the new art store

Sennelier by Jason D Moore Photography

Before I moved out of my Southern Connecticut apartment (and into my first home), I took weekly trips to the art store. I so loved walking down the paint aisle, contemplating each hue, watching the ideas begin to form in my brain…..paintings being birthed from one look at a tantalizing tube of cadmium orange or phthalocyanine blue. And the walls of stretched canvas calling to me in different shapes and sizes, full of possibility. Oh, and the unending shelves of decorative paper! How the beautiful prints neatly laid out on 12x12 sheets fill me with joy! I could go on like this all day given there's something exciting in every aisle at the art store. 


I used to live in what was basically a luxury hotel, where we called the maintenance man anytime something was broken, where we enjoyed freshly shoveled sidewalks after it snowed without lifting a finger, where everything was brand new and modern, where we dropped our garbage into a shoot and it was taken to the dumpster for us, where we never needed heat because we were nestled in between so many other apartments that kept us warm, where our gated park out back was always mowed, where our concierge was always on call. Man we were SPOILED. Now we are home owners. 


As glorious as it is to have a place that is mine (and my husband's, of course), it does change things. I used to have oodles of time to paint and create, what with everything being taken care of for us, but times have changed (at least for now). Painting has been replaced with unpacking, new paintbrushes have been replaced with power tools, photogging adventures have been replaced with trips to the dump, yoga has been replaced with the zen of hand washing dishes (until we get a dishwasher, oh please let it be soon!) and my weekly art store runs have been replaced with……

I never thought I'd see the day when I'd visit Home Depot 5 times in one month, and spend hours contemplating tools and plywood, but the day has arrived. Last week I spent 2 hours in Home Depot with my dad as we excitedly filled two carts with miscellaneous home owner essentials and he gave me, standing in my flowered hippie dress, a full wall patching demo in the spackle aisle as 3 Home Depot employees looked on. Don't get me wrong, home repair is rewarding and I have done my fair share of it given I grew up with a father who taught me to be handy. But……I look forward to the time when the never-ending list of home projects begins to dwindle down a bit and all the boxes are unpacked so I can get back to…..