From Paint Swatch to Notebook
$30 each session or $75 for all 3 sessions March
The history and origin of modern-day colors is rich and vibrant, worthy of discussion and reflection. Colors have evolved over centuries, attracting trends and popular culture in numerous ways. In this course, we will dive deep into the roots of how a few colors originated—their naming, their context, their problems, their use. We paint our bedroom and kitchen walls with variations of the six colors from the course, and would we still choose them if we knew their inception?
We will navigate a few colors per week, then develop our own short prose pieces based on our discussions, reading, observations, and individual schemas.
This class is for writers of beginner level and in any genre. You’ll leave this course with drafts of short prose and material conducive to pulling together a project , all inspired by colors, but not in the usual, tired way.
https://www.yellowarrowpublishing.com/workshop-sign-up/p/paintswatch
When: 6:30 -8:30 pm EST
March 12, March 19, March 26
You are strongly encouraged to register for the full 3 sessions. However, you are invited to attend one session at a time as you are available.
Cost: $30 each session or $75 for all 3 sessions in March
Where: Zoom (link provided after registration)
Class Size: 15 participants
About the instructor:
Elaina has seen her poetry, essays, and short stories published across dozens of literary journals. She’s also served as Editor in Chief for installment number two of a micro fiction anthology called 50-word Stories of 2023, while also acting as an acquisitions reader for Vine Leaves Press in the genres of memoir and historical fiction. She is also an active member of the Ocean County chapter for NOW: National Organization for Women.
Over the course of the last two years, Elaina has continued to devote her time to a few very important purposes—her favorite being The Toms River Arts Community (TRAC), bringing to fruition one of her final graduate projects that began as a hypothetical. In June 2025, Elaina collaborated with a two Jersey Shore high schools to collect and curate poetry, paintings, and textiles for a Queer Art Exhibition currently displayed in one of the main gallery windows in downtown Toms River. Future art exhibits for TRAC will call upon Elaina’s writing skills for informational panels and object labels. Elaina also served as communications coordinator for the Trans Equity Coalition’s community social calendar in 2024: a grassroots resource for transgender and nonbinary individuals in New Jersey.
Elaina is a writer, teacher, and graduate student. She wrote a short memoir collection of essays and poetry (Italian Bones in the Snow) and a short story collection (Heart and Salt) both published by Vine Leaves Press. She loves ice cream, antiques, dogs, and actively advocating for LGBTQ+ community. She’s a graduate student through CUNY in Museum Studies. Her newest memoir about growing up with sensory dysregulation in the 1980s and 1990s called Chomp, Press, Pull is a full-on immersive encounter. She loves ice cream, antiques, and fabric patterns.