Nature's Colour Palette

 

Cultivated Pleasure
 
A 2-block stroll from beach back to my house was a feast of colour: a colour-binge. I had to take pictures of colours cultivated in front gardens and trees along the way. Wonderful colour-combos: plant against plant, or even within itself. Like fiesta time walking home, a home-grown mardi gras street party.
 
 
 
I love seeing a clash of hot colours all together.
When I was a kid fuschias always made me think of ballerinas in tutus or princesses in big puffy dresses - I loved the variety of 'ball gowns' they wore and strong choice of colours.
 
I liked, too, that one of the characters in the Gormenghast series by artist-writer Mervyn Peake, was called Fuschia.
 
Nature is such a wonderful free resource for artists - there must be some ball gowns or dresses based on them - somewhere (I will have to look that up now!). 
 
I like how some colour combinations are sometimes quite 'unlikely' or unusual, almost wrong - like jazz. Look at the weird bluey-greeny leaves on the plant below (I have no idea what it is).
There is something nourishing about focusing on colour - I find myself using food terms a lot! but it's true - it feels as though I'm being treated to some real 'soul food' when I see things I love, that give my spirit a lift.
 
That I'd just shared breakfast with a friend was an added bonus. Body & Soul both satisfied.
 
More than a little bit hampered by not quite being able to format my pics within this blog template, but I've gained an awful lot from having this impetus to look out for such treasures; more process than product-based findings; a little frustrating, but good nonetheless. I've learned a lot from the challenge so far & love finding new things to learn, or experiment with, blogging with this template /theme being one of the side-shoots that have branched off the main stem of interest.
 
 
 
I fell in love with this tree bark! Like deep lines on a palm: The tree's life story is right there. It was only after I got home and uploaded the photos I'd taken that I noticed the nail hammered into the bark - probably some notice about a missing cat, almost the same colour as the tree bark, but left! I felt a slight pang of pain on seeing it - a thoughtless act. can a tree feel pain? Was it like a splinter?
 
It's funny, some cultures require us to ask a tree's permission before taking a cutting or picking its fruit. The community at Findhorn was cultivated by Eileen and Peter Caddy communicating and co-operating with the plant devas - perfectly natural for some - utterly whacky for others, but their garden's growth in impossibly poor soil was phenomenal in every way and drew many to emulate their ways of working with Nature.
 
Naked & tree clothed with ivy..

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