Radiant Comics

On the replacing of things. That’s the subject on my mind tonight. It’s there because I’ve finally gotten around to replacing something of mine. My big 24×30 inch black portfolio case. Every art student knows what one is. It’s a basic art supply that’s on a freshman art student’s list of things to purchase that they receive upon entering college/art school. As a matter of fact the one I am replacing is my original one from way back in 1984 when I was a freshman going off to college. It’s a little worn out.

I never even carried it around much. It’s too big. Most students carried one around only rarely. Except there was always one or two kids in every class who had it with them all the time. For most of us it became a place to store our drawings and oversized supplies when we weren’t using them. That’s what mine became and has been since about 1984. It sits behind my couch with all sorts of big drawings and other things in it. Except it has practically fallen apart and doesn’t hold anything too well. Especially if I want to move it.

I have other black portfolio cases in various sizes and they are all much newer. Though they are in better shape they are not the right size for what I need out of my fallen apart one. I should have actually replaced the portfolio about ten years ago. The portfolio has a zipper that unzips it on three sides so it opens up flat. Of course somewhere about a decade ago the zipper separated from the pleather material the case is made out of. I can still zip it up but that doesn’t matter when the zipper isn’t actually attached to anything. Like I said, it’s in bad shape.

The portfolio isn’t even an expensive piece of equipment, I just bought a new one for thirty bucks, but who wants to spend any money on something that just sits there behind the couch holding stuff? And the stuff isn’t even very important. I don’t move things in and out of it often so I never even think off it. I moved it a couple of weeks ago and it nearly fell apart completely in my hands. That’s why it was on my mind to replace.

It also struck me that the reason I didn’t move things in and out of it too often was that it is hard to do. That thought came to mind as a result of having to replace my inkjet printer a couple of months ago. My old printer was very twitchy and a pain in the neck to get to work right. At least for the last couple of years of its life. I never realized, until I replaced it with a new one that worked flawlessly, how much I wasn’t printing anymore. I hadn’t made or printed out many of my photo collages because it was too much of a pain. I used to print them as I did them. It wasn’t a conscious decision to stop printing them. It was just that I didn’t want to deal with my temperamental printer.

The same could be said of my old portfolio case. Did I really not need to go into it that often or did I not bother going into it that often because it was too much of a pain? A question that only came into my mind after I got my new printer. Either way I decided to spend the thirty bucks so I wouldn’t have to think about it again. Sometimes throwing money at a problem does make it go away.

I’ve mentioned before about my easel that I’ve always toyed with the idea of replacing. It’s an easel I built myself many years ago and it doesn’t have the conveniences or features of some of the fancier store bought easels. But I like mine because I made it myself. I’ve been using it since about 1990. Paying work has slowed down this year so I won’t even be thinking about replacing it for a while. Damned economy. Maybe I’ll have to find some easel tackle and improve mine myself. I don’t want to replace it.

Replacing my camera is still on my mind. I almost did it earlier in the year but then my laptop and printer both broke. It cost me $300 to fix the laptop, $400 for a new printer plus an additional $180 to stock up on for ink for the printer. There went my money for a new camera. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There is a new camera coming out soon that looks interesting to me. If I had bought the one I wanted to back in March I would have missed out on this one. Of course I don’t have the money yet for a new one but what the hey; at least I don’t have buyer’s remorse. How’s that for the glass being half full?