Download Painting Pictures with Words: Basic Brush Strokes of Image Grammar

Painting Pictures with Words:
Basic Brush Strokes of Image Grammar
A Comparison: What’s the diff?
A Comparison
The amateur writes: “Bill was nervous.”
The pro writes: “Bill sat in a dentist’s waiting
room, peeling the skin at the edge of his thumb,
until the raw red flesh began to show. Biting the
torn cuticle, he ripped it away, and sucked at the
warm sweetness of his own blood.”
(Robert Newton Peck as quoted in Noden, 1998, “Image Grammar,” p. 157)
Absolute Brush Stroke
• Noun + ing verb
• Function: adds to the action
Core: The car went into the parking lot.
Engine smoking, gears grinding,
the car went into the parking lot.
Paint with ABSOLUTE Brush Stroke
Appositive Brush Stroke
• A noun that adds a second image to a preceding
noun, restate the noun
• Function: expands detail in the reader’s
imagination
• Core: The car went into the parking lot.
• The car, a 1936 Ford, went into the parking lot.
Paint with APPOSITIVE Brush Stroke
Participle Brush Stroke
• ing verb or phrase
• Function: evokes action, makes the reader feel a
part of the experience
Core: The car went into the parking lot.
Sliding on the loose gravel, the car went into the
parking lot.
Paint with PARTICIPLE Brush Stroke
Adjectives-Out-of-Order
Brush Stroke
• Shift two adjectives after the noun
• Function: intensifies an image, gives it rhythm
• Core: The car went into the parking lot.
The old car, rusty and dented, went into the
parking lot.
(Note: avoid 3 adjectives in a row. Place 1 before the noun and two
after)
Paint with ADJECTIVES-OUT-OF-ORDER
Brush Stroke
Action Verbs Brush Stroke
• Verbs that do action
• Function: effective image tools, energize images
• Core: The car went into the parking lot.
• The car chugged into the parking lot.
Paint with ACTION VERBS
Brush Stroke
Rainy Summer Sky
Rolling, draping, folding
Clouds hang like icing
borders on a cake glazed
smooth with gray
Edges congealing, a
summer front, moist and
cool, slides over my street.
Dripping, sighing, sagging
Air, heavy and suspended,
rain settles in for the day.
Rainy Summer Sky
Action Verb
Rolling, draping, folding
Participles
Clouds hang like icing
borders on a cake glazed
smooth with gray
Absolute
Edges congealing, a
summer front, moist and
cool, slides over my street.
Dripping, sighing, sagging
Appositive
Air, heavy and suspended,
rain settles in for the day.
Adjectives
You try!
• Write a paragraph on a topic of your choice
using these brusthrokes.