Toys

As usual, today's topic (such as it is) has nothing to do with today's pointless photo. The more shocking thing would be if the photo did have anything to do with anything, since it generally doesn't...

Anyway. Toys. And excuse me if this makes almost no sense. I'm operating on very little sleep here (my father had to be somewhere early this morning, and apparently both of us were keeping half an eye open last night to make sure he wasn't late. Gotta love alarm-anticipation).

I recently treated myself to a new set of drawing pens, and with the fifty percent off coupon I received after my purchase (clearance sale, I guess. Honestly, I really don't know what that coupon was about) I then turned around and bought myself my first-ever real (as opposed to crappy-schoolkid-version) set of watercolour paints. I certainly didn't need either of those things. I have a couple of decent drawing pens -- including a dip pen for when I feel like cursing a lot -- and I don't actually paint so I definitely had no need of the watercolours.

So why get them?

Well, everyone likes new toys, right?

Yep, art supplies (and other things like books) absolutely count as my toys nowadays. It's not that surprising, is it? I mean, my "art" is nothing more than play at the best of times. I don't take it seriously even though sometimes I wish I could, because I think I do have at least a little bit of ability. But... it's all just doodles in the end, to the point where I have trouble referring to my sketches as anything but doodles.

Having said that, though, I have learned a few things about art supplies since my childhood penchant for stationery (yes, seriously. Come on, people. Can you honestly say there was anything better then every fall's brand new school supplies? Stationery's fantastic. And shut up, world) migrated to the more, um... shall we say adult?... variety of toys.

For one thing, I found out that there are times when quality really does matter. It's hard to forget the feeling of sketching with a nice 2B graphite pencil after a lifetime of doodling with a generic HB school pencil. It changes everything, really. The line, the feel, the effects you can get... it makes a person wish she could have her junior high art classes to do over again. Things might have made more sense if I could have known then that a pencil isn't just a pencil.

I'm not even going to mention the light bulb effect that even softer leads had on me a number of years back. I'll just say it was very enlightening. In a very nerdy sort of way.

Same sort of thing goes for paper. I do my fair share of scribbling on cheap paper, yes, but if I'm in the mood to really be arty I admit to being a texture snob. I can't describe it (especially with no working brain), but I know what paper textures I want for certain things, and if I don't have them I get very bored in a hurry.

Just ask my incredibly-neglected field sketchbook. Poor stupid thing and its boring, boring paper.

So if art things are the toys in my life, what would I expect Santa to bring me? Oh, I don't know. It's sort of weird to think that way, so I'm not sure why I brought it up. Maybe... oh, maybe some nice sketch pads? Or some handmade paper, since I haven't worked with that kind of thing much and it might be interesting? Oh, wait. I know. Something... different. A medium I haven't played around with yet. Something that I might have hesitated to buy for myself because I wasn't sure if I'd be able to make much with it (as in: what the hell am I going to do with those new watercolours? I guess we'll see...). Something that I could have fun with when I don't have the pressure of remembering how much money I sank into the damned thing...

Man, there've been a lot of ellipses in this post. A perfect picture of a sleepy mind. It's almost like brain mapping, don't you think? You can almost see the hamster wheel turning...

Ah. Saved by the dryer. Time to fold clothes now, so there's my excuse to leave this particular pointless thought truncated. If I've got you all in the mood for pointless doodles, though, my Illustration Friday attempt for this week is up on the other blog. This time with added modelling clay, even.

More toys, yes.

We all need our toys...