Pearls from artists* # 89

Q: Do you have more photographs to sh... Q: Are there any final photographs yo...

Pearls from artists* # 89

Some of Barbara’s pastels

* an ongoing series of quotations – mostly from artists, to artists – that offers wisdom, inspiration, and advice for the sometimes lonely road we are on.

Dear Diary:

On a drifty Manhattan stroll

The kind that unearths magical treasures

I made a right turn off of Houston

Onto Bowery

And as it became Third Avenue

I came upon this old art store

That creaked hello

Its warped wooden shelves

Held new paints

A little dusty from the old building

But whose colors were deeper

Than I’d ever seen before

And at the back of the store

Up a narrow stairway

Was a tiny room

And behind a long table stood three people

(Probably artists)

Who could get me any paper I desired

Paper with designs

To collage with

Hot press, cold press

100 gram, 600 gram paper

To draw and paint on

Any kind of paper I’d ever want

Templates from heaven

And over my right shoulder

Was a tall window

Overlooking the glorious city

That has held this little room

Tenderly in its arms

All these years

And as I hugged

My rolled up package of paper

And went back downstairs

The old stairs seemed to gently whisper

“Come back soon,

We’ll keep each other alive”

And stepping outside

Third Avenue seemed more spacious

And I took a deep breath

As the world

Kaleidoscoped

With possibilities

Lovingly wrapped up

By three kind artists

At the top of the world.

“Art Supplies From Heaven,“ by Judith Ellen Sanders, published in “Metropolitan Diary,” NY Times, April 6, 2014

Comments are welcome!