Girl on Fire: Art on the brain

[As seen in Creston News Advertiser, November 7, 2013]

With the help of my friend and coworker Sarah Brown, I got into an artsy mindset and made a piece of crayon art Sunday.

Crayon art is really easy. Hot glue crayons to a canvas and melt the colorful wax with a hair dryer. The hot wax blends and drips down the canvas, creating a picture. Shapes can be made in the wax, and so many color combinations are available, from rainbows to all blues like water, or all yellows like sunshine.

I went to Sarah’s house and she set up a little nook for me in her sewing room. I worked on my crayon art, she worked on her purses and her 2-year-old son Fletcher ran around the room pretending to be Spiderman.

I love going into a friend’s house, and seeing how their brain works based on what their creative space looks like. Sarah nearly finished two clutches, the suede and vivid fabrics attached to the hard frame, while I peeled crayon wrappers and shot hot air at the wax.

What I love about crayon art, besides how easy and cheap it is, is that I can be creative in other ways. I was never the painting or sculpting type in school, so finding this simple art form is exciting. I can create rainbows on a canvas, or bunch greens and browns together to make a forest.

My art piece looked like fire, with reds, oranges and yellows patterned from dark to light, then back to dark against the white background. Melting the wax made the fire aspect even more noticeable.

The canvas is now hanging on my living room wall.

Speaking of art, I discovered something new Sunday on television. Television can be considered artistic, and I think “The Blacklist” is a very artistic crime drama.
“The Blacklist” centers around an FBI profiler who partners with a criminal to take out dangerous criminals around the world, most of whom are unknown even to governmental agencies. Actor James Spader plays the criminal, but there are twists and turns within the show concerning the profiler and her husband, and the criminal’s connection to the profiler.

I watched five episodes of NBC’s new show Sunday while visiting my parents before heading back to Creston, and I know I’ll be on the lookout for the first season when it is available on DVD.