Box of 64 Crayolas by Darren Maurer

6" x 8"

I have painted new Crayola Crayons in the past and commented at the time about the smell of a newly opened box of Crayolas. That is an odor that always returns me to a place not so long ago to a house on Grand Island Ave. in Grand Island, Nebraska. My sister and I would have a sort of undisclosed contest to which one of us could finish a new color book the fastest and also with the best quality coloring. We would soon wear down most of the crayons and break a few along the way. They always would end up tossed into a plastic tub of some kind with short yellow #2 pencils and ink pens that didn't work anymore until they were all so short you could hardly hold them. I have a brand new box of Crayolas in my art studio today that has been there for the last 15 years. I keep them on a shelf next to a drafting table and every once in awhile I take them down, open the box, and smell them. This is painting 135 in my Painting A Day Series. It is also a commission painting and won't be on an eBay auction.

I also wanted to thank Charley Parker, of Lines and Colors, for a great article this week about the newly formed Daily Painters Guild. I am proud and happy to say that I am one of the founding members. Read Charley's article here at Lines and Colors.