In our last post, we wrote about colour comparisons. Today, we are going to make up names for colours. It is a similar activity. Think about a paint chart, or the names for lipstick colours or the colours of cars. We make up all kinds of phrases to suggest a colour: strawberry blush; dead salmon; autumn sunset; electric blue …..
You might start by looking back at your list of colour comparisons, if you have one. Simply turn the comparison into a colour name:
white as milk ‘milk’ or ‘milk white’
white as asbestos ‘asbestos’ or ‘asbestos coloured’
white as angel’s bones ‘angel’s bones’
Then, you could look around the room where you are writing, and out of the window. Look at the colours of things and use them to provide you with colour names. I was sitting in the kitchen when I did this. I saw ‘old banana yellow’ ‘crockery white’ ‘brown paper’ ‘hi-vis yellow’ and more.
You could choose colours from across the spectrum, or choose one colour, and think of all the different shades and qualities of that colour. So I could add to my list of yellows now that I am upstairs in a different room; ‘National Geographic’ ‘old Perspex’ ‘Curious George yellow’. Ooof! That was hard! Not much yellow in the room, and most of it is yellow like something else, not of itself – dresses, a plastic bag …. Anyway, have a go at creating a colour chart. It’s another list!
Writing Box 