'Yucky, yet functional'

I continue to glory in having the nation's largest art supply store right in my own back yard.

It is home to the nation's largest art supply scratch-and-dent department!

Today I went to Hyatt's, as the store is called, and picked up an, ahem, portfolio.

I have all kinds of sketchbooks of various sizes I work with including a gigantic size, 18 by 24 inches. Well, it is gigantic to me. For my birthday the other day Howard got me a drawing board big enough to fit one of those sheets, so I will be doing more work within these generous dimensions. And when I am through with something, now I have somewhere to put it!

Because today in the scratch and dent department of Hyatt's I found a portfolio that is that size.

Normally these portfolios cost $40 to $60. But not in this case!

Mine was $5!

"Yucky, yet functional," read the tag.

That is one thing I love about this place.

All 24 sleeves -- there are 48 pages -- are in great condition. There was a problem with the bottom of the spine. A bit was chipped away. I do not care. I can use this at home to store my art and if I ever want to take it out somewhere so people can go through it, I can shrug prettily and say, oh, it gets a lot of wear. People are always turning its pages and sometimes they turn them a little too eagerly. That is what I can say.

Upon getting my yucky, yet functional portfolio home I got busy. I grabbed two pieces of art that have been kicking around the house forever and put them in the first sleeve. These are two drawings that are not my usual style. This is going to be a diversified portfolio!

Then I turned the page and slipped in the Turgeon Brothers Cheesecake recipe I am honored to display on the website They Draw and Cook.

It is great to be able to store things like this before they get wrecked.

Now I want to go on and fill up the rest of this portfolio. It really does not take up a lot of space. I will just stand it up somewhere and when it is full I will crowd in a few more things, as we tend to do here in Buffalo, and then I will get another one.

I will have a hard time getting a deal like this one, though. This one is special. When I was leaving Hyatt's they offered me a bag.

"No, thank you," I demurred. I added: "It's already beat up!" And we all got a laugh out of that.

Scratch and dent.

Two of the most beautiful words in the English language, that is for sure.

The art store to end all art stores

The most wonderful and terrible thing has happened. The nation's biggest art supply store has opened about a mile from my house.

I mean, I could walk there!

Not that I am going to. I will have to do the ugly American thing and bring the car. Because of all the stuff I will buy there!

It is this magical place. It is just a big old steel building in truth, but in spirit, when I encountered it ... well, it was just as in the picture at left, by Gustave Dore, may I point out.

How did this happen??

I speak, of course, of Hyatt's All Things Creative, a family-owned Buffalo store that has been around forever except I never went there. Do not ask me why I never went there. What it was, I think, was that you had to go out of your way, and I was in the habit of going other places, and you had to pay to park because it was downtown, but it was not quite downtown, not so I could walk there easily on my lunch break, and --

Who cares why I did not go there. The point is, now it is practically right next door, and in a part of town where I live half my life. The gym I go to is there, and the Amvets I go to, and Albrecht Discount, and, well, everything.

It is a struggle not to go there all the time!

I have been there only once so far. I made the mistake of going there several days ago with Meghan, my friend and sketching buddy. We took this selfie of ourselves entering the store.

Well, it was not really a mistake because had I not gone with Meghan, I would still be there.

I cannot wait to go back by myself and just wander forever. It has taken a great force of will not to. Because I could not believe my eyes.

It is being described as the nation's biggest art store and I am not going to argue. There were watercolors there that I had never seen in person! That is what I told Howard. Paints I had only heard about but never seen.

There was about a quarter of a mile devoted just to journals!

By the time I left -- peacefully but reluctantly -- I was beginning to agree with people who have been telling me I should illustrate my book on Leonard Pennario. I have to give myself an excuse to go this store!

But how I would I work in a picture along the lines of Arthur Rackham's "By Day She Turned Herself Into a Cat"?

That is the question. And it must be answered because if you cannot aspire to a picture like that, what is the point?

Once I answer that question, though, one thing is certain:

I will have what I need!