I work with oil and cold wax, which means the wax is not a small line item. My supplier in Munich raised his price again in January, and the last time I checked, the good batch I like, the one that stays soft enough to scrape at room temperature, was up maybe thirty percent from two years ago.

So I have started doing something I am not proud of. The new tins sit on the top shelf and I do not open them. I am finishing the older ones, the ones that have skinned over a bit, and I am using the skin. You scrape it off and work it into the medium anyway. It dries a little duller. Nobody looking at the painting knows.

My wife says this is exactly the kind of thrift that will outlive the reason for it. She is probably right. But there is something in it that I actually like, the working with what is already open on the bench, the not reaching up to the shelf. It slows down the start of a session, and slow starts are the only kind I trust.

Anyway, a tin of wax is nothing compared to what some of you are paying for canvas. Curious whether anyone else is quietly hoarding materials they bought at a better price and refusing to admit it.