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Hello there, my friends. Today on The Joy of Painting, we’re going to try something a little bit different. For years, you’ve learned to paint with pictures, and that’s happy way to paint; but, did you know that you can also paint with words? It may sound funny, but it’s true.

In the past, you may have heard some of your teachers tell you to show and not tell when you are writing. This may be a bit confusing. When a teacher says that you are telling instead of showing, they may be pointing to a sentence like this:

Telling: The guy is tall.

There’s nothing wrong with this sentence. It has a subject (guy) and a verb (is). It even has a couple of adjectives: the (an article) and tall (a description of guy). However, the sentence is boring. Worse yet, it is vague; tall can mean different things to different people. My mother, who is a little over five feet tall, might consider a person whose height is six feet to be tall. By being more specific—by painting with words—you can eliminate this type of ambiguity.

Often times, young (and old) writers need help with showing. This is where brush strokes can help. Brush strokes are elements that can be used in writing to add depth and meaning.

Painting with Absolutes

For a minute, pretend that you wrote this sentence: The car went to the house. Again, there’s nothing wrong with this sentence. But it isn’t a happy sentence; it’s missing something important. It’s missing depth, feeling, and meaning. Let’s try using an absolute to make this sentence one that shows instead of tells. An absolute consists of a noun and a word that ends in –ed or –ing. Usually, you can add one or two absolute brush strokes to the beginning or end of a sentence. However, if you add three, or if you drop these into the middle of a sentence, they somehow lose their power. Here are two examples of absolutes:

➢ The car went to the house, wheels squeaking, muffler coughing.

➢ Motor...