Saturday, January 28, 2017
Spring 2017, Post #2
Read pages 1-8 in Constance Hale's Sin and Syntax. Find one sentence in Victoria Finlay's chapters "The Beginning of the Rainbow" or "The Paintbox" (in Color) that embodies Hale's advice to "relish every word," "be simple, but go deep," "take risks," "seek beauty," or "find the right pitch." Copy that sentence, and explain why and/or how it succeeds. In other words, don't summarize the sentence; instead, explain why it is a well-written sentence.
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Guadalupe Munoz
ReplyDelete"Art history is so often about looking at the people who made the art; but I realized at that moment there were also stories to be told about the people who made the things that made the art."(page2)
I chose this sentence because it conveys Hale's advice in structuring a sentence. This sentence portrays being simple but deep, takes risks, and seeks beauty. The sentence really opens up ones perspective about art and artists motives. Often times you learn about the artist first rather than their motives/reasonings to the art.The sentence also uses the simplest of words yet is able to get across such a deep meaning and that embodies Hale's advice. It succeeds as a well-written sentence because it gets the reader thinking about art in other broader terms that allows the reader to view it through a different perspective. In addition, this sentence also seeks beauty in finding deeper meaning and making connections towards the art and the artist reasonings behind his or her creations. Overall, this is a successful well-written sentence that made me stop and really think about what I had just read.
The sentence I chose from Color is on page 22 in “The Paintbox” chapter. Finlay states, “This move to revisit the ghosts of pigments past, mixed with a sense of loss for what today we have forgotten, is not new at all.” This sentence does succeed in following the advice shared by Hale. Finlay’s use of diction and sentence structure creates a sentence that is easy for the reader to understand, but also conjures thoughts of color’s history. It meets the recommendation of being simple, but going deep as well as finding the right pitch.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading "The beginning of the Rainbow", the sentence that grabbed my attention was "I suddenly understood with my eyes and not just my mind how the phenomenon of color is about vibrations and the emission of energy." (pg.6) This sentence successfully conveys Hale's advice by representing simple but deep, seeks beauty and find the right pitch. The sentence is constructed of simple words that convey deep meanings to oneself. It makes the reader think more about what they just read by perhaps connecting to it through experience. Also, the sentence seeks beauty by focusing on the concept of "color". Color is known to be something that allows an object to stand out more alive. The use of color in the sentence is used positively as if color is something beautiful or pleasing. Find the right pitch is also transmitted in the sentence by establishing style and tone and by forbidding the use of pompous words. Overall, these elements successfully made this a well-written sentence.
ReplyDeleteThe sentence I selected embodies Hale’s advice to “find the right pitch” is from page five from Sin and Syntax, “The beginning of the Rainbow” chapter. “When light shines on a leaf, or a daub of paint, or a lump of butter, it actually causes it to rearrange its electrons, in a process called “transition.”
ReplyDeleteThis sentence is well written because the author keeps the audience in mind. The author uses appropriate style and tone to explain the process of color “transition.” It is shown in the terminology selected to describe the process. The author refrains from including technical and pompous diction. This creates a tone that is not above or beneath the reader, allowing full comprehension of what is being read. The author’s choice of words and simplicity represents Hale’s advice to “find the right pitch.”
"Even the (arguably) more boring 'DUTCH PINK: a fugitive yellow lake made from buckthorn' made me swoon with its paradox." (page 2)
ReplyDeleteI believe that this sentence perfectly captures the author's feelings towards the subject matter of the book, in a brief, yet emotionally tangible way. Although the bulk of the sentence refers to an insignificant detail, her choice to use the word "swoon," is exactly what Hale refers to in Part 1 of Sin and Syntax. It is simple because it's not a multisyllabic, higher education type of word. It is deep and beautiful because it brings a sense of ecstasy and lovesickness. It is risky because it's such a relatable feeling, yet she uses it to show her readers how excited she is about color and set the tone of the book.
In the book, Color: A Natural History of the Palette, by Victoria Finlay, states, “The best way I’ve found of understanding this is to think not so much of something “being” a color but of it “doing” a color” (page 6). This sentence succeeds Hale’s advice upon the explanation of “be simple, but go deep” and “find the right pitch”. The sentence describes be simple, but go deep because the words are simple enough for the reader to understand the main idea of the sentence is trying to address. The words are simple enough but have a lot more meaning behind them. Also, the sentence illustrates, find the right pitch, because it has a nice flow within the sentence structure. The words “being” and “doing” are two words that have a strong enough connection that carries a further flow that attracts the reader’s attention and after thoughts. Overall, Hale’s advice on “be simple, but go deep” and “find the right pitch” was well taken into action due to putting the reader into a deeper inner thought position.
