by Nancy Casey
Today in your writing, you will get a chance to make some unusual connections by looking for identical colors in totally different places.
Set up your page first: draw a line across the top where your title will go and set off a a box or blob to use for illustration if you like.
Then sit back and look at the space around you, indoors, probably, and perhaps out a window. See if you can disconnect your mind from naming what you see and instead notice only the colors. Look closely, and you’ll see that an orange thing isn’t just orange. There many shades of orange that appear on the surface of one orange thing. On closer inspection, something that’s orange probably has flecks of other colors mixed in.
Not only that, your eyes work in a unique way. Color isn’t absolute. You see colors the way that you see them. No one is quite sure if any two people see colors in the same way.
You can be sure, however, that if you see a color in one place, it’s likely you can find a color that looks the same to you somewhere else.
So try it. Look around you and take note of a particular specific color that you see somewhere. It’s likely not to be a whole object, but rather a single tiny part of something. Study it carefully. Sometimes if you try to draw an object (even if you “can’t” draw) you will notice the colors more. Take careful note of the color you have chosen, then cast your eye around and see where you can find the same color on an entirely different thing.
Maybe the corner of a box of crackers will make an exact match to the color of a doorknob or the tip of a shoelace. Perhaps a thread in the pattern of a shirt will be the same color as the edge of a ball left out in the yard. Look hard and try to surprise yourself with the color matches that you find.
Write down some information about the colors—how they appear to you and where you found them. Then continue with some more details about the two things you have connected by color. Tell a bit more about them, even if the details seem completely irrelevant. It’s okay to let your thoughts ramble a bit.
If you still have room on the page, look around for a new color and repeat the process. Do it as many times as you can until the page is full.
Add some drawing or decoration to the page if you haven’t already.
When the page is completely full, look it over carefully. Make small changes if you like. Wait for a title idea to float into your mind. Put the title at the top of the page. Add the date and a signature, too.
Here is an example of what someone could write.
You can share your work by posting it as a comment below. You can type it in, or take a photo of it and upload the image.
Nancy Casey has lived in Latah County for many years. You can find more of her work here. If you would like some help with your writing, contact Nancy or the Latah Recovery Center. In-person Write-for You classes have been suspended for now, but when Covid recedes, they will return.
Latah Recovery Community Center, Inc. 