Collecting Color
Collecting Color
TAoN No. 169: A fresh take on a classic attention practice. Plus my "City Tech" book, a new Icebreaker, and more
Probably the most famous advocate of the color walk—and certainly the most poetic about it—is William Burroughs. In fact, he used the lovely term “walking on colors” to describe the practice. As he once wrote:
“Another exercise that is very effective is walking on colors. Pick out all the reds on a street, focusing only on red objects—brick, lights, sweaters, signs. Shift to green, blue, orange, yellow. Notice how the colors begin to stand out more sharply of their own accord.”
And elsewhere1:
“I was walking down the boulevard, when I looked out I was seeing all the blues in the street in front of me, blue on a foulard…blue on a young workman’s ass…his blue jeans…a girl’s blue sweater…blue neon…the sky…all the blues. When I looked again I saw nothing but all the reds of traffic lights…car lights…a café sign…a man’s nose.”
Aside from picking a single color and noticing every variation, you can also “follow” a color — look out for yellows, and keep walking toward them, and let this color-chance direct your journey. Here’s a good example of the classic color walk assignment:
Let color be your guide. Allow yourself to become sensitized to the color in your surroundings. As you walk, try to construct a color story or a narrative based on the color you observe. What are the colors that you become aware of first? What are the colors that reveal themselves more slowly? What colors do you observe that you did not expect? What color relationships do you notice? Do colors appear to change over time?
The idea has been adapted for nature — and even for TikTok. Lately I’ve color-stumbled into my own variation.
It started when E and I were on a brief walk in the French Quarter here in New Orleans, which of course is one of the most colorful cities in America (in every sense). I randomly pointed out a color I liked — just on its own, not because of its context. We evaluated that color, then another, completely different and unrelated one.
A few days later, while biking, I started really noticing the variety of colors to choose from. This gave a surprising jolt to the way I was seeing. It reminded me, kind of randomly, of the Pantone Colors Tumblr — just pure blocks of color that I always found weirdly compelling. I ended up stopping my ride a few times to “collect” pure-color samples. You (or at least I) can’t really get pure captures on real-life surfaces, but I settled for what I could.
I can’t quite explain what this triggered, but I was soon noticing a lot more colors, and not always in obvious places. (One of the blues above is from a port-a-john.) Plus I kinda loved the way they looked as they piled up in the photo app on my phone:
I wish my entire Instagram feed looked like that!
Go walk on colors: I’d love to hear if you have color walk (or ride) variations of your own.
SUPPORT TAoN!
Really want to read more TAoN but just can’t swing a paid sub? Drop a line to my email address found toward the bottom of this post and I’ll comp you. (Or better yet send your request to my physical address listed below — I love mail! Just make sure to include your email.)
—> You can also get comped by referring friends; details here.
That said, if you enjoy TAoN, I hope you will become a supporter with a paid subscription. You’ll get access to the full archives as well as supporter-only bonus posts and discussion threads — and, most important, you’ll help keep this project alive!
THE NEXT FREE EDITION IN TWO WEEKS
Noticing is about other people, too. The Icebreaker series aims to help with that. There’s a central collection spot for all the icebreakers to date, here.
Today’s icebreaker comes from TAoN favorite Rubi McGrory (check out her Iridescent Ordinary, “a newsletter about microdosing joy in a sucky-ass world”).
What can you speak about, with no advance preparation, for 30 minutes?
Rubi explains that she was in an hours-long line and “posed this question to the people in line around me. Turns out one woman was ‘The Goddess of Guinea Worms,’ and is expert on them. A lot of people answer their dogs, which is okay.” Teachers may have a bit of an unfair advantage on this one, she notes. (And: “I also ask people what kind of cheese they would be.”)
Thank you as always, Rubi! I always look forward to Iridescent Ordinary.
Please send your favorite icebreaker (whether you made it up or found it elsewhere) to consumed@robwalker.net. If I use your icebreaker you’ll get a free three-month sub to the paid edition of TAoN (or some other fun prize if you’re already a supporter).
IN OTHER NEWS
I’m so excited to announce that the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy has just published a book of 20 of my columns for them on cities and technology. City Tech is a work of journalism for an audience interested in urban policy and planning, so it’s very different from what I do here at TAoN. But if you or someone you know might be interested, more here. Beautifully designed! I’m quite pleased with it!
Prevent Plant Blindness. (“The inability to see or notice the plants in one's environment.”) From Plant Vision. (Thx Claire C.!)
NYC subway door chimes. (Via Café Anne.)
Mushroom Color Atlas. Surprisingly pretty. (Thx Ryan H.!)
“Tape Deck is possibly the best collection of old cassette tapes online,” says Present & Correct, which offers five examples.
Essay on Music of the Mind, a Yoko Ono retrospective at the Tate. I’d love to see this. Here’s a 2022 TAoN post on Ono’s 1964 book Grapefruit, paywall removed.
In the last week I’ve had two dreams about looking at the moon. I don’t have a link for that, I’m just telling you.
OKAY THAT’S IT!
As always, I value your feedback (suggestions, critiques, positive reinforcement, constructive insults directed at me, not at anyone else, etc.), as well as your tips or stories or personal noticing rituals, things we need a word for, and of course your icebreakers: consumed@robwalker.net. Or use the comments.
—> Tell someone about TAoN! Maybe we can get to 50k subs by year-end! Or just click the heart symbol. That always makes my day.
And thanks for reading …
rw
RobWalker.net | NB: I use (some) Amazon Affiliate links
All this by Rob Walker PO Box 171, 748 Mehle St., Arabi LA 70032. Send me mail!
To unsubscribe see the bottom of the email, or go here.
This quote comes from an exchange with Brion Gysin, a painter I know very little about. There’s a follow-up about Burroughs and Gysin and color here, by Michael Taussig. I don’t entirely understand some of the references, so I’m still processing it, but it includes this nice line: “Could we not say, therefore, that with the color walk we are alerted to the singular and beautiful fact that color itself walks?”
What a great idea! I walk and bike daily, so I will try collecting colors.
I have a friend who chose a color and spent a month photographing that color. She chose her best photo of the day. She moved to a new color each month throughout a year. Another way to collect colors!
Love this week’s ice breaker!
As for the colors what surprised me was the strong reactions I had to the blocks of colors you included. Really loving or strong negative response! It’s just a color! Why do we love or hate them so?