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The Five Brushstrokes
Compare the following images, the first written by a high
school student…
• It was winter.
Everything was frozen
and white. Snow had
fallen from the sky for
days. The weather was
horrible.
The second by well-known novelist Brian Jacques…
• Mossflower lay deep in the grip of midwinter
beneath a sky of leaden gray that showed tinges
of scarlet and orange on the horizon. A cold
mantle of snow draped the landscape, covering
the flatlands to the west. Snow was
everywhere, filling the ditches, drifting high
against the hedgerows, making paths invisible,
smoothing the contours of earth in its white
embrace.
Image Grammar
“The writer is an artist, painting images of life
with specific and identifiable brush strokes,
images as realistic as Wyeth and as abstract
as Picasso. In the act of creation, the writer,
like the artist, relies on fundamental
elements to express his or her vision.”
- Harry Noden
Image Grammar
• Participles:
– An –ing or –ed verb (usually) that acts as
an adjective.
– Adds more action to a description.
The diamond-scaled snakes attacked their prey.
Hissing, slithering, and coiling, the diamond-scaled snakes
attacked their prey.
• Absolute:
– A two-word combination—a noun and a
participle added onto a sentence.
The cat climbed the tree.
Claws digging, the cat climbed the tree.
• Appositives:
– A noun or noun phrase that adds a second
image to a preceding noun.
– It expands details in the imagination.
The raccoon enjoys eating turtle eggs.
The raccoon, a midnight scavenger, enjoys eating
turtle eggs.
• Adjectives out of order:
– Placing adjectives in a different order can be
effective.
– Do not use too many “lists” of adjectives.
– Amplify the details of an image.
The large, red-eyed, angry moose charged the intruder.
The large moose, red-eyed and angry, charged the
intruder.
• Active Action Verbs
– Eliminate the passive voice (using be + past
participle—is taken, was written).
– Reduce being verbs.
Passive: The runaway horse was ridden into town by an old,
white-whiskered rancher.
Active: The old, white-whiskered rancher rode the runaway
horse into town.
Choose your own Brushstroke
Technique and write a sentence
about the following picture.