SilverPen Publishing

I don’t often visit the National Art shop on National Ave. here in Springfield, but such avoidance flows from no hatred of the arts. I simply have no need for the tools they provide, being neither an artist nor a nation, and what few items they have that I might use (paper and pens/pencils) are generally overpriced. Despite that, I found myself wandering their gleaming aisles yesterday while April shopped for easels. During her art class last semester, April discovered that she has a burgeoning interest in art, and a fair talent for its discourse, but felt limited in her expression at home. Lacking an easel meant laying the paper flat upon the floor or a table, which made getting the proper perspective translated onto the page impossible.

Since April’s parents had established a tradition with her older brothers of acquiring furniture on their behalf upon college graduation, April’s first thought was to get an easel, hence the art shop. I, of course, began looking at paper and pens.