I visited my very first Dick Blick store in San Diego on Friday 14th July (to get supplies for the pastel workshop) and then again on Monday 17th July! That meant art store shopping four days running! Only true hard bitten art supplies addicts will know what that feels like!
Kathy and Gordon (of which more later) had flown in on Sunday for THE BIG ROAD TRIP. On Monday morning, they went seal watching with Louise while I fixed up my flight and car for the last week and enrolled in AAA (for the last week of my trip). We then all went down to the Little Italy part of San Diego to the Blick Art Material Store so Kathy could see it. Gordon parked himself in a location of his choosing and the female contingent hit the store. He had a long wait...........
I have to say that I have a very positive impression of art stores in the USA. In my opinion, they are hugely better than some of the well known and very large ones I use in London - at least from my perspective for the type of things I buy. I oohed and aahed my way round both stores. I gather Kathy (from Maine) was also impressed - and I hadn't realised until the visit how few places actually have a Dick Blick store.
The Dick Blick store (like the store in San Clemente) has a great range of paper of all different types plus illustration and museum boards. The two stores I visited also had well stocked shelves - ie if they stock it they make sure they keep on top of reordering. A big contrast to some of the very large stores I visit in London who sometimes let stockouts occur. London stores also tend to stock European suppliers rather than American ones - irrespective of who produces the best product (or the fact that products are different). In contrast I found good quality European supplies in both the San Clemente and San Diego stores. And my vote goes with the store who stocks quality irrespective of the country it comes from.
I also liked the fact that the Dick Blick stores had a very good range of drawing boards/desks and other furniture for storing paper and art materials - a big thumbs up for that one. Allocated parking spaces in the adjacent lot were also a plus point. About the only area of supply I could identify which I thought they could improve was the very weak range of art books in store (people who like art supplies invariably like art books too!)
I have English artist friends who regularly order from Dick Blick - because of the impossibility of getting certain supplies in the UK. Having seen the store I shall now be paying more attention to their mail order catalogue!
[Note: sorry for the 'break in service' but my broadband link went down - but has now been resurrected ]
Links: Dick Blick, San Diego (link includes directions and a map)
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Monday, August 07, 2006
"The big cheese on the pond" - eating and sketching in San Clemente, California
On the pastel workshop weekend, we set off early and then ate breakfast both mornings at Tommy's Family Restaurant at 1409 S. El Camino Real, San Clemente CA 92672 (link to directions below - it's just off the exit from Interstate 5). Louise told me that they're known for their great breakfasts - and she wasn't wrong. Enormous also ought to be in that sentence somewhere! Service is also friendly, fast and efficient. The restaurant is decked out with movie star photos and posters from old films, and iconic images such as Betty Boop - who has a starring role in the centre of the above sketch. And that's a Blues Brother's hand stopping the traffic on the right!
On both mornings, I eat my breakfast and sketched in pen and ink in my large Moleskine sketchbook at the same time. The post at the top of the page is the better of the two sketches I did. Louise took photos of me sketching on Sunday - so this is me sketching! Louise is not one to let you linger over breakfast when there's a workshop to go to so this all had to be done pretty fast - and benefits from the 'try-out' sitting in a different place the previous day. Afterwards - and while the memory was still fresh - I added coloured pencil for the main colour areas. This is so I have something to use when the digi photos can be seen on screen - as the colours and values are usually distorted. I can now use both sources of info to develop this into a larger work if I want to - which I may well do!
On both mornings, I eat my breakfast and sketched in pen and ink in my large Moleskine sketchbook at the same time. The post at the top of the page is the better of the two sketches I did. Louise took photos of me sketching on Sunday - so this is me sketching! Louise is not one to let you linger over breakfast when there's a workshop to go to so this all had to be done pretty fast - and benefits from the 'try-out' sitting in a different place the previous day. Afterwards - and while the memory was still fresh - I added coloured pencil for the main colour areas. This is so I have something to use when the digi photos can be seen on screen - as the colours and values are usually distorted. I can now use both sources of info to develop this into a larger work if I want to - which I may well do!
