I have waited quite a long time before posting this complaint on my blog. I have a lot of readers, and many of them are artists. I didn’t want to have to talk about this, but I’ve contacted Blick many times over the last couple of years about this issue.

Shopping for art supplies has been difficult since I’ve moved to Joshua Tree. The closest store is a Hobby Lobby about an hour’s drive from me. Hobby Lobby’s corporate owners are openly hostile toward the LGBTQ+ community. They are also big donors to anti-gay/anti-trans organizations. They do it all under the guise of calling themselves “Christians.”

Buying art supplies online is really my only choice. I’m not particularly fond of Amazon, and I can’t get everything I need there. In fact, Blick sells most of their paint through Amazon with free shipping, but it costs a bit more.

For over a year, the Blick site hasn’t been able to accept my credit card transactions. Not like a normal online store, anyway. Each time, I get an error that says, “We can not process your credit card. Please call [their 800 number].”

Now I’ve done that in the past. The last time I did it (because I really needed things I can only get on Blick), customer service told me to use a workaround: select my payment method as writing a check while I was on the phone—which meant I had to explain the whole thing. It’s just time-consuming. Then I would have to go back and change the payment method, and the agent would have to take my credit card number, enter it themselves, and then my transaction would finally go through.

I have tried all kinds of troubleshooting, i.e., typing it into the field digit by digit, clearing my cache, using a different browser, and more. And anyone who knows me knows how I loathe talking on the phone to anyone. I feel I should be able to make a simple transaction with any large online company, like anyone else.

I’ve complained about this issue many times, and they keep telling me that they have had a lot of glitches and their IT team has been “working on it.” But the last time they told me that was at the beginning of 2026.

The credit card comes from a Bank of America trust. It’s a normal Visa. It has been used at countless online companies. However, it only won’t work at Blick.

Blick tells me to use PayPal or Apple Pay, but I don’t have any money in PayPal and don’t have any Apple devices. The money is in my trust, and I need permission to make these purchases from the trustee. So, the whole ordeal is a major pain in the ass.

If you’ve had similar issues with Blick, you are not alone. Just wanted to kvetch about this because I have no other recourse. Thanks for listening.