And the award for the most nerve-wracking 30 min demo goes to this little guy. I came to demonstrate at a local art guild and once set up, with people waiting, realized I didn't bring any white (oil) paint. I painted as long as I could using no white, trying to "rub" lights out, using yellow, etc, but then decided in desperation to try a tube of acrylic white I had in my car. It worked enough to complete the demo, although I am sure now they paint will peel off. Someone even offered to buy it, but I couldn't sell it to them knowing it isn't going to last. While waiting for what I was going to do people that were watching me were very quite. Before I even attempted to use the acrylic paint I felt like my mind was racing, trying to come up with a way out of an embarrassing situation. I tried to stay cool and joke with my audience and eventually was very relieved when I placed some acrylic on top of white and it not only stayed, but also mixed with oil color to produce something somewhat close to what I was intending to produce. The most important thing that happened though, wasn't a discovery that in an emergency situation (and just for show) I could use acrylic paint with oil, but that even though this was kind of a disaster and not a very smooth demo, I lived through it and nothing really bad happened. This might just give me confidence to try other things that I am afraid to try because of "what if's".

On a different, more practical note, I have started shopping for my art supplies Big Crumbs website. Its free and I still use Dick Blick .com , but through Big Crumbs I get 5.6% cash back on all my purchases. from Dick Blick on top of all their other discounts. I do get some kind of points for referral, but I really do like this, especially when my art supplies bill is usually $300 + , the savings part is good enough of an incentive to use it. So far, I have not found anything wrong with this and I really like it.