Chapter 3 Stylesearch
14/11/2007 08:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
izmeinaEXERCISE 4: Pick a Color
Choose a color that appeals to you. It doesn’t have to be your all-time
favorite, or a color you especially like to wear—though it may be. The best
way to pick one is to look at a selection of colors, and I’d also like you to
have your color in front of you while you do this exercise. So you might
glance through a brightly colored magazine . . . or look around for a color
that catches your eye in a painting or print, a chair or a rug, in the room
where you’re sitting right now . . . or if you have a child’s box of crayons, or
a set of chalks or paints, that will give you an excellent range to choose
from. (Remember the delicious feeling of choice you got when you opened a
brand-new box of forty-eight sharp-pointed crayons and decided which one
to draw with first: silver? flesh? forest green?)
Now I would like you to role-play that color. That means you are going to
pretend you are that color and speak for it, since it cannot speak for itself. It
can’t tell us what it’s like to be royal purple, or buttercup, or black. You will
have to tell what it’s like to be your color.
The Emerald Serpent!
Oh yesss. So true that there's more to this one than meets the eye
Even when being totally restrained and staying with one single solitary colour, there's at least 40 shades of green that this serpent could happily snatch
So the reason for green
Red is too hot and yellow too bright. Blue is too cold but green is just right
It is a calming, relaxing and comforting colour and not easily slotted into the usual black - white, male - female, left - right pigeon holes
Getting more fussy and finicky
Olive green
Warm and friendly
Down to earth, quirky and eccentric
But bestest of all - a quiet unobtrusive sneaking about on the sidelines colour
Forest (emerald?) green (the green equivalent of burgundy, plum or navy blue)
Dark, mysterious, subtle and understated
EXERCISE 5: The Private-Eye Game
Play detective. Snoop around your own house or room as if you were a
private eye trying to find out who lived here just from the style revealed in
the house. After all, in a way you are learning about a stranger. You are
following the tracks and examining the fingerprints of a unique individual
you do not know who happens to be you.
Look in the clothes closets, the kitchen cabinets, the book and record
shelves. Look at the furniture, the rugs, the curtains, the picture on the walls,
the food in the refrigerator, the colors, the state of clutter or order, the
arrangement of space. Make an inventory of as many characteristics and interests as you can find
For instance, would you say that the person who lives here is organized or
scatterbrained? Sociable or solitary? Sensual or intellectual? Or some of
both? Would she rather read fiction or history? Does he prefer Bach or Eric
Clapton? Or both? Do the furnishings this person chose show a preference
for rough, natural materials or for finished, classy ones? Does the house or
apartment have a striking central feature, or a favorite lived-in place: the
kitchen, a writing desk, a fireplace, the stereo? What are the clothes in the
closet saying about the person who chose them? (I have never met a person
who wasn't carefully costumed!) And so on.
When you’ve gathered all the clues you can, sit down and read through the
detective’s profile you’ve compiled. It is a portrait of yourself.
Are you surprised?
The first thing you'd notice on entering the Lair of the Emerald Serpent is a rather wild and Weasleyish garden full of creepy crawlies such as rusted iron spiders hanging around the globe artichoke flowers and the evil mosquitoes and wasps perched ready to pounce on the branches of the eucalypt tree
The front door is decorated with a silver and green garland and two black rubber spiders
More creatures are to be found in the living room - which is the centre of the Izzie's Lair. There's Potter posters on the wall and various witches on broomsticks
The furniture is a mishmash of 1950's and 60's relics and an art deco writing table. This table is the present Serpent Shrine and token gesture to tidiness and minimalism. On the top is a sandalwood bowl containing quills and a jarrah wood bowl containing sandalwood shavings. There are also two candles, a potions beaker 1/3 full of orange essential oil and most precious of precious - in the centre - a copy of "Die Stadt der Träumende Bücher" and a leather bound book with blank handmade paper pages.
In one drawer are the Izzie accounts for 2007 plus the still incompleted Last Will and Testament of the Serpent. In the other are several decks of Tarot cards and a secret stash of dark chocolate bars
Sitting in a black bag on the chair near the desk is a very special Escher book acquired at a visit to the Escher museum during last year's adventures and probably the most expensive book that the Izzie has ever indulged in (this book has got the "9/10 of the iceberg" stuff that the Taschens don't do - and yesss - Izzie's got lots of them too)
On a scale of Zen monk minimalism (or Dutch design) (0)to Victorian dust, clutter and chaos (10)- the Izzie would rate between a 7 and 8
Not every flat surface is covered in stuff but more than half of them are (usually with pieces of paper and books)
There's the cupboard underneath the stairs - but let's not go there
The kitchen cupboards are full of various gadgets and pans accumulated at garage sales from all those years in Durmstrang land. Including a very scary collection of seriously gorgeous and very sharp forged steel knives.
Lots of jars and packets in the pantry - the Izzie still has a serious munchies hoarding problem - especially for spices, tins of beans and cheese.
The dominant colours and textures are earthy browns and beiges.
