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Art Supply House

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Art Supply House

The official source for Art Supplies & Custom Framing in Durango, CO. Art Supplies, Custom picture framing, art repair

09/30/2026

When art seemed easier

Sometimes I think making art used to be easier. Maybe when we were younger we didn't think so much about whether something was going to be good. We just drew, painted, made stuff, got frustrated with it, and probably threw a lot of it away.

But I also wonder how much of that is just memory doing some editing for us. We remember the things that worked and the times we got completely lost in making something. We're not quite as good at remembering all the lousy drawings, unfinished projects, and ideas that didn't go anywhere.

It's easy to compare what we're struggling with today to some earlier time when everything seemed to come more naturally. But that's comparing what's actually happening right now, including all the mistakes and uncertainty, with a version of the past that's had years to get cleaned up.

Maybe someday we'll remember what we're making right now the same way. Which seems like a pretty good reason not to worry too much about whether today's drawing is one of the good ones. Just make it and let time decide what you remember. The world needs your art!

09/25/2026

This week's spotlight is on - Michele Turney - a Pagosa artist with whom I had a great visit during the recent open studio tour! See even more on her website (https://michele-turney.pixels.com)!

09/24/2026

We've refreshed our Tooli acrylic paint pen stocks! Along with the restock we picked up these new sets. These are not only new color assortments, but they also have flexible brush tips that we've had a blast testing! Come by and check out the options.

09/23/2026

Little luxuries

What an amazing time we live in! Last week I shared the website Ordinary Abundance. It's a great reminder that we are living in a beyond-imagination future full of luxuries. Over the weekend, I was thinking about something that stuck with me from an art history class in college.

In the (not so distant) past, making cloth was a part of everyday life. Even a queen might spend some of her time spinning thread or working with fabric. A dress made for her could later be passed down to a lady of the court, then to someone of lesser standing, and eventually, after many owners and many years, the fabric would have devolved into literal rags.

Today, we just buy rags. Cloth that is purpose-made to clean up messes.

What an amazing time we live in! It's so easy to overlook, but we live in overwhelming abundance.

There's a similar history to art supplies. Paint once had to be prepared from raw pigments before an artist could use it. The (fairly recent) invention of collapsible tubes meant that paint could be pre-mixed, saved, carried around, and used over time. We can just go and buy brushes, in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. We're limited in size more by our imagination and working area than by how wide a tree grows. Pencils range from almost impossibly hard to wonderfully soft and smudgy.

We get to be picky about things that were once difficult just to obtain.

I don't think that means we need to marvel at every tube of paint before opening it. But every once in a while, it's fun to notice just how strange and luxurious ordinary life has become. We can buy rags. We can buy purple ink. We can make things simply because we feel like making them.

Maybe take a minute to wonder at your supplies. Then open them up and play. After all, the world needs your art!

09/18/2026

This week's spotlight is on - Forain Art - whose work I saw at the Pagosa Open Studio Tour! See even more on her website (https://forainart.com) and instagram ()!

09/17/2026

For anyone who takes notebooks a little too seriously, we understand. New Leuchtturm1917 arrivals are in, with plenty of colors, sizes, and paper patterns to inspect in person.

09/16/2026

Make more, judge less

I saw something recently comparing the "success rates" of Frank Sinatra, Babe Ruth, and Picasso.

Sinatra: 1,200 songs, 209 hits. (17%)
Babe Ruth: 8,399 at bats, 714 home runs. (8.5%)
Picasso: 150,000 pieces, 1,170 "hits." (0.7%)

I have no idea if those numbers are accurate, and "hits" is a pretty questionable way to measure Picasso anyway. But the point still landed with me: the work we remember is usually sitting on top of a much bigger pile of attempts.

We see the painting that worked, the song people kept listening to, the home run. We don't see nearly as much of the experimenting, the misses, the mediocre stuff, or the things that were useful mostly because they led to something else.

I think we often judge our work too early. We want to know, while we're still making it, whether it's good enough to justify the time. Which is a little like digging up a seed every few days to see how it's doing.

Maybe the goal is to make a big enough pile of work that the good stuff has a chance to emerge. We don't really know, while we're in it, which piece is the dead end and which one is quietly leading somewhere. That's probably not our job to know.

Our job is to keep making the pile.

Make more. Judge less. The world needs your art!

09/11/2026

This week's spotlight is on - Kelly Micca - whose work I recently ran across. See even more on her website (www.kellymicca.com) and instagram ()!

09/10/2026

Our pencil selection recently got a pretty serious upgrade! We now carry a full range of Faber-Castell pencils, including graphite grades all the way down to a wonderfully dark 14B, plus charcoal, pastel, and specialty drawing pencils. (New pencil wall, same dangerous tendency to want at least one of everything.)

09/09/2026

Get Bored

It’s so easy to never be bored. There’s almost always something available to fill an empty minute. A phone, an email, a podcast, some little task that suddenly seems worth doing because otherwise you might just sit there with nothing happening.

I recently realized I’m not very good at being bored anymore. I’m out of practice. And the Perez quote above made me wonder if boredom is one of those things we’ve gotten a little too efficient at avoiding. Not because boredom itself is especially wonderful, but because of what sometimes happens after you’ve been in it for a while.

There’s a funny stretch of time when nothing much seems to be going on. You’re staring out the window, doodling in the margin, walking without listening to anything, or just sitting there. It can feel unproductive enough that the instinct is to interrupt it.

But maybe that’s when your brain finally has room to wander off and come back carrying something odd. An image, a question, an idea you wouldn’t have gone looking for on purpose.

And then there’s the second half of the Perez quote: try it. Whatever comes into your head, see what happens. It doesn’t have to be good or useful or even make much sense yet.

Maybe getting a little better at being bored means giving those stray ideas a chance to show up, and then giving ourselves permission to follow them somewhere. That’s where a lot of art begins. And the world needs your art!

Address

24 Town Plz Unit B
Durango, CO
81301

Opening Hours

Tuesday	10am - 6pm
Wednesday	10am - 6pm
Thursday	10am - 6pm
Friday	10am - 6pm
Saturday	10am - 6pm

Telephone

+19703750090

Website

http://artsupplyhouse.com/

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