ReplyDelete“Only they were not pink, they were shimmering-almost as if a heartbeat had been transformed into something visible” (The Beginning of the Rainbow)
ReplyDeleteAfter reading, I chose this sentence because I felt it stood out when incorporating the advise of Hale to “seek beauty” and “be simple, but go deep”. The sentence really goes deep in painting a visual picture in your head as you read it. It makes the reader see the beauty that is art, by portraying its meaning through simple, rich words. The sentences is well written because it flows perfectly to capture the author’s feelings of seeing this color in a different sense rather than just pink.
"Everything in the universe--whether it is classified as "solid" or "liquid" or "gas" or even "vacuum"--is shimmering and vibrating and constantly changing."(page 4)
ReplyDeleteI chose this sentence because it sought beauty, was simple yet deep and it was written in the right pitch. This is a beautiful sentence to me because it sang. What I mean by that is that the sentence was written so that when I read it, it had a flow to it. The breaks and "ands" in the sentence structured it well enough that once I read it, i wanted to reread it as though trying to remember a lyric of a song. I also liked how she described the states of matter and lack of matter as vibrating and shimmering and constantly changing. All matter is in constant vibration and some do change depending on the frequency of vibration but to describe them as shimmering is something of beauty in my opinion. Shimmering is a word I would use in describing beautiful things such as "the shimmering of light on an ocean" or "a shimmer of hope". This sentence also aimed deep in letting a reader think about the states of matter as vibrating and constantly changing. I don't think any person who isn't studying a science ever thinks about the constant vibration of the states of matter. I believe this sentence opens up that thought of how solids are atoms that are in slow vibration or that gases are atoms that are in the fastest vibration.
The sentence I chose was on page 15 of "The Paintbox". "What was the good of painting a masterpiece if its constituent elements would spend the next few years fighting together chemically on the canvas, and ultimately turn black". This sentence was simple but deep. It gets the meaning across perfectly but at the same time it's as if it were a verse out of a poem. It's almost like an ordinary sentence if you don't pay attention. He seeks a subtle beauty. He also brings the canvas to life by wording it as if the colors were doing the actions themselves.
ReplyDelete“The first challenge in writing about colors is that they don’t really exist. Or rather that do exist, but only because our minds create them as an interpretation of vibrations that are happening around us.” (Pg 4)
ReplyDeleteThese two sentences are an example of Hale’s advice to “Be simple, but go deep” because the words themselves are very simple words that are easy to understand yet they are assembled in a way that reiterates a very complex concept. The sentences together create a well written set of sentences because the second sentence plays off of the simplicity of the first. The simplicity comes from the word choice of the author. The individual words used are easy to understand and the sentence is not overwritten. The meaning of the two sentences are complex and expressing a much deeper interaction between color and the human.
"What did I learn at art school? I learned that art is painting, not painted." written by Harvey "Fierstein in Family Album: Brooklyn Collects".
ReplyDeleteThe sentence I chose, although was not in the paintbox, it was in the quote that was introducing it. It was on page 11 and it relates to Constance Hale's advice to "Be simple but go deep" and "seek beauty".
This quote spoke to me because often times when you go to museums, art gallery's, or even drawing contests with chalk, you get different perspectives. There will be some people who like the paintings, some people who do not understand it, and some people who do not like it at all. Obviously the people who like it can relate to the artist when he/she was in that mind frame at the time that they were drawing the painting. Art is being able to convey an image or feeling no matter who likes it or who does not. The image portrayed can mean something for everyone which is why i feel that the artist is most important because they were able to convey the message and get an emotion from different people, whether the feedback was positive or negative. The emotion and mentality the artist felt at the time means far more than what can be painted on a canvas in my option, which is why I chose that quote.
" The use of natural pigaments is similarly embodied in the Orthodox teaching that humanity- like all creation- was created pure but not perfect, and the purpose of being born to reach your true potential."
ReplyDeleteAfter reading " Paintbox" i chose this quote because it does have a truthful meaning. It does relate to being perfect because no matter what you look like either your perfect of not everyone is created equally. There will be up's and downs through out life, whether its their beliefs or values everyone will rise up to who they are.
