Crayon art! Turning crayons into a scene from "The Lorax"

Recently I joined Pinterest. I knew it would be a big mistake, and it has been. But, a very good one! I worried I would spend too many hours on Pinterest, but that is not exactly what has happened. I spend a few minutes a day on Pinterest, and hours on the projects I am inspired to do. Overall, that's not a bad thing! Except on days like today when I really need to be cleaning, or cooking, or something. Surely there is something else I should be doing, right?

The latest craze on Pinterest is melted crayon rainbow art. I'm sure you've seen it, but in case you haven't, it looks like this:

Very cool idea! Very colorful, and simple execution. Plus, who doesn't like melting crayons? It is fun, and you can get kids involved in the creation of art to hang around your house.

I love it, but I wanted to do something different. I googled "melted crayon dot art" because I had an idea in my head. And I found someone else who had tried it! This blog has a great photo tutorial for making your own dot art (or crayon pointillism if you want to sound super knowledgable and artistic):

Helping Little Hands - Crayon Art Tutorial

My husband and I have recently started working to turn a strange little space at the top of our stairs into an art area for the kids. I decided I wanted the space to feel like a scene right out of my oldest's favorite book "The Lorax" by Dr. Seuss. So...here's what happened.

I went to Hobby Lobby and got a 2-pack of 11x15 canvases for only $5.99. Then I located the tremendously enormous box of crayons that no one uses anymore. Many are broken, misshapen, etc. But that doesn't matter for this. Keep in mind that you will need a LOT of certain colors if your picture has large spaces that are all the same color.  Then I chose a two-page spread from "The Lorax."

I decided to leave off the text, the Once-ler and his wagon, and the swans. I might add them somewhere else in the art nook a bit later.

Then I took a pencil and lightly sketched the main elements of the pages

Then it was time to start melting! I melted my crayons over burning candles. Be very careful if kids are going to be around while you do this. I would not recommend trying this with young children who want to help you. Each color melts at a different rate. Be careful because some colors burn if held too close to the flame. It was helpful for me to have a sheet of paper towel on hand in case I need to wipe burned wax off of my crayon.

By accident I made the sky too dark. Some colors melt a lot darker than you might think. But, I ended up making a two-tone sky, and it added a lot of depth. Here's the original sky color.

A close up of the texture on one of the canvases.

I don't consider myself an artist at all. My drawing skills are very limited. But crayon art is perfect for me! It is very imperfect by nature. All you need to be able to do is draw a basic picture, and then stamp the crayon into the right spot on your canvas. Very time consuming, but deeply gratifying.

Here's the finished diptych.

The art space is definitely not finished yet, but here's what my pictures look like on the wall.

If you decide to try this project for yourself, I'd love to see what you come up with!