about horror vacui in art rather than in "life", says: "there is an inverse relationship between horror vacui and value perception" - in "life" terms, this translates to "the more you have, the less you value it". Think Primark and everything disposable ... but I digress.

On Sunday, having much enjoyed the current shows at Camden Arts Centre (till 29 March), we dropped in to London Art nearby to get a roll of  magic tape and see what water-brushes they had. This is my favourite art supplies shop because in a small space they have a great variety and range of materials. For instance, two kinds of water brushes in addition to the "usual" japanese ones. And watersoluble graphite in various hardnesses, or rather, softnesses - of course I had to get one of each to compare them -

2B, 6B, 9B - at £1.25 a stick, that's a lot of drawing and shading potential! The waterbrush I chose is Caran d'ache (£5.90, eek) and all the bits can be undone, unlike my faulty Pentel, which has been so annoying lately. However that is a Pentel pocket brush pen at the left, which I have coveted since seeing one and vowed to buy if ever one was in my direct line of sight and within grasp. They are jolly expensive, even with the shop's 15% discount card, and how long will those two cartridges of ink last? Cheaper via amazon, which I won't supply a link to here - I feel very strongly that it's worth supporting your local shops and keeping them alive. The water-brush, interestingly, is more expensive on amazon.