Dear Barack, I need some Titanium White. Thanks!

All you hear about on the news is Recession Recession Recession...and how we Americans need to strap down, hold tight, dig deeper, pinch pennies, buckle up, hang on, and be patient- cuz things are gonna get real hard before they get better. We know. Thanks for hammering that into our heads every single day and on every single press conference and speech. Now that we are getting down to the nitty gritty thrifty new American society, of course there are sacrifices we must make- ground beef over t-bone, sand over diamonds, grits over caviar, hard candy over platinum. However, there is one thing I love to do that will be not going the way of the Hummer, and that is my oil painting hobby.
Since about fifth grade, I've dabbled in water colors, acrylics, and oil painting (the most expensive type of painting). Over the years, I've collected tubes of brilliant colors, brushes of boar hair and horse hair, canvases of all sizes, linseed oil and paint thinner for clean up and correcting whatever booboo I make on the canvas. I love the texture of oil, and like to have my pictures rise off the canvas in thick brush strokes. I like to play around with the linseed oil, which makes the medium glossy and stronger. Recently, I purchased some large canvases, on sale, because I finally got brave enough to try some big pieces, instead of the safe 12x 18 size or smaller that i have scattered around our house. The most interesting part of this hobby, though, is the oil purchasing.
If you ever look at oil paints, you'll notice the tubes range in price, from around 6 dollars to 20. This is due to the type of pigment, some of it rare and hard to process, that each color needs to become a true oil paint. Today, I used a coupon to buy some canvas and Titanium White- a large tube can run to about 22 dollars, today I got a smaller one. Some jewel toned colors that I love (Cadmium Red, Colbalt Violet, and Magenta) can get really pricey. The earthy tones for landscapes, such as Yellow Ochre and Burnt Umbre are also expensive. I try to make the tubes of paint last by toning down the thickness of the application, but it isn't my style to have a thin, watery look to the final image.
Could I sacrifice my oils, brushes and canvases in honor of the new American way of life (at least for the next four years)? Of course. Could I just dump out the box of Nick's Crayolas and draw to my heart's content with Yellow-Green, Pumpkin -Orange, and Bubblegum -Pink? Yes. But, I'm holding tight and buckling down... I've got a closet full of clothes I'd sell before giving up my Prussian Blue and Ivory Black. It's not about being thrifty, it's about peace of mind.