On a previous blog I mentioned that I’ll always be that raw artist that works outside of the box of crayons…

Unlike, Forest Gump and his chocolates that you never know what you’re gonna’ get. When you open a box of crayons, you can see the exact colors offered. Does that mean you only have to like and work with what is inside that box? They now offer the mega pack of crayons with allllll the colors you can imagine. Even then there are still more options! You can blend them and change the outcome.

I read a book once that kicked off my book reading and growth journey. It was a tiny book. A book I could have probably read in a week. This book had so many great lessons I was already implementing in my own way. But, each chapter/lesson I would read at my local coffee shop, soak it in and hold onto that advise for weeks until I felt I understood or mastered a bit of it. Then I would head back, read and repeat this process. This author said, and I’m paraphrasing, “not to think outside of the box, but beyond it!” Mind blown! Everyone is taking that next step outside. How many people are only tiptoeing out of the box and not going beyond its outer walls…

I remember when I was a kid and I had this one color I loved! (I wish I could remember the name crayola gave it) I always used it to fill in the princess lipstick in my coloring books. This crayon had a process though. We had just moved from Iceland and lived with my grandparents in sunny Marco Island Florida, big shift in temperature. Anywho, there was a sunroom looking at the pool opposite the couch in the living room. I left my crayons in this hot bright room and one day I discovered my pretty magenta-ish colored crayon. It was warm and not melted, but when I used my crayons after the heat got them, they rolled on with ease. They filled in the pages like butter. It didn’t take multiple coats or added pressure. This lipstick filler crayon was always hidden somewhere in that room from everyone so I could heat it perfectly to get the exact application I had discovered. Ariel deserved her best lipstick in and out of the water.

I had another box of various coloring and drawing tools. My dad was navy so every time we moved this box would surface and I remembered that being my favorite part of moving. The box was filled with so many random trinkets that I treasured. It was covered in scribbles and doodles. Once we got settled that box would always disappear again. We landed in Panama City Florida and that was our last move and I don’t ever remember what happened to my magic art box. So as an adult I’m happy that I can still find joy in art and markers and have my house filled with buckets of markers and vases of paintbrushes.

With my art I’ve always tried anything people ask. I go in phases of styles, mediums and surfaces and constantly pivot. I guess you could say I’ve always been thinking beyond the box. Not just outside of it!