Chapter 15 Acquiring Art Supplies
Captain Bowditch joined Johannes on the dock. He explained they would be walking, as Kitty Arcade wasn’t far. He was excited and talkative, and walking at a quick pace, which suited Johannes. He spoke of how he had been drawn to landscape painting and to the sea, and of his namesake, and how because of him, he had become a navigator.
Before they knew it they reached Kitty Arcade, which hadn’t been affected by the flooding the previous night because it was on high ground. It was a block long, closed to traffic, with shops on either side of a promenade, coffee houses in the open air, and a central fountain. The entire arcade was bathed in sunlight and the aroma of fine coffee.
This was all very strange to Johannes, the heavenly fragrance in the air, everything sleek and shiny and bright.
People were relaxed, enjoying the atmosphere.
As they approached an Ice Creamery, children passed with ice cream cones and vanilla mustaches.
Located opposite the fountain, Winsor & Newton Art Supplies gave a colorful impression, with a kelly green shop front and red and blue trimming. The showcase window displayed paintings made from Winsor & Newton Art Supplies, as well as an array of brushes, and an assortment of paints in tubes and jars.
They walked in. Captain Bowditch captain took Johannes straight to the drawing paper which took up an entire eile. He didn’t understand why Johannes was overwhelmed, but he felt a fatherly protectiveness towards him, and intended to do everything in his power to help. He was planning on buying only supplies he was familiar with, could depend on, and needed in order to get started. He began filling his basket, while explaining to Johannes why he was choosing each item.
He settled on a large sized mixed media pad, a medium sized watercolor pad, drawing pencils, eraser, sharpener, palette, brushes, and a set of acrylic paints, and watercolors.
Johannes was only drawing at this point, and wanted only what would fit into his shoulder bag. He picked a medium sized cream colored heavy weight paper pad, and a classic white textured sketch pad, a set of graphite and charcoal pencils of various point sizes, two erasers, a pencil sharpener, a box cutter, and a ruler. He was counting his blessings as the captain had answered many of his questions by naming items and explaining why he was choosing one rather than the other.
At the checkout counter the captain paid for his purchases, while Johannes prayed his money would suffice. He put his purchases on the counter and handed the sales lady his $50. She rang up each item, totalled it, gave Johannes the receipt, a $10 bill, and some change. She thanked them both for shopping at Winsor & Newton and wished them a pleasant day.
Johannes was relieved, to put it mildly. He put the wrapped drawing pads and other items into his shoulder bag, and the money in his pocket.
They left the shop, Johannes with his purchases in his bag, and Captain Bowditch with his watercolor paper pads wrapped in brown paper under his arm, and a full Winsor & Newton shopping bag.
The captain treated them to ice cream cones, and they left Kitty Arcade licking them, walking back in the direction of the Animal Shelter, as the captain’s car was parked not far from there.
When Johannes reached the Animal Shelter, he took the side entrance to his room. When he got inside he spread his purchases out on the bed. He unwrapped the paper pads and felt the surface and thickness of the paper. One was thicker than the other and a cream color. He took the cellophane off the pencil sets and tried each pencil out on the wrapping paper. The erasers went on the window sill by the stuffed animal arrangement. For now, he would be using Stubbytail’s eraser. He spread the brown paper wrapping on the floor, separated two sheets of the cream colored paper from the pad, took the ruler and box cutter, and cut them into quarters. These, he would use to draw animals from the Animal Shelter for the office bulletin board, as he had agreed upon with Dr. Cohen. He had also agreed to draw the volunteers. He would decide later the size those drawings would be, and from which paper. Then he put the box cutter and ruler with the new erasers on the window sill. The paper he had prepared went into his bag along with the pencils, sharpener, and Stubbytail’s eraser.
He was now ready to eat, so he went to the kitchen, and, in the refrigerator, found a carton of orange juice and egg salad sandwiches, and sat down to enjoy his meal.
When he got back to his room, he found a Winsor & Newton paper shopping bag hung by the handles over the door knob with a note from Dr. Cohen. It was, not surprisingly, another batch of art supplies. The note said that they were for Johannes, and that if he wanted to exchange anything, there was a receipt inside. Johannes was touched by Dr. Cohen’s thoughtfulness. As they hadn’t discussed art supplies, each one had assumed it was his responsibility to purchase them. On examining what was inside, it was clear Dr. Cohen intended that Johannes work in color. Besides a thick pad of multipurpose paper, two canvas covered frames, a palate, brushes, and a can of spray fixative, there was a set of oil colors in tubes, colored chalk, pastels, water colors, and acrylic paints.
This was an absolute treasure trove for Johannes.
Colors were limited where he came from. Lapis lazuli, which was their only source for blue, for example, cost more than gold and was found only in Afghanistan.1 The preparation was a laborious, daily task. The stone had to be ground by hand and combined with linseed oil to make pigment which was stored inside pierced pig’s bladders or fragile glass syringes, which leaked, and dried up.2
Though Johannes had been planning on working in black and white as he hadn’t yet learnt the use of color, he had no intention of letting Dr. Cohen down. He would try colored chalk to begin with, as it seemed the least intimidating.
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