Wednesday 8 April 2015

G is for Grisaille


For this year's A-Z Challenge I have selected a word from the dictionary for each day and written a story around it with a 100 word limit. For extra interest I have chosen words that are unknown or unfamiliar to me. All definitions are from the Oxford Dictionary & Thesaurus 2007 Edition. Today's word is Grisaille.

Grisaille: A method of painting using only various shades of grey.

This was going to be the painting to make his name. He could feel electricity coursing through his fingers. They said the grisaille style was boring. Well, now shades of grey were where it was at. Fifty of them, to be precise.

His depictions of the book’s characters in various erotic couplings were going to sell like hotcakes. And he could use more than fifty shades. Seventy, a hundred.

He went over a line to make it darker. A new shade. Black. No! He threw the canvas to the floor.

There was no room for black or white in grisaille.

34 comments:

Scribbles From Jenn said...

Thanks for teaching me a new word and sharing a great story.

Scribbles From Jenn - Visiting from the A to Z Challenge

Unknown said...

Cool idea to write a story around a new word. Like it!

Sally said...

A great word - new to me as well. Great story loved the punchline

JazzFeathers said...

Priceless!!!! :-)

Annalisa Crawford said...

Ah, brilliant. Never knew there was a word for shades of grey though - gotta love the English language!

Annalisa, writing A-Z vignettes, at Wake Up, Eat, Write, Sleep

LuAnn @ BackPorchervations said...

What a great way to stretch your writing. I will probably always remember the word 'grisaille' now. :O)

Michael Abayomi said...

I have this painter friend that does a lot of grayscale portraits. Never realized there was a word for that particular art style until now. :)

JeffO said...

That's a new one for me--now, how do you pronounce it???

Tasha Duncan-Drake said...

Another new word on me :) Great story - 50 shades ::g::
Tasha
Tasha's Thinkings | Wittegen Press | FB3X (AC)

Jennifer Hawes said...

Grisaille sounds like a beautiful foreign girl's name:) I actually love the color gray! Thanks for sharing.

TBM said...

I love it and I learned a new word.

Anonymous said...

I felt bad for the artist, trashing his work. I hope he has success in the end.
It's great learning all these new words.

Tamara Narayan said...

I took 5 fine art courses in college and don't remember hearing about this g-word. I like the humor and it reminds me of a joke my husband made last night: "Hey, I know what you need to write for a sure-fire bestseller: Fifty Shades of Grey's Anatomy!"

Shell Flower said...

Hahaha. These stories are awesome.

Christine Rains said...

Ha! Fantastic. :)

Julie Flanders said...

Another new word for me too. This one was funny LOL. Poor guy.

djinnia said...

That is a new word for me. The story was frenetic with the artist's passion. Almost like a mad scientist. Great job.

T. Powell Coltrin said...

Love this story. The artist's frustration with getting it right.

Chrys Fey said...

Awesome story! I liked the little reference to 50 Shades.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

One shade too dark.
I guess that would be like pencil drawings.

betty said...

I loved how you wrote this, incorporating something recent with 50 shades of grey into your story. Too bad he had trouble with it though when black decided to show up.

betty

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Nick - great thought - bet it would sell like hotcakes - going to try?! You could publish a book of them ...

Just don't use the New Black .. cheers Hilary

Keith's Ramblings said...

His work sounds a whole lot of fun! Or not! Another word for me to add to my internal dictionary.

Anonymous said...

Great job. In the end, you caught his anger in a few words.

~Patricia Lynne aka Patricia Josephine~
Member of C. Lee's Muffin Commando Squad
Story Dam
Patricia Lynne, Indie Author

M Pax said...

Humorous and dramatic at the same time. Nice job.

http://mpaxauthor.com/mpaxworks-books-and-stories/the-renaissance-of-hetty-locklear/

cleemckenzie said...

You came up with a great way to integrate grisaille into a story,

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

Do you think if they'd called that first novel simply 'Grisaille' it would have been such a hit?
Another great little story.

J E Oneil said...

"Fifty of them." Nicely done, Nick. Nicely done :)

Colin Smith said...

Interesting take on the word, Nick. Well done! :)

Bushman said...

Weird, I read another blog today that said Grisaille was another word the rich used for garage sales.

I prefer yours. LOL
Good story too.

Bushman
2015 A to Z Challenge Ambassador
@jwb81074


Jean Davis said...

50 shades... Nicely done!

Mark Koopmans said...

HAHA!! Fifty shades of grey!! I love it...

The scary thing is... who would even *want* to paint in only grey!!

Joanne said...

Great idea for A-Z.
Liked your story - and learned something too!
I liked your little twist at the end. Rather than having people think in terms of black and white w/o shades of gray (as young kids usually do), it's nothing but shades of gray and it's the extremes that are unacceptable.

Shannon Lawrence said...

Nice. I like the final line. And the using more than fifty shades--clever!