“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist after he grows up.”- Picasso
What is it about a box of crayons, especially the BIG box of 64, with the built-in sharpener? Even now, when I’m in my 70s, that yellow, red, & green box, filled with new crayons, their points still sharp and unworn, brings instant joy and the conviction that I can create anything I want. This is a feeling that harkens back to childhood, a time when my only worry was finding enough paper to scribble on.
I was a lucky child; my mother didn’t believe in coloring books and just gave me lots of blank paper to experiment with. I was also lucky in having parents who thought everything I did was marvelous. Of course I have no drawings from those days to confirm or deny their opinion and I expect my scrawls were ordinary, the usual stick figures and lolly-pop trees, but I was satisfied with my creative work
For children, the process is enough. As soon as one drawing is done, they move on to the next one, and the one after that, and the one after that. They don’t worry about composition or design or if the dog looks like a cat. I remember knowing that an M shape represented a bird, though I didn’t know why, so I sometimes drew W shapes instead. M, W, what difference did it make? I knew I’d drawn a very fine flock of birds flying overhead.
Today I try to create the same way, working quickly with the process, moving swiftly from one project to the next. One reason I enjoy encaustic - creating collage with wax as the adhesive, is that it is so reversible. I can easily move on to the next piece, indeed I am impelled to work quickly while the wax is melted, and then go back and revise earlier work if I decide to make changes or additions.
I consciously maintain a sense of playfulness in my work and my hope is that the viewer will share in the joy. I hope you can find joy in all you create, no matter what your chosen field of creativity may be. Oh, and here’s a tip for that box of crayons: dump them out, peel off all the paper and break the crayons into pieces. I know, I know, it really it doesn’t seem right, ruining a new bunch of crayons like that, but they will be so much more usable if you do.
Gail Hollinger
June 2024
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