Color and Crayons

When I first started working with fiber, I had a fairly limited palette. I knew what colors I liked and how to combine them in ways that pleased me.

But I knew I was limited and wanted to learn how to use the whole spectrum of color, so I started reading books about painting and drawing and creativity. One book suggested that I take some crayons and just put marks on paper. Hmm, I could do that, I thought. So I put my box of crayons in a cookie tin and pulled one out without looking and made some marks on a piece of paper. Then I pulled out another crayon without looking and made some more marks. I kept making marks with crayons until I wanted to stop.

I did this a lot for a month or two, and it taught me something very important--I could put just about any colors together if I used enough of them.

That was quite a revelation. I'd read Kaffe Fasset's dictum, "When in doubt, use 20 more colors," but I still thought in terms of the colors I liked. Now I think in much broader terms. I still have color preferences, but I'm willing to experiment, and I'm often pleasantly surprised with the results.

So why don't you get yourself one of those huge boxes of crayons, put them in a cookie tin or a paper bag, pull one out without looking, and then make marks on a piece of paper. You're not trying to create great art, or even a finished picture--you're just playing with crayons. I found that using crayons and just making marks on paper freed me from any expectations of doing something the right way. I bet you will, too.