Extravagance of Color

Extravagance of Color was the exhibit theme at my local art co-op for the month of February.   For most of us, our first experience with creating art with color is with crayons.  Crayola crayons that is!  The colors are so rich and waxy and in the artist's hands, they can be layered in thick impasto, softly blended for shading, or melted for beautiful encaustic work.  Also, when I think of crayons, I think of the love children have for the medium.  How many thousands of children's imaginations have been stimulated by crayons.  Crayola crayons have been rolling off the assembly line since 1903.  But, Prehistoric artists were actually the first to use chalks and clay sticks to draw on cave walls and the use of wax with pigments dates back to the Greeks. 
So, back to my painting of crayons, which I considered to be the most appropriate subject matter for the theme, Extravagance of Color.  It was created from a photograph taken of crayons that were left by my grandson after a fun time of art activities.  That's him below. 
Inspiration for art can be found in the most ordinary of places and circumstances, so have your camera ready and keep your eyes open!

Last summer, I had the privilege of taking a Wabi Sabi class taught by Donna Iona Drozda at the Contemmporary Art Center of Virginia. Not having any idea what Wabi Sabi was, I learned that it had to do with beauty created by the impermanence and imperfections which occur naturely in a thing over time. I find myself looking at the world in a whole new way. The camera becomes my mode of capturing and, in a way, making a fleeting moment less so. The aesthetic of Wabi Sabi has helped me to appreciate the changes that life brings......to search and discover....to think and create......to see beauty in the simple and the less than perfect.
"Take your inspiration seriously, whether it comes from another artist's work or a walk in the woods, or along side the ocean. Feed your soul, and your artistic endeavors will reflect it." Steve Aimone