Crayons & Heavy Paper
Curiosity and Sunshine
Here’s what happened when I took four crayon colors into the sunshine last weekend …
I sat out in the direct sun and applied multiple layers of wax crayon to see how dark of a tone I could make with just 4 colors…
Turner-esque was the inspiration, but the plan was experimentation and not beautiful art. Starting with the blocks and big fill-in motions, I felt like I wanted one end to be rounded and keep the other one square. Next came the crayon sticks and I was off, making tree-like repetitive marks. Any white space was filled with the yellow brown stick.
When the paper could hold no more crayon, and the wax had become soft from the sun, I pushed the warm crayon with my finger to fill any remaining white paper gaps.
Still not ready to quit, I tried a bit of scratching back to paper with my fingernail and finally buffing the cooled wax with a washcloth to a shine.
The surprise for me, as a painter who hasn’t used crayons for awhile, was how the yellow brown added a golden tone to the bright primaries and unified everything. A reverse underpainting? More like glazing with sunshine I think….
I really love the closeups!
10/10 recommend! a lovely time was had by me.
-Chris
Materials Used:
-Filana Block Crayons: Red, Blue, Yellow, Yellow‑Brown
-Filana Stick Crayons: Same 4‑color set
-12×18 Heavy 80lb Drawing Paper:
Smooth, dense surface ideal for heavy wax layering
-Sunlight:
Softens the wax for blending and pushing pigment
-Fingernail + Washcloth: For scratch‑back texture and final buffed shine