Santa Claus comes in September

“O-ho the Wells Fargo Wagon is a-comin' down the street,
Oh please let it be for me!
O-ho the Wells Fargo Wagon is a-comin' down the street,
I wish, I wish I knew what it could be!”

(From Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man”)

I know how those folks in River City felt.

I’ve spent the better part of the last month preparing for my fall classes, typing syllabi and xeroxing handouts. This past week was the first full week of my college classes, and I’m anticipating the addition of three more classes when the museum I teach at resumes its fall season in a week. This has cut into my art-making time and, needless to say, absence makes the heart grow fonder.

So you can imagine my excitement today, when I heard the gentle THUD! of a box being deposited on the front porch: the delivery of $300 worth of art supplies I had ordered from Dick Blick. (That’s the advantage of teaching; it pays for the art supplies.)

At the sound of that box landing on the porch, I knew I now had in my possession a big box filled with Golden fluid acrylics, in a maze of new colors, nickel azo yellow to alizarin crimson to phthalo blue. AHHH! Nothing could be more exciting. Thank you, Mr. UPS Man*, you’re as good as Santa Claus.

Now I have three days to play, play, play with all of these fine materials. Next week, it’s back to class. But for now, time to savor the joys of the studio!

*I don’t mean to sound sexist here. But I’ve never seen a UPS delivery woman, although I did read a short story about one once.