It was a dangerous moment when I first saw the sign for Cowling & Wilcox as I was cycling home from Camberwell one day a few months ago. Since then, and since attending Dr Sketchy's wonderful life drawing classes at the RVT, I have been back a few times to browse and a few times to buy art supplies. This is not a bad thing, but knowing it's so close really tempts me to keep going back and spending far too much money on lovely paints and pens and brushes and stuff, even though I can't draw to save my life.
There always seems to be a few good deals available on certain items, though not to the extent of the sales Cass Art runs all the time, and some of the staff are really helpful. There was one grumpy man there once who referred me to his colleague rather than answer my question himself, then glowered at me as he scanned everything in at the till, but everyone else I've spoken to have been pretty nice and didn't make me feel stupid when I asked basic questions about materials. read more