Now and then, I take a glance out my window and once in a while I see something moving. Upon closer inspection, there are chickens in my flower beds! Funny, I don’t own chickens….
This has been going on at least since September. These little darlings have created about a 4 foot crater in between my lilies and Gaillardia! The mulch is gone. The soil is gone. I’m pretty sure some of my plants are gone too, but I just can’t seem to go over and complain to my neighbor. I think it’s because secretly I enjoy watching them. They all take turns rolling in the same place, then they huddle together, then they go over to my bird feeder for a snack…I can’t help but find it amusing. Come spring – not so amusing, as I spend hours and hours laboring in my flower gardens. So let’s see. I am pretty sure my neighbor is not following my blog. I would like to see if the power of social media works… We are friends on Facebook. I wonder if my neighbor will tell me she saw her chickens on my blog….hmmm….I’ll keep you posted.
So these are not your kids crayons. Well technically these are my kids crayons but they are WELL ABOVE average crayons. You see, when SOUTH COUNTY ART SUPPLY had their grand opening, I made the mistake of bringing my kids! My daughter begged me non-stop to buy her these square crayons. I thought they were better than buying candy, so I caved. Months have gone by and I haven’t seen the kids using them, so now they are fair game!
These crayons are called Wachsmalblocke and they title them “wax blocks with pure beeswax”. I’d imagine calling them wax blocks is to entice artists to use them as art media because crayons kind of have a bad rep. Well, I was enticed. I also bought some giant sheets of Archer watercolor paper. Their paper is succulent and great for watercolors. The sheet is 22×30 which is a good size, almost 2 feet x 3 feet. Think of the graphic potential of combining giant crayon strokes with beautiful watercolors….tempting.
These rectangular blocks are not what I’m used to holding. You really have to press down to get deep dark lines. All of this pressure means you really can’t have too much detail. Plus there are no tips, even more reason you will not get much detail. Keeping this in mind I created an image that was large, loose and simple (meaning not too much detail). The results are so fun! I just love how the wax resists the watercolor! It is a great medium for focusing on dark/light, compliments, and texture. Also after creating small art for the past 2 months it was great to find a medium that I can draw big yet still accomplish a piece of art in one day. I plan on going further with these little wax blocks I think they have great potential. Oh and I guess you could let your kids use them too! maybe.
Be Creative Mary 
Just a little note from Danbury’s Zoning Regulations: in our fair City, chickens are not permitted unless you are a farm. To qualify as a farm, you must have FIVE acres and live in the RA-80 Zone. The zoning enforcement officers have a perennial circus trying to curtail the presence of chickens in residential zones. Of course, we do have other neighborhoods with “real” problems……. Please continue creating. pml
On Fri, Mar 1, 2013 at 1:09 PM, becreativemary