“I don’t remember the architecture, I don’t even have a fixed idea of the space I was in that day, but what I do remember is the sense of blue and red lights dancing on white stones.” (pg.1) I chose this sentence because, in my opinion, it embodies Hale’s advice on “be simple, but go deep” and “seek beauty.” First, the sentence starts simple to set a setting of where Hale is. It is simple enough to understand the words architecture and space which relates to the art or practice of designing and constructing buildings. We often associate the word architecture with beautiful and amazing designs of buildings. The sentence then proceeds to establish a deep sense of the colors blue and red as if the colors were living inside the white stones. The deep meaning is combined with the beauty aspect. It portrays the colors of the cathedral as being colorful because it is explained as being a light.
ReplyDelete"They are stories of sacredness and profanity, of nostalgia and innovation, of secrecy and myth, of luxury and texture, of profit and loss, of fading and poison, of cruelty and greed, and of the determenation of some people to let nothing stop them in the pursuit of beauty" (Finlay, 24).
ReplyDelete"Relish every word"
In one sentence Victoria Finlay says a lot about paint, painters, and paintings. This sentence follows Constance Hales advice to "relish every word." Hale explains that Henry Ward Beecher once wrote that "'All words are pegs to hang ideas on'" (1). The words in Finlay's sentence perfectly convey the idea that paints have an array of stories, as well as the ability to assist artists in creating stories of their own. The sentence, through a series of phrases, explains Finlay's understanding that paint has endless potential and many histories.
The sentences I chose is from colors, there’s two because they go perfectly together, and was flowed flawlessly with a conjunction starting the second sentence. “The first challenge in writing about colors is that they don’t really exist. Or rather they do exist, but only because our minds create them as an interpretation of vibrations that are happening around us.” I chose this sentence because I feel it is written straightforward, but also has a lot of meaning behind it. I like how the first sentence led straight to the point, but then they followed the next sentence starting with a conjunction that flowed perfectly. Sometimes it’s difficult to start sentences with conjunctions and make it flow perfectly, but with these two sentences, it was a perfect fence to the other. The sentence wasn’t very long, but was still very detailed and informative.
ReplyDeleteAlyssa Obordo
ReplyDelete"They are stories of sacredness and profanity, of nostalgia and innovation, of secrecy and myth, of luxury and texture, of profit and loss, of fading and poison, of cruelty and greed, and of the determination of some people to let nothing stop them in the pursuit of beauty."(page 24)
This sentence, from the chapter The Paintbox,embodies Hale's advice to relish every word because it uses many examples of denotations with connotations to describe the many struggles that some people will go through in the pursuit of beauty (the creation of beautiful long-lasting paints). Denotations: sacredness/profanity, nostalgia/innovation, secrecy/myth, luxury/texture, profit/loss, fading/poison, cruelty/greed. Connotations: all of these denotations describe a sense of positive and negative connotations.
"If you open a box of paints,there are numerous stories hidden inside it. They are stories of sacredness and profanity, of nostalgia and innovation, of secrecy and myth, of luxery and texture, of profit and loss, of fading and poison, of cruelty and greed, and of the determination of some people to let nothing stop them in the pursuit of beauty." (pg 24)
ReplyDeleteThis quote from "The Paintbox" is a good example of "seeking beauty" and "finding the right pitch." This is because of the rhythmic feel that comes from reading it. The repeated use of "of" and coupling it with the two opposites allows the reader to read this rhythm. Furthermore, some of this quote could be viewed as "be simple, but go deep" with the pairing of "profit and loss." However, with the pairing of "nostalgia and innovation," it could be viewed as complex.
“It is almost as if every few generations we seem to realize we have assigned our predecessors to a black-and-white past, and then rejoice together at rediscovering that they loved colors too.” (p 28 in eBook)
ReplyDeleteThis sentence is well-written because it has a certain pitch that resonates with the reader. In one sentence, the author is able to clearly create a feeling of nostalgia and share that feeling with the reader. Finlay not only echoes our feeling of discovery about the past but in the way we wish we could articulate it because it goes deeper. We do have assumptions about those people who lived before us and the use of “black-and-white” shows how those assumptions lack richness. Then we can “rejoice” when we, together, find out again (“rediscovering”) that those who lived before us were less flat and “loved” what we love, colors.
