I WANT TO EAT A NUT OF LAERMA!

LOOK WHAT MY MOTHER GOT ME!

For future drawing projects:



Yup, a 96 pack of Crayola Crayons!



With a built-in crayon sharpener!

And, yes, I did sign my name on the back. Just in case anyone else who hangs around in my basement mistakes my 96 pack of Crayolas for their 96 pack of Crayolas.

You can never be too careful.



I don't care how old you are, that's a sight that never ceases to be awe-inspiring, all those crayons lined up in rows, like a garrison of young military recruits fresh from training camp, about to be deployed on the battlefield that is the 56 by 71 cm piece of drawing card I will break them in on. Few will make it back to the box intact.

And, even as an adult, that wax smell is no less pleasing now than it was when I was 6 years old.

Each crayon has the colour listed in English, Spanish, and French on ths side. Not all the names are literal translations of one another. There's this one grayish-brown that I'd describe as being roughly the colour of... how should I put this delicately... stale dog shit, that, in English, is "Tumbleweed", in Spanish is "Arena" (as in bullfighting?), and, in French, is "Rouge Bordeaux". But it's not remotely red, not even in Bordeaux. It's not even borderline red, like the brownish-red colour that used to be called "Indian Red" in the days before people got overly sensitive about such things. I think the colour that used to be "Indian Red" is now called "Bittersweet" ("Douce-Amére"), or maybe "Mahogany" ("Ocajou"). Speaking of red, there is now a colour called "Radical Red", which, I presume, is for young Communists for when they need just the right red to color the flags in their murals of May Day marches. Some of these fluorescent glow-in-the-light type colours are barely distinguishable from one another, like they're almost the same colour with a different name on the wrapper. I can hardly discern the difference between "Atomic Tangerine", "Vivid Tangerine", and "Neon Carrot". And "Salmon gray" appears to be no more, replaced by a colour called "Timberwolf". At least if I ever have to draw urine in crayon form, I have "Dandelion", the yellow whose French name is far more descriptive: "Pissenlit" (literally "piss in bed", which is what they call the dandelion flowers because of the dandelion's diuretic qualities).



I don't know if my next drawing will be in crayon, though.

I would like to continue my "London widescreen" drawing series, probably with my photograph of Admiralty Arch, though the idea of drawing this photo I took crossing Haymarket street, with a BMV and a Mercedes both coming towards me, is growing on me. I also have this great idea for something else to do with Piccadilly Circus, though, this time, it won't be a straight drawing based on a photo. That's all I'll say about that.

Or, maybe I'll get an early start on my crayon drawing of the Enron Ferrari 360 Modena that I want to draw for the "Adults who play with crayons" mail art exhibition.

posted by Steve Brandon @ 10:34 PM