Chung Kim 1

Dae Gun Chung Kim

Ms. Amelia Hall
FWS: Word and Image
16 September 2015
Layers over Layers

The painting of Mona Lisa perfectly portrays my writing process. I chose this famous
painting because of its intricacies involved in making this immortal masterpiece. Leonardo da
Vinci spent four years painting and perfecting the Mona Lisa; by painting layers on top of layers
of translucent paint, Da Vinci managed to give a three-dimensional and vivid effect to a plain
cotton surface. In the same way, when I write an essay, I take a long time to polish and add a new
dimension to my plain paper. I begin with a simple outline; I try to let free all the colors and

Chung Kim 2
ideas inside my head and plaster them into the screen of my computer. I kidnap the most intimate
and hidden ideas about my topic and start typing coherent and incoherent sentences in the blank
canvas. As the black characters begin filling and painting the empty screen, my first layer of
paint is laid.
My second layer of paint begins as I cut, paste, and erase ideas from the outline. Since I
have all the colors and paints on my computer screen, I begin choosing the best hues. I mix
sentences, ideas, and inspirations to give rise to a new tone, a new shadow. I read my paragraphs
over and over, and I change little phrases and sentences until I am satisfied with the mood that it
imparts. Every highlighting sentence is followed by an underlying shadow of explanation to
emphasize and clarify the importance of my main argument and of the different elements that I
mention.
As I blend together my paragraphs, sentences, and thoughts, I begin laying my final layer
of intellectual paint. Even though, I can see the bigger picture in my head, many times, my ideas
seem unrelated to each other. To unify this discontinuity, I use transition words, and I add
supporting sentences to ease the transition from one topic to another. It is interesting to notice
that Leonardo da Vinci does not use definite lines to divide or denote an object from the rest of
the painting, but he blends every part of Mona Lisa with every object adjacent to her: Mona
Lisas hair disappears into the background, and her hands fuse into each other. In a similar way, I
ease into a different topic using transition phrases to create a masterpiece as intricate and unified
as the Mona Lisa.
These three layers of my writing process give rise to an almost palpable masterpiece that
is able to change hearts, instruct lives, and impart part of my soul to others. In the same way
Leonardo da Vinci spent a long time to finish his gorgeous painting, I spend a long time painting
layers over layers of intellectual expression until I finally create an immortal masterwork that
everyone can enjoy.

Chung Kim 3

Work Cited
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ec/Mona_Lisa,_by_Leonardo_da_Vin
ci,_from_C2RMF_retouched.jpg/687pxMona_Lisa,_by_Leonardo_da_Vinci,_from_C2RMF_retouched.jpg