The previous evening we arranged to meet up with Louise's and Rosa's husbands at the Gordon James Grill in San Clemente - and a lot of the other workshop participants came too. The surroundings were very pleasant, the menu offered a great choice and the meal was excellent. Prices are not cheap but are reasonable. I'd recommend it highly to anybody wanting to eat in the area.
I did a couple of sketches over dinner. One of Louise and her husband doing what all married couples do when out to eat with other people - talk to those other people. ;) Louise, Rosa and I talked art and the husbands talked Harleys! And a very quick 2-3 minute one of Dianna talking to one of the workshop participants further up the table.
And "the big cheese on the pond"? A memorable case of me mixing metaphors in conversation while sketching over breakfast at Tommy's on Saturday morning. We didn't do much better on Saturday evening when the restaurant we were supposed to be eating at - Gordon James Grill - was christened "Jack's place" by Louise - as we tried to describe its location to one of the husbands traveling to meet us! What can I say? Art is right brain and talking is left brain!
Note: click on an image to see a larger version
Links:
- Reviews of Tommy's Family Restaurant
- Directions to Tommy's Family Restaurant
- Gordon James Grill
- Reviews of Gordon James Grill
- Directions to Gordon James Grill
art , coloured pencils , colored pencils , drawing , eating out , moleskine , pencil , restaurant , restaurant reviews, sketching , sketchbook
Service with a smile - San Clemente Art Supply
The place where the Dianna Ponting Pastel Workshop was held really deserves a special mention in this blog as it was outstanding.
The workshop was held in a large room to the rear and side of the San Clemente Art Supply and Framing building at 1531 N. El Camino Real, San Clemente Ca 92672. (that's the spanish style building with two big palms either side!)
Patti Herdell, who set up and runs the store, is one of the most helpful and hospitable people I've ever come across in an art supply store - and this is reflected in the range of services and supplies they offer and how one is treated as a customer. As the website says "We provide service with a smile" - and they do too!
They have an extensive range of classes and workshops - from ones for children to regular classes for local people on a variety of subjects to one day or one week workshops from some of the best tutors around. I see they have a Sally Strand teaching a workshop on 'The Color of Light' in the first week of October - which should be of interest to any pastellists who can get to it (that's if it's not sold out already!)
Running workshops, classes and demonstrations by instructors from major suppliers on a regular basis means that they are well used to having students in the building - which probably explains why they are so good at hosting classes. Each workshop participant had an easel and a decent amount of table top space - so essential when working with pastels. The wash-up and rest room facilities were fine. They also had a great map of all the local places to get lunch. What was best though was the very easy access back into the store proper where you could find anything you knew you wanted - and a lot more besides.
This store has a fabulous stock of paper and supports of all different sorts - I came away with all sorts of new goodies which I just can't get in the UK. In this respect, I even thought it was at least as good if not better than the Dick Blick store in San Diego (see tomorrow's post), If you can't find what you want at your local store try giving them a ring! They don't currently run a mail order service from their website but I'm currently thinking along the lines of contacting them next time I want something not stocked in the UK!
They also had an excellent range in both pastels and coloured pencils - and pens and pencils. I can't find my notes so I'm not going to say exactly which ones they had but will update this page once I've contacted Patty. I do know though that they were stocking the Terry Ludwig pastel sets - including the Terry Ludwig dark set which helped to produce lush darks in the workshop.
The store is also fantastic for having a great supply of small pieces of kit and useful items which make one's artistic life easier at times - and makes browsing filled with lots of loud sqeaks of "Oh look what they've got here!" They had all the material and tools which Dianna had recommended to hand - which was great as some of them were very difficult if not impossible to find at other stores.
You have been warned - DO NOT ENTER this store with any plastic in your hand unless you're prepared for a large bill or can exercise masterful restraint or have spent your art budget for the next six months already and have promised to be really good!
Links:
- San Clemente Art Supply and Framing - Home
- Schedule of Classes (the first section is for the Fall and the next section covers 2007- keep an eye on it as it is regularly updated)
- Store Directions
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