On Sunday I wrote about using every color in your crayon box. I even put out a challenge to people to try this in the literal sense. So yesterday when we went to the store I picked up a 64 count box of Crayola Crayons. I opened the box to see 63 perfect crayon tips staring back at me. One tip must have gotten damaged in transit. I removed the Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet, Black and Brown Crayons from the box.
These are the defaults, the standbys the go to colors that are most typically used in each box of crayons. I didn’t want to fall back on what I was already completely familiar with and used to. So often we get stuck in a rut and end up going to the things that we use as crutches. I didn’t want to have the crutch of those colors holding me back from exploring every other color in the box.
I took a sheet of my daughters giant Hello Kitty Coloring book.
I think it is 16 X 20 or so, anyway it was big and I needed that because I was going to use 56 crayons to color it. I decided to up the ante from 30 minutes and colors to 56 colors in 56 minutes. I took out my iPod Touch set the timer and began. I would hit the minute timer, grab a crayon and furiously color for 1 minute with that color. When the timer went off I would reset grab another crayon and continue to color.
What did this experiment teach me?
For one thing I had to make quick decisions and commit. If I pulled out a blue and I went right to the trees then the trees would be blue. I didn’t think about what color to use in which particular place. I just grabbed and colored over and over. After a while I got into a little rhythm and began to see this new color in my hand and see also how it would become part of the picture as a whole. Can this color be used to shade an area? Would this be a good primary color for the ground, the sky, trees? This freed my mind from thinking and planning ahead. I saw each color in front of me and found the perfect place for it.
What Can This Experiment Teach You?
You do not have to do the same thing over and over. Experimentation is fun. Think of everything that you have at your disposal. You have Facebook, Twitter, Your Blog, E-mail newsletters and so many tools. What are your “crutch” tools? What do you use most often to get results. Try this for a day, don’t use any of your crutch tools, take the time to experiment with tools that you are not as comfortable or familiar with. Do you really know much about Technorati or Stumble Upon, maybe you can spend some time there. Are you writing sponsored posts, maybe look into running a great CPC campaign.
What To Take Away From This?
Every color in the crayon box has a purpose and can be used to create something extraordinary. Every tool that you have at your disposal as a blogger can be used to make extraordinary things happen for you. But you must stop relying on the crutches and experiment with new and exciting things as often as possible.
Would You Like to Recreate The Experiment?
- Get a box of brand new crayons.
- Remove the Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet Brown and Black crayons.
- Get a coloring page (or blank sheet of paper if you are really serious)
- Get a stopwatch or something to tell you when a minute is up. The stopwatch on the iPod or iPhone works great for this. Set the stopwatch for a minute.
- Start the countdown and grab one crayon at random.
- Color with that crayon for one minute.
- Repeat until every crayon has been used.
I’d love to see your finished products. Shoot the box of crayons before you start, shoot the coloring page or blank sheet of paper too. Then take some photos during the experiment, or have someone shooting photos of you doing this. Then take photos of the box when you are done and also take a photo of the finished product.
I can’t wait to see what you come up with. Please share your experiments with me.
