Chapter 1 - Warm Up
Warm-UP
Regard the art on the cover of this book. Relax, focus, take in the colors and composition. Then freewrite a page of anything it suggests to you, reminds you of, or makes you feel. You don't need to make sense of sentences, nor stick to the subject. Just let it flow. Put the page away for a week.Take it out and see: Is there anything here you might use? Any idea worth more thought? Any phrase of image to pursue?
Overwhelmed. It’s like how I see my schedule at the beginning of the week. It’s chaotic. I know I’ll make my way through it and find ways to see the beauty, rather than just letting my time rush by with no meaning, but it’s not enjoyable to try to make plans and have every minute filled with plans. Sometimes I don’t even like having the fun social obligations there. It makes me nervous and wears me out, especially without him in Lexington by my side this year.
ReplyDeleteAt the same time, it feels overly familiar, like the cover of a beloved Eric Carle book. All the colors and random shapes are a child’s dream. They love letting their imaginations run wild. I miss kids while I’m here.
It’s bright, but not like the bright I like my bedroom to be. It’s much more harsh and definitive than the vibrant teal blue wall in my bedroom at home. It’s a definite contrast to the fresh beige and white of my fluffy comforter at the apartment. It’s bright in a nonsensical way, and maybe that’s why I don’t like it. Chaos makes me nervous. I delight in organization. In order. In control. I really need to let go of that. Like that song, “Hold On Loosely.” Then my mind is drawn to dusty records I have stacked up on my illuminated shelf at home. Loved by others first, now by me. It’s comfort—the scratchy noises of the vinyl filling up my evening.
But this is different. It’s harsh and chaotic and not at all representative of myself.
Brooklyn
DeleteThis image is very colorful and happy. The picture consists of warm and cool colors. I enjoy all of the different colors in one picture. I prefer colorful things rather than neutral colored things. Colors bring more life to everything and make them more intriguing. I cannot exactly tell what the painting is, it seems abstract. If I had to make anything out of it I see trees in the bottom left corner, different curves and layers on the photo - it doesn't look completely flat. The colors in the picture consist of pink, green, blue, red, and a little bit of red.
ReplyDeleteDavid Roy
ReplyDeleteAugust 30, 2021
Chapter 1 Warm up
When I first look at the image on the book it takes me back to many of the abstract art paintings I use to see around my elementary school. I look at these types of paintings and pictures and they honestly do not make much sense to me. I know the purpose of abstract is to make something be anything you want it to be, but for me it just looks like a bunch of different crazy things happening at one time. The few things that I may use from a painting such as this one is the vibrant colors and shapes. In this class I will not be drawing or painting but possible using very vibrant stories from my past that I usually would not share about myself in a normal writing piece. The major thing I enjoy looking at this piece is how original it is, which I feel I can translate to this classroom setting. The purpose of this class is to be original and open your writing views to what you have previously learned in other English/writing classes. I think the picture was used to symbolize what this class is all about and does not want us as students to fall into old writing habits.
Chaos. A swirling storm of reds, greens, and blues. The magic of Wanda and Loki. Each bringing its own chaos into this swirling mass of a universe. The chaos that they bring is destructive and perilous to the universe. They have no control and they yearn no control. They let their feelings and emotions guide their spells and nothing else. They carry the power of a thousand moons and with that power, they do no good, only selfish deeds. The chaos of the universe is a flowing river, and they are the rocks in the river that disturb that flow. The river will attempt to lift them out of their place, however, the universe is no match for the chaos that is Wanda and Loki.
ReplyDeleteThere is a magnitude of different beautiful yet random colors and shapes thrown about all over the page. There’s no system or strict design. It’s as if the artist drew their feelings on the paper. Feelings are random, complicated, and without any sense. They are confusing and colorful. The blues could represent sadness or worry, while greens are regret and fear. Purple may represent wonder and enthusiasm while red is anger and frustration. Maybe pink is joy and excitement. They could mean different things to the artist than they do to ourselves based on interpretation of the colors and shapes and how they make us feel. This art piece reminds me of my own complicated emotions. They are constant and often confusing as they all exist at once, some burn brighter based on what I choose to focus on, whether consciously or unconsciously. Those shapes and colors closest to the front are easiest to acknowledge while those farther back take deeper consideration. The spirals and curves show both wonder and fear at the unknowns and constantly changing events in life. Its easy to look at one’s life in a singular picture but the closer you look, you can see the infinite subtleties that define it. Each characteristic creates a part of the big picture. It isn’t until we look deep enough that we can acknowledge it and take the time to appreciate each piece individually. Life’s meaning like this art piece is more complicated that one concept. It is all the individual pieces that result in the masterpiece that are the most important. Every line drawn and color painted is a step in creating the beautiful image we get to see in the end.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing I noticed when looking at the image on the cover of our book is the color combination. The creator for the Imaginative Writing book used bright colors to make the book stand out. I loved that they did this because it helps embrace ‘creativity’. The patterns are random and when you look at the book you don’t just see one picture of something. The picture looks more like a flow of creativity, and just like writing it should flow together with different colors and designs. I like the aspect of this book because analyzing it helps you understand the meaning behind the outlook of the book!
ReplyDeleteIsabella Krueger
A chameleon. I see a chameleon that is in the sky and the trees and is trying to blend in with the world around it. But it is still seen, nothing can mask the undeniable features of the chameleon’s face – its huge dark eyes darting in every direction faster than we can even tell, its golden back that fails to match the verdant greenery around it. It tries to hide, but it is seen. It tries to cover up all its imperfections using is colorful makeup to blend in with the crowd. But it is seen. It is seen because nothing can be perfectly imitated, there are always features that will undeniably give the chameleon away as its true self. The lizard sits there thinking nobody notices him but we all see him plain as day. So why hide? The chameleon is trying to avoid its predators and shelter itself from the harsh reality of the world. We can never hide forever, we must live. We must experience life and live for ourselves. Look again, I see a winged sheep. It can fly away and be whatever it wants, because it doesn’t try to hide as the chameleon does. It embraces its uniqueness and does not live as the chameleon. Be like the winged sheep.