"But the news journalism became arts journalism, and every time I heard anecdotes about colors- an archaeologist explaining how the Chinese used to depend on Peris for the blue on their famous Ming porcelain; the astonishing discovery that English artists once smeared dead humans onto their canvases: artists in Hanoi talking about how their work had changed not just because they had new things to say as Vietnam opened up, but very simply because they had better and brighter paints-- those childhood memories stirred" (Finlay 2)
ReplyDeleteI chose this sentence because she demonstrates that she was willing to "take a risk" with her sentence structure. It is not too common you read a sentence with more than two independent clauses. Although her sentence was long within the sentence her independent clauses were "simple, but deep". The harsh wording of "smeared dead humans" and "depended on the Persians" (Finlay) were very direct and and painted a vivid image inside my head. Finlay is an excellent writer, and her sentence structures makes her writing even stronger.
In Hale's "Sin and Syntax" I chose "Find the Right Pitch." In this short description, Hale goes over why finding the right pitch with your reading audience is important. In "Color" Winchester writes "Few of these people ever encountered each other, even in books, but I've enjoyed meeting them all on my journeys, and I hope you do too. (pg 9)." When Hale talked about finding the right pitch, he said to find the right tone and pitch to your story, but also not to talk to your readers as if they are strangers. I believe that this is a well written sentence because when Winchester says "...and I hope you do too." he related to his audience in not treating them as strangers and also treating them as equal.
ReplyDeleteFrom Sin and Syntax I decided that finding the right pitch would be important for this book to me because as the author mentions, there isn's a main character, there are a merely many main characters and those are all types of different colors. The sentence I chose was that I felt really pulled readers in was: "A week before, those atoms would have been doing a slightly different dance-absorbing the red light and rejecting the rest, to give the appearance of a green tomato instead." (pg 6) I find that this not only paints the picture of colors actually being able to be "characters", but it also shows growth within that character. This whole paragraph was intriguing but something about this specific sentence pulls you in more and actually made me at least more curious about how it all works.
ReplyDeleteThe quote from "The Beginning of the Rainbow" that stood out to me was "Even the more boring "Dutch Pink: a fugitive yellow lake made from buckthorn" made me swoon with its paradox. I was smitten, so I did what any reluctant lover might do when they don't know what's good for them" (2).
ReplyDeleteThis sentence was well written because the author embodies the quote "go simple but go deep" from Sin and Syntax. The author is using words that one would use to describe being in love and not knowing what to do as a first experience with seeing new colors along with the meaning behind them. The word choice and how they were put together describes how they were in awe with something that wouldn't make sense, a similar feeling when feeling something new.
“My heart started beating, and I had a bizarre sensation that was rather like being in love. This was an annoying feeling to have in a bookshop so I tested myself” (Finlay, 2).
ReplyDeleteThese two sentences take Hale’s advice because they portray being simple but deep, take risks, and seeks beauty. These sentences speak about how love is risky, but it’s a feeling everyone should experience because of it beauty. The words are simple words to understand, yet they connect in a way that repeats a very complex concept. The sentences together build a well written set of judgements because the second sentence backs up the courage of the first. The meaning of these sentences express a deep interaction with if you want to feel something beautiful you must take risks.
Heriberto Pina
ReplyDeleteWhen reading “The Beginning of the Rainbow,” the sentence that caught my attention was “The best way I’ve found of understanding this is to think not so much of something “being” a color but of it “doing” a color.”(pg.6) This sentence is pretty simple and straightforward with simple words but with a deep meaning. I think it allows for us readers to acknowledge it’s meaning and connect it to a current event or previous experiences. I believe that it's a well-written sentence because it’s meaning it's on point and allows readers to think how things work.
"Everything in the universe-whether it is classified as "solid" or "liquid" or "gas" or even "vacuum"-is shimmering and vibrating and constantly changing. But our brains don't find that a very useful way of comprehending the world". (Finlay, 4)
ReplyDeleteThis sentence succeeds in embodying Hale's advice because it portrays being simple, but deep and seeks beauty. I think her sentence is very direct and allows the reader to envision the continuous changes in the world and how they perceive them. The author uses words such as "shimmering" and "vibrating" to capture the constant changing beauty occurring within the universe. Overall, this is a well-written sentence structure.
In the Sin and Syntax talks about being simple but going deep in writing. Their definition was that simple words are used to go deep with no big words but it creates a big idea. I choose a sentence found in the story The Paintbox it says “Cennino as an old man writing his memoirs in a miserable lock-up, so caught up by the beauty of the processes he was describing that omitted to mention the ugliness of his present location”. This sentence caught my attention because it fit perfectly to the definition. The author is using simple words but it creates a strong message. Cennino was more focus on the positive stuff rather than the negative things that were happening to him.
ReplyDelete