There's one bookshelf left in this room that's not yet been mentioned but will save that for the next instalment which is the tidiest room in the house - the Library
Choose a color that appeals to you. It doesn’t have to be your all-time
favorite, or a color you especially like to wear—though it may be. The best
way to pick one is to look at a selection of colors, and I’d also like you to
have your color in front of you while you do this exercise. So you might
glance through a brightly colored magazine . . . or look around for a color
that catches your eye in a painting or print, a chair or a rug, in the room
where you’re sitting right now . . . or if you have a child’s box of crayons, or
a set of chalks or paints, that will give you an excellent range to choose
from. (Remember the delicious feeling of choice you got when you opened a
brand-new box of forty-eight sharp-pointed crayons and decided which one
to draw with first: silver? flesh? forest green?)
Now I would like you to role-play that color. That means you are going to
pretend you are that color and speak for it, since it cannot speak for itself. It
can’t tell us what it’s like to be royal purple, or buttercup, or black. You will
have to tell what it’s like to be your color.
The Emerald Serpent!
Oh yesss. So true that there's more to this one than meets the eye
Even when being totally restrained and staying with one single solitary colour, there's at least 40 shades of green that this serpent could happily snatch
So the reason for green
Red is too hot and yellow too bright. Blue is too cold but green is just right
It is a calming, relaxing and comforting colour and not easily slotted into the usual black - white, male - female, left - right pigeon holes
Getting more fussy and finicky
Olive green
Warm and friendly
Down to earth, quirky and eccentric
But bestest of all - a quiet unobtrusive sneaking about on the sidelines colour
Forest (emerald?) green (the green equivalent of burgundy, plum or navy blue)
Dark, mysterious, subtle and understated
EXERCISE 5: The Private-Eye Game
Play detective. Snoop around your own house or room as if you were a
private eye trying to find out who lived here just from the style revealed in
the house. After all, in a way you are learning about a stranger. You are
following the tracks and examining the fingerprints of a unique individual
you do not know who happens to be you.
Look in the clothes closets, the kitchen cabinets, the book and record
shelves. Look at the furniture, the rugs, the curtains, the picture on the walls,
the food in the refrigerator, the colors, the state of clutter or order, the
arrangement of space. Make an inventory of as many characteristics and interests as you can find
For instance, would you say that the person who lives here is organized or
scatterbrained? Sociable or solitary? Sensual or intellectual? Or some of
both? Would she rather read fiction or history? Does he prefer Bach or Eric
Clapton? Or both? Do the furnishings this person chose show a preference
for rough, natural materials or for finished, classy ones? Does the house or
apartment have a striking central feature, or a favorite lived-in place: the
kitchen, a writing desk, a fireplace, the stereo? What are the clothes in the
closet saying about the person who chose them? (I have never met a person
who wasn't carefully costumed!) And so on.
When you’ve gathered all the clues you can, sit down and read through the
detective’s profile you’ve compiled. It is a portrait of yourself.
Are you surprised?
The first thing you'd notice on entering the Lair of the Emerald Serpent is a rather wild and Weasleyish garden full of creepy crawlies such as rusted iron spiders hanging around the globe artichoke flowers and the evil mosquitoes and wasps perched ready to pounce on the branches of the eucalypt tree
The front door is decorated with a silver and green garland and two black rubber spiders
More creatures are to be found in the living room - which is the centre of the Izzie's Lair. There's Potter posters on the wall and various witches on broomsticks
The furniture is a mishmash of 1950's and 60's relics and an art deco writing table. This table is the present Serpent Shrine and token gesture to tidiness and minimalism. On the top is a sandalwood bowl containing quills and a jarrah wood bowl containing sandalwood shavings. There are also two candles, a potions beaker 1/3 full of orange essential oil and most precious of precious - in the centre - a copy of "Die Stadt der Träumende Bücher" and a leather bound book with blank handmade paper pages.
In one drawer are the Izzie accounts for 2007 plus the still incompleted Last Will and Testament of the Serpent. In the other are several decks of Tarot cards and a secret stash of dark chocolate bars
Sitting in a black bag on the chair near the desk is a very special Escher book acquired at a visit to the Escher museum during last year's adventures and probably the most expensive book that the Izzie has ever indulged in (this book has got the "9/10 of the iceberg" stuff that the Taschens don't do - and yesss - Izzie's got lots of them too)
On a scale of Zen monk minimalism (or Dutch design) (0)to Victorian dust, clutter and chaos (10)- the Izzie would rate between a 7 and 8
Not every flat surface is covered in stuff but more than half of them are (usually with pieces of paper and books)
There's the cupboard underneath the stairs - but let's not go there
The kitchen cupboards are full of various gadgets and pans accumulated at garage sales from all those years in Durmstrang land. Including a very scary collection of seriously gorgeous and very sharp forged steel knives.
Lots of jars and packets in the pantry - the Izzie still has a serious munchies hoarding problem - especially for spices, tins of beans and cheese.
The dominant colours and textures are earthy browns and beiges.
There's one bookshelf left in this room that's not yet been mentioned but will save that for the next instalment which is the tidiest room in the house - the Library
