Schenectady Writers Service 11/1/1957
Ideas: House Paint. Paint is an ingenious invention. it is almost magical the way it covers something with color.
- Paint can be used to cover blemishes and stains. What kinds of stains will need covering? Evidence of a crime? Tragic memories? An imagined image? What happens when the stain is not completely covered or the original stain bleeds through the pain?
- It is almost impossible to match a color with paint. Why would an exact match of color be needed? How could one match a color of paint? What happens when a matched color fades at a different rate than the original paint?
- What is significant about the color of a house? Why would one house on a street be a different color than all the other houses. Why might a person want to paint their house the same color as everyone else’s house (or a different color)?
- How does the color of the walls effect the mood of a room? How would a person create a mood of madness, or incite murder by the color of a room?
- What if there was a permanent paint that could not be painted over? Would a person have to sell the house to have a different color?
- What terrible things would one find if a person stripped the paint off of a mirror or window?
- Paint can be put on a wall with a brush or a roller. How else might one paint a wall, and what would be the effect?
- Paint comes in almost any color and a paint store can mix any combination of dyes. What if someone wanted checks, stripes or polka dots? How would the paint store mix the paint.
- Brushstrokes remain visible when one uses thick paint. What secrets can be revealed by looking at the brush strokes of the paint on a wall?
- Walls in hospitals are painted with soothing colors. Why would one wish to paint a wall with colors that upset, incite or cause anger or fear?
- Tom Sawyer used psychology to get his friends to whitewash a fence. How might a modern Tom get people to paint for him?
- Some people never repaint their houses, some people repaint their houses often. What kind of person would never want to paint their house and why? What kind of person needs to repaint frequently and why?
- Painting oneself into a corner is an old joke. What other ways can painting trap a person?
- Can fear of a color (chromophobia) might cause a person to avoid a room or a house. How can it be used to control a person?
- A wet paint sign will keep people from touching painted areas before they are dry. Perhaps there are other uses for a wet paint sign.
- Paint can be hard to clean off skin or clothes. What can be revealed about a person from his paint stained clothes or the dry paint under their fingernails?
- A person might pick their wardrobe to match the color of a room. What else might have to change when the color of a room changes? Perhaps one needs to paint one’s skin or hair to match the paint of a house?
- A chameleon can change its color to match its surroundings. Suppose there was a chameleon paint that could match its color to the mood of the people in the room? What color would the paint be when a murderer entered? What color would it be if the murderer’s next victim entered the room?
- If one mixed all the old cans of paint found in a junkyard in order to have enough paint for a house, what color would the house wind up?
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