They said it couldn’t be done. All across the blogosphere I found frustrated artists that claimed ‘there are no art supply stores in Goa!’ or ‘best advice: bring your own art supplies or send them ahead from home’. Scott has always encouraged me to not give up so easily. He was certain I’d find everything I need to paint here.

Finding supplies and also finding time to paint is a priority on this trip, so I kept looking online until I stumbled on a tiny clue. One artist posted that there indeed was a hard to find place in Panjim. I checked more and saw that each listing for The Art Shoppe described slightly different addresses and phone numbers, apparently they did not have a website and some info was outdated. However, Sami our intrepid taxi driver did some realtime investigation and phone calls to ascertain that The Art Shoppe does indeed exist. That means there will be an Art By Katy studio in Goa.

The shopowner had told Sami it was upstairs ( second level is called first floor here) over the Sony store on Municipal Garden Square. We passed a Sony store, quickly stopped to get out of the car. Nothing. Kept going….spied another Sony store on the square. Nope, not there either. We lucked out on the fourth Sony store. Overhead were a jumble of signs advertising upstairs vendors. The Art Shoppe was among them.

If you are an artist in Goa this shop is your oasis. A wide array of all media and tools tucked away in a narrow alleyway of space, owner artist Gerson De Rego will order anything you can’t find in his decently stocked store. I was searching for high quality acrylics, prestretched canvases with more than an inch deep sides, varnishes, brushes, paper. Mission accomplished: I got what I came for.