Belinda Lindhardt

Friday, May 18, 2007

The joys of an CP artist in Australia!!!

So, i have been off in Sydney the past few days. I had things to do people and new babies to see :) and wanted to pop into one of my "old" artshops while i was down there and renew some supplies (i can't get Prismacolour up here on the central coast).

In my recent years i have discovered I am one of those "polite" people. i am always polite to people i meet when i am out, even when later i realise they don't deserve my politeness. I wish i had the quickwit to think of things to say at the time but alas its a quality i just don't have but i am trying to work on.

So anyway here is my story, all of you who are coloured pencil artists would appreciate this story .. those of you who aren't well ... now you can see just what us coloured pencil artists have to put up with time and time again!!

I walked into the art shop and the lady recognises me but just asks me whether i need help. I said no i knew where everything is ...(i think she thought i was going to steal something by putting it in the pram). I chose my items and put them up on the counter (mainly pencils) and she proceeded to ask me whether i had sharpeners? .. i said yes i was fine ... she talked abit more about sharpeners and how you are actually supposed to use a razor blade and sandpaper to sharpen coloured pencils... i tried to cut her off by saying i actually used an electric sharpener so i was fine in that regard... she promptly argued they "chewed the pencils and break the leads"!!! So, i said well i can never get the pencil sharp enough with the razor and i have never had problems with leads breaking ... to which she gave me a look saying "well THERE is an art to it" i just responded with some comment which meant nothing and she turned to serve another customer.

I walked out of the store thinking later of 100 very clever things i could have said to the silly woman .. even more so i would have loved to get her in a room some real coloured pencil artists or for her to look at the CPSA website to scoff at her perception of CP art, (as i know she doesn't think much of it) ...
then i got to thinking .. hmmm maybe i should give the sandpaper thing another go? .. maybe there is something i am missing there .. when i tried it i could never get a sharp enough point but maybe i have the wrong technique...

then i think hello !! belinda!!! as if you have time to sit there stuffing around with sandpaper everytime you need a sharp point !!! wake up and think about !! I am still curious though if any of you have any sandpaper tips let me know !!!! LOL

i also bought some more drafting film and fixative .. gosh art supplies cost me a fortune !!!

7 comments:

Kasie @ ~The Art of Life~ said...

LOL! I understand. I'm the same way: way too polite!
Your logo for your website looks great! Once you've got it up and running you should go back into that shop and give the lady your business card!

Regula Scheifele said...

Belinda - thanks for making me laugh out loud and at the same time I know what you're talking about. Been there...
Though I must say I get rather impatient with people telling me things they don't really know about. I'm sure your sales lady never really used CP (apart from the children-book-colouring-in).
Ok, back on track: I actually use a mechanical pencil sharpener (the one with the handle) and get along well. But then I'm not really part of the 'super-sharp-point' party ;-)
I'd say stick whith what works for you unless you have a good reason to try something new. And I wonder if the lady's comment was such a good reason...

Beth Macre said...

Hi Belinda! I'm one of those 'polite' people too, that comes up with what to say later, when its too late. Haha.
She probably hasn't used cp much though, but that makes it even more aggravating to think she feels she should tell you what to do. I do have to say, the older I get, the less I worry about being 'so polite' to people who do not deserve it. I'm working on it anyway.
Beth (bmac from ST)

Belinda Lindhardt said...

Thanks everyone.

Ohhh its so good to hear i am not the only one who is polite :) And yes as i am getting older i am finding its changing. Hey i might even work myself up to be rude next time !!!!

Making A Mark said...

Belinda - I want to know which shop that was so I can visit it next time I'm in Australia visiting my sister! More to the point I need to know where I can buy coloured pencils!

I have to say as somebody who has just spent a weekend with an electric sharpener which decided to get tempramental right after my battery powered Panasonic sharpener packed up that I was wishing I'd got some sandpaper! It's amazing how the handheld ones just don't cut it after you've been able to get long needle points!

My personal solution is that I've decided I need to go and get another electric sharpener for when the current one finally packs up - because I don't think I can cope with the colour of my language when the sharpener doesn't work.

Belinda Lindhardt said...

hehehe that sounds like a good plan Katherine !

let me know when your next down here .. i am on the northside i know of a few artshops around here .. dont know of many the other side of sydney tho. I would be happy find out for you thou whenever you are making your way down here :) I am pretty sure the big shop in the CBD of sydney has them but i havent been in there since my college days :)

Unknown said...

The man at my art store did the same thing to me! I just explained why an electric sharpener worked better. Very frustrating!