Muse for Monday

CrayonsCreativity is part of our curious nature. What does the picture bring to mind?

Mantra had crayons on the brain. Yes, those little wax wonders which unlock the our imaginations in 8, 16, 24, 48, 64, 96 or 120 colors. Whether we had a coloring book of our favorite cartoon or a book filled with landscapes and animals, hours could be sucked into pushing the crayon with just enough pressure to create something other than what the label professed.

crayon mantra

Maybe you were the one with the inner chemist who wanted to color layers of different colors to create new ones. Or were you the Bunsen burner type who melted them together to make new colors? (Sheepishly grins.)

What was there about the diversity in the box we found lacking no matter how many crayons there were?

There were others who only wanted the box with eight. Maybe, they were not ready to trust the dreams which form just outside the lines.

Our little pixie comes counterpoint in this conversational poem to the dreams the box unlocks, and she represents those whose wings may not be mature enough to float out over the sea of differences.

Simply named Crayons, let’s explore how color can influence mood… and change optimism and pessimism.

Crayons

Do you think it would be fun
To live in a box of crayons?
Nestled between the smooth wax shafts
Of hand-eye coordination
Awaiting imagination.

Between green and aquamarine,
The ebb and flow of the ocean
Would be the nightly lullaby…
Until orcas came on the scene.
No, ocean colors are not keen.

Between yellow and violet,
Like colorful pansies
And cheerleader pompons, “Rah, Team!”
Yellow is cowardly regret.
Purple syrup, who could forget?

Between the bright red and cool blue,
Flags and fireworks, cars and shoes,
Bonfires, moonlight and swimming pools.
Fiery tempers spit and spew.
Mournful melodies are the blues.

Harrumph. Who wants to live in a box?

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What color in the crayon box would you be and why? Are you one who outlined the picture before coloring in the center? Do you still play with crayons? Do you have color on the wall or just in the frame?

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41 Comments

  1. Mantra! You steal my heart. I love crayons, and have them here at home. I like intricate color books made for adults now, and don’t outline. Black and yellow are favorite contrasts for me when coloring butterflies, and red and green when I create a ruby-throated hummingbird. I also like to make thick abstracts using lines that wrinkle and warp the pages of the sketchbook. I think the abstracts are most like me, usually vivid, and chaotic and intense, deep with color. The wax comes off in bits.
    xxx
    Gail Thornton recently posted..Winter Flash in the Pan – Available Now!My Profile

    Reply
    • I love crayons as well. I drew the Mantra to go with this post. I needed Little V to cough up her stash of crayons, though. For me, there are never enough colors. I do with crayon just as I do with digital art and layer. xxx

      Reply
  2. I think I’m stuck in a Box of 8 kind of world view right now.

    Appreciating the 8 colors I have, but will venture into layers and bigger boxes and more combinations eventually.
    Candy recently posted..Lesson Learned FlyingMy Profile

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    • *Scribbles on gift list: Box of 120 with sharpener for Candy* Do appreciate the colors you have as they will blend and blossom into other colors. xxx <3

      Reply
  3. How about a nice fiery red to scare away mischievous sprites or perhaps a cool blue to swim in the midst of lusciously curved mermaids, dance in orange blaze, pushing black and running carefree through fields of green only stopping to feel the shimmer and warmth of yellow as it rekindles the flame back to red…

    You have a lovely imagination Red 🙂 xxxx

    Reply
  4. I used to color in the lines. I wanted everything to be “just so”. Controlled. Now I find freedom in the color just being colorful where ever it is. Now, I have color on the walls. I’ve gotten more colorful as I get older. But my favorite color is still black. Love it!
    C. Brown recently posted..Our Once Great CountryMy Profile

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    • I know quite a few who have an affinity for black. I love to watch how the color creeps into their lives and finds a place alongside it. Great to see you tonight, Colleen. xxx

      Reply
  5. The box of crayons remind me that favorites are used more often, some left by the wayside.
    Makes me think of people who are popular, & those that are not.
    Also makes me think of children, we don’t really know the true potential of an autistic child until we check “their colors” and how they express themselves.

    Reply
    • Very true, Johannah. My autistic ones have their own brand of color. Regardless of the mainstream, they are each their own rainbows. Very glad you commented tonight. xxx

      Reply
  6. Sister ‘Boy, I’ll beat the crap out of your knuckles if you don’t color inside those lines’ cowed me into coloring inside the lines. But I’m a bad boy now that I know the old bitch is one of those after life places, maybe it’s a giant crayon box where she lives (sort of) and every time she touches a crayon it smacks her upside the head. Yes, I make the lines now and I color inside or not. Alas, I don’t use crayons any more, I use colored pencils and when I want a new color, I blend.

    But I don’t use color all that often cause I like monochrome.

    Maddy and Livvy were coloring at our kitchen table the other day. They strip all the paper off their crayons and the crayons talk to them and to each other. I wonder what it’s like to be four years old? Lots of fun I’ll bet.

    Parting thought. I remember at least one politically incorrect crayon color — flesh.

    One more parting thought. I love the smell of good crayons.
    John McDevitt recently posted..Livvy & Mary: CousinsMy Profile

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    • I love the smell of good crayons, too. I like them even better when I melt them for new colors…or to color soap. While I do adore monochrome, I would be lost without color. Perhaps, Livvy and Maddy have it right. Crayons would be more fun if they talked. And I would have liked a flesh colored crayon for the drawing (as mediocre as it is) above. Great to see you tonight, John.

      Reply
  7. Life is like a box of crayons. You never know what you might get. I remember really wanting some of the colors in the 64 box, which I don’t think I ever had.
    Binky recently posted..Spreading GermsMy Profile

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    • I am going to apply to Crayola for a discount so I can send all the color deprived folks care packages. 😉

      Reply
  8. Of course we still do crayons! We have color everywhere!

    Reply
  9. I always wanted to color inside the lines, but somehow it required more painstaking effort than I had patience.

    One day I realized I was not made to draw or color, and the world became simpler and I haven’t colored inside the lines since.

    MJ
    MJ Logan recently posted..The DamMy Profile

    Reply
    • You and John both. I have a huge artistic bent, even if I lack the equivalent talent. I am all for simpler. Great to see you tonight, MJ.

      Reply
  10. My granddaughters and I colour all the time. We like the box of 64. I’m intrigued they were able to tell the numerous greens from the various teals and blues from the start.
    Tess Kann recently posted..Sunday Snippets Blog Hop #3My Profile

    Reply
    • Blame Coco Chanel. The influence of Milan and Paris on the fashion industry brought the plethora of shades into everyday language and out of only the mouths of artists. xxx

      Reply

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