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Word Painting Tool Kit
How to show and not tell! 
Painting with Participles
• Add verbs with ing endings to the beginning or the
end of a sentence
• Take the following sentence: “The diamond-scaled
snakes attacked their prey.”
• Now add the following participles to the beginning of
the sentence: “Hissing, slithering, and coiling, the
diamond-scaled snakes attacked their prey.”
• Add participial phrases to your sentences: “Hissing
their forked red tongues and coiling their cold
bodies, the diamond-scaled snakes attacked their
prey.”
Now you try
• Write down a sentence about your watermark
event.
• Add two or three participles
• Create a participle phrase
• Additional example: “Flying through the air
on the wings of a dream, the Olympic long
jumper thrust the weight of his whole body
forward” (Cathleen Conry).
Painting with Absolutes
• Add a two-word combination containing a noun and a verb with
an ing or ed ending to a sentence.
• Take the following sentence: “The cat climbed the tree.”
• Now add the following absolutes to the beginning of the
sentence: “Claws digging, feet kicking, the cat climbed the
tree.”
• Add absolute phrases to your sentences: “Feet trembling on
the snow-covered rocks, the mountain climber edged along
the cliff.”
• Additional example: “I glanced at my clock, digits glowing
floresecent blue in the inky darkness of my room” (Jenn
Coppolo).
Your turn!
• Either create a new sentence
about your watermark
experience, or use the previous
sentence.
• Now try inserting a couple of
absolutes…
• Then make an absolute phrase
from your absolute.
Painting with
Appositives
• Add a noun that adds a second image to a preceding
noun.
• Take the following sentence: “The raccoon enjoys
eating turtle eggs.”
• Now add the following appositive to the sentence:
“The raccoon, a scavenger, enjoys eating turtle
eggs.”
• Add appositive phrases to your sentences: “The
raccoon, a midnight scavenger who roams lake
shorelines in search of food, enjoys eating turtle
eggs.”
• Additional example: “The volcano, a ravenous God
of fire, spewed forth lava and ash across the
mountain” (Ben Quagliata).
Your turn
• This time, turn to the person
next to you and look at one of
their sentences.
• Help “paint their sentence” by
using appositives.
Painting with Adjectives
Shifted out of Order
• Add adjectives out of order.
• Take the following sentence: “The large, redeyed, angry bull moose charged the intruder.”
• Now move adjectives out of order: “The large
bull moose, red-eyed and angry, charged
the intruder.”
• Additional example: “The boxer, twisted and
tormented, felt no compassion for his
contender” (Chris Hloros).
Create a sentence about
your watermark that has
adjectives.
• Now take the adjectives and
move them around.
• Can you be more descriptive?
Painting with Action
Verbs
• Replace being verbs with action verbs.
• Here is an example of a sentence with a
being verb: “The gravel road was on the
left side of the barn.”
• Here is the same sentence with an
action verb: “The gravel road curled
around the left side of the barn.”
Last one!
• Now you write a sentence using “to be”.
(Or take one that you have already
written)
• Change the “be” with an action verb