Crayons – Launch of the Summer Art Season

Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon … And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one. It would explode high in the air  … and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth — boxes of Crayolas.
– Robert Fulghum (All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten: Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things) –

For the past few summers, the grandchildren have arrived at the cabin shortly after school lets out. Their invasion means the launch of the Summer Art Season. Crisp white or coloured construction paper, freshly sharpened pencils and pencil crayons, scissors, glue and the good old wax crayon – all stand ready for action.

This particular box of crayons is a mix of old ones and new ones; ones with sharp points and ones with rounded ends; ones with new paper covers and ones that have lost their paper; favourite colours and seldom used ones. The wax crayon is the tool of choice when a large swath of colour needs to be laid down!  At the end of each day, pictures are cleared off the dinner table, then sorted and stacked in the drawing cupboard where they await their fate. Some will see the light of day again on the door of a fridge. Some will take pride of place in a scrapbook, and some will get scanned and saved in a folder of cherished memories. Some, well, they still sit in a stack in the cupboard at the cabin.  I’ll see if the kids want to use them to light the first bonfire of the season – this could be the launch of a new tradition!

A Picture is worth a thousand Words. In a 483 word essay, The Phrase Finder explains where this saying comes from, ending with the comment, “Perhaps I should have drawn half a picture?”

Art Galleries: A totally different kind of art is being offered to the public for virtual viewing. It is called Art Project, and it is powered by Google. Similar to Google Earth, this website gives the viewer the opportunity to browse through art museums around the world. Not only can you walk the corridors, you can zoom in on the art, which is presented in super high resolution.

I quickly navigated to Amsterdam and London to revisit a few of my favourite pieces of art. Although it is not nearly as exciting as being in the galleries for real, Google has done an excellent job at making great art accessible to the world.

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