ReplyDeleteThe art on the cover of the book looks like something different every time I look at it. The colors are very interesting to me. I also see different colors every time I see it. At first, I looked like blue, yellow, green and pink. The more I look, the more colors I find. I am not seeing pink, a burnt orange, red, dark green, and a very light green. Along with this, the colors in some spots are very opaque. This would be the reason there are so many colors on the page. Some are covered up by others, and some are shining through others in different spots. The colors are not the only thing that changes every time I look at the cover of the book. I also see different shapes that could almost be animals if I look with an open mind. At first glance, I saw a fish jumping out of water, and possibly a grass scene behind it. While writing this, I keep looking at the cook cover. As I look, I now see a pig jumping through a hoop, with the same grass scene as from the fish.
ReplyDeleteI only came up with a few ideas from the cover of the book. While I sit in this class with thirty other people, I can only imagine what they are seeing. What colors do they see? Do they see the same fish and pig that I do? Maybe I am completely missing something big. It is very intriguing to me how everyone has their own thoughts and ideas about the same exact thing.
The cover of the book also explains what is inside. The title of this book, by Janet Burroway, is “Imaginative Writing”. That is exactly what we are doing while writing this warmup. We are all being imaginative in our own way. While I am writing about colors, there are so many other things going on that I am not seeing. Looking at this cover, the words loud and abstract come to mind.
When I look at this cover it starts to stress me out. I am the type of person who loves everything to match and everything to go together and this cover is the opposite of that. I do think the cover is pretty and the colors are pretty, but I also think it is too much. It is filled with both warm and cool colors and usually you dont use those together. This cover reminds me of an abstract painting or picture so it has a lot of different elements to it. But all together this cover stresses me out and I wish it all matched
ReplyDeleteThe cover of this book makes me think of an art class or something that you would see in an art museum. Also I think it makes me think about science class as looking at it I wouldn’t think it would be the cover of a imaginative writing book as when I think of writing I think of pencils or journals not an abstract art piece. I guess it could mean that just like in art and how you have to see things in a different way that in writing too you need to think outside the book and just let your creativity flow. It doesn’t have to make sense to others as it will make sense to you. I think the cover should have a quote or saying by someone who is well known in the writing community so I that the students or person reading this book can kinda have more of an excitement to really be in this class and read the book because the cover can be what makes or breaks a person view on a book no matter what kind it is.
ReplyDeleteThe art on the cover of this book is very loud. It jumps out at me. It doesn’t seem like it would be on the cover of a creative writing textbook, but an art textbook. If you think about it though, it makes sense because writing is a form of art. You write out anything that you are thinking and you can change it, edit it, and revise it to make it a “piece of art”. The colors are bright and fun. It is hard to make out the shapes and what exactly the image is. I believe it is abstract and you can make up in your mind whatever you want it to be. You can do this with writing as well. You can make it up as you go and make sense of it later. You have the ability to make it what you want it to be. It makes me feel like I am encouraged to be creative and write differently. I can think outside the box and just put whatever thoughts I have on the page. To me, it looks like a bunch of colors threw up on the page. Similarly, Dr. Hill told us to write out our thoughts about what we think of the cover and ‘throw up’ on the page. Just like the colors are thrown onto the page, this cover tells me that we are encouraged to write in the same way and throw up on the paper.
ReplyDeleteThe cover of this book is very loud to the eyes. It’s almost like I try to see images and place where this is and I can’t really. The colors almost just clash so well. I’m not really sure what to say about it over all. It doesn’t really send me thinking or make me feel something while viewing it. It gives me retro vibes. It also just looks tilted and at an angle. The arches remind me of doors and I can almost see bushes in the left corner. My eyes are really trying to see a specific picture here. However, I don’t think there’s supposed to be anything actually there. I really like the way it’s so different and doesn’t follow any specific pattern or direction.
ReplyDeleteThe front cover of the page looks like someone just chose to draw or paint whatever shapes or colors that came to mind for them in that moment. There's a green shape in the middle of the picture that reminds me of a lizard with how it is shaped. It makes me feel confused at times because I really have no idea what it depicts or what it is supposed to be. It reminds me of times when I would go to museums and see paintings where it looks like artists just splattered paint all over the page. Sometimes I could tell from those paintings that the artist was sad, happy, or angry. But I can't tell from this because of the amount of different colors, dimensions, and lines used in the picture. I feel like the artist might have been confused as well as to what they are trying to express in this place of artwork.
ReplyDelete- Eliza
The color green is sticking out very loudly to me on the cover of this book. To be honest, I see a complete picture on the cover of this book: In the top left hand corner, I see a sky made up of a purple moon and a sky made up of shades of dark blue and green. Perhaps it is dusk or sunset. I see crazy shapes that could be clouds, and I see other crazy green shapes that could be mountains on the horizon. And in the bottom diagonal half of the picture, I see chaos underneath the sky. Trees and buildings and blocks/acres of land. Everything is all jumbled up yet somehow in the crazy midsts of it I still see a crystal clear picture of a colorful, disorganized sunset and the chaotic land beneath it.
ReplyDeleteThe colors and their structure occupy my senses. Most of the time my mind feels grey. However this image seems to scratch an itch I can't physically reach. Constantly interpreting shapes combined with colors creating a new picture with different combinations. Like a green wave of seafoam with blue lightning striking or an astronaut floating above emerald clouds on a distant planet. Unlimited possibilities...
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