This week, you will focus your observation on color, and write a paper describing the differences among shades or hues of a single color.

During your observation time this week, select a single color. Green is an obvious one, but it might be gray or brown or black or red (if there are lots of flowers). Look around yourself and see how many variations of your selected color you can see. How does one green differ from another?

Green and red are different from each other. But there are many greens: some browner, some shadier, some yellower. Notice whether there are plants or objects that have more than one tone or shade of a color. Notice the variations that sun and shade create on a single-toned object or plant.

This week, you may wish to do your writing in your space, in order to have the colors in front of you as you write. Do not write during your observation time; do your observation without writing, then write if you choose.

As you did last week, create categories, this time from among the variations of the color that you observed. This time, create names for your categories by using nouns describing things of that color. Variations on purple, for instance, could be eggplant, merlot, grape, jelly, lavender. (Yes, lavender is a noun, not just a color name, for it labels a Mediterranean plant with a pungent and memorable aroma.) You will probably need your thesaurus for this exercise.

Write a brief description, about one long paragraph, of the way the color appears. Remember to establish some organizing principle to your essay, for no matter how brief it is, you'll need to assist the reader in finding a structure. Remember that the way the eye moves is a good way to organize: this, then that to the right, and that to the right again. Or you may wish to organize the essay in any other way. Make sure, however, that the paragraph's sentences are not randomly placed.