"Word Painting"

Word seem to trickle from my mind onto the screen like a god sparkling stars in the heavy velvet sky. It is in this essence that I have recently learned of a new writing technique that goes by the name of word painting. In my quest to excel as a writer, I have been seeking alternative forms of the art of writing, similar to an artist experimenting with realism, modernism, impressionism, in an endeavor to best suite his style.

Word painting is a technique similar to oil painting on a canvas but in an analogy a means to ferment our ideas and impressions on the beauty of a certain concept on paper. This is the backbone of all great works that allows the writer to divulge, in deep description about his deepest feelings. Novelists tend to manifest these innermost emotions through the personalities and personas of their fictional characters just as a painter might bring out the beauty of a scenery before his eyes.

At times, we find that our descriptions of certain impressions don't do justice to explain how we really feel. Its not the same as providing your reader the body language and gestures that you might try to convince to a reader of a certain feeling. Simply said, its not the same as a "face to face" conversation with the reader. It is thus imperative to word paint to bring across to your reader the true essence behind what your aim to convey.

Every human is innately an artist. Every human is capable of word painting. It is merely required of every human to search in the deepest of his abysses for the true meaning of his emotions to dig out the right words as if they are unpolished gems and make them shine with the forces of adjectives, adverbs, transition phrases, and descriptors that will make the read as free flowing and colorful as water painting.

When writing of a certain idea or emotion, be specific, inquire as to what it is you really feel. Ask yourself what, where, why, when, and how your may be feeling the way you do. Be concise, avoid redundancy, analyze your emotions, visualize and feel what your are saying. Your words are a representative of yourself. Wouldn't your want to put yourself in the spotlight among other writers and have others appreciate your work as a form of art? Otherwise our writing becomes a chain of phrases, idioms, and expressions that are cliche and borrowed from popular culture outlets, such as films, songs, and other un-intellectual outlets of the entertainment industry. Hence, be original!

Not only does word painting explore our psychological subconscious of how we perceive the world, it opens the reader's eyes to new dimensions of impressions and emotions. We can experience new moods of elation through mere descriptions, such as visualizing vast, lush, green meadows with dew forming droplets of cool, refreshing water on the meadow lining the hill's body like the scales of a slumbering dragon. Visualize the imagery and feel the mood of awe that such a silly statement that can give you. Through such descriptions, we don't only inform the reader of the insight behind the subject matter, but enlighten ourselves as to what moved us and why it did the way it did.

I recently attended an art exhibition celebrating the 30 years of reform in China, where I say several artists with a pen and paper in hand sketching figures and details that inspired from the paintings of the galleries. This reminded me of the time I'd gone to Ataturk's museum in Turkey when I would carry my diary and pen around and "water paint" how I felt towards certain articles of possession, achievements, and inspiring traits of the modern founder of a Turkey. In a sense, I was water painting in an effort to attempt to emulate such a great leader's achievements, with hopes of instilling such impressions upon myself so that I may, one day, when given the opportunity, seek to bring about similar reform in myself, my community, my nation, and my world. Since then, I have carried out this tradition in museums so that I could benefit of the impressions that were drawn, carved, welded, written by the generations of the past. It is through word painting that we can record our impressions in certain circumstances and carry them with us through time to the future. Also through the process of word painting, we are drawn back to past times with the stimuli of smells, sounds, and feelings that allow us to drawn upon our past experiences to record our present condition to influence our future moods. Writing ties together past, present, and future phases of our lives through the mere phrases that define our word painting. It is in this spirit that I am able to visit the Mostafa of the past and talk to the Mostafa of the future.

I dedicate this entry to someone who taught me, but I never had the opportunity to express my deepest gratitude for bestowing me with this fruitful passion that keeps me awake in the late hours of every night. Thank you Dr. Henderickson, my IB English professor. Although you were strict and critical, you opened the world of writing to me, a world that I could spend a thousand lifetimes wandering in. I am forever grateful. Let this be a follow up manifesto towards my journey to develop and hone the skills of a writer.