Thursday 27 February 2014

The Colour Collaborative: February - Storm

A post for The Colour Collaborative.  


Ten years ago, I used to work in an office in the city centre.  And I used to loathe winter.  Every year when the summer faded a little gloom would come over me as I faced a long season of cold commutes and windy wet lunch breaks.  In the summer I was happy as a clam, sailing down the big hill on my bicycle every morning and finding one of my favourite outside spaces to sit at lunchtime.  But when the temperatures dropped and the days darkened I would complain.

But then I was lucky enough to be able to stop working when the children were born, and to move out of the city, and to my surprise I fell in love with winter.  It’s completely and utterly different to live with it, instead of against it.  If you don’t have to commute on a bicycle and the only real daylight you see isn’t just a brief foray into the elements in thin unsuitable office clothes during the middle of the day, everything is different.


I started noticing the striking patterns of leafless trees against the sky, the birds playing in the wild winter winds, the cleansing feel of bare fields and the beautiful grey-brown cocoa colour of the countryside.  Winter became a chance to rest a little from the relentless outdoor time of other seasons.  Time to be cosy inside without feeling any lazy guilt.  Time to enjoy the wind howling round the porch like it does when it comes from the north, and to marvel at the force of the rain and ice hurled against the windows.  It came to be that there was nothing finer than a raging storm, even on a day when I had to go out.  I would bundle up the children, put on boots and a thick coat, and just enjoy the feeling of being alive in such wild and windy weather.  The fun of racing through driving rain clutching a small damp hand as the gales threatened to knock us over and the pleasure of reaching a destination and bursting through the door, breathless and pink-cheeked was wonderful.



I had more time to be creative too, and I started knitting and making quilts and creating scrapbooks.  And as I did so I discovered something else - the beautiful world of colour.  In an office of lawyers, black dominates.  At the AGM there were over 300 people wearing black, with a little charcoal and navy, and just a smattering of colour, but only amongst the non-lawyers.  As a celebration of having left a job I loathed, I started wearing every colour I could lay my hands on.  I wore blue and green and purple and pink.  Pink!  It was wonderful.  Before, whenever I shopped, I bought the black one.  If they didn’t have it in black, I didn’t bother.  Now, a huge world had opened up.

After a while my colour mania calmed down, and I noticed a trend in my choice of colours for the things I was making - I would usually choose the stormy colours of winter.


The wonderful thick heavy greys that complimented pretty much everything.  Subtle shades of blue and muted purples.  That duck egg colour that appears over the horizon as the storm passes, with lavender grey streaks of cloud and a hint of silver.





I know myself better now; these are my colours.  Whenever I’m undecided in making a colour choice I just look to the winter sky and choose the colours of the storm.


If you'd like to see posts from the other colour collaborators, you can click on the links below:

          Annie at Knitsofacto                                            Gillian at Tales from a Happy House
         
          Sandra at Cherry Heart                                        Jennifer at Thistlebear

36 comments:

  1. Where do I start!!! First of all my favorite skies happen to be the very ones you photographed!!!!! I am so drawn to them and your photos are gorgeous!!!! Wow!!! And how beautiful was this post and your transition from fighting through winter to embracing it and welcoming its beauty! I agree that the pace of winter is lovely. Lazy and cozy days inside are so wonderful! What an inspirational post!! A great week to you!! Nicole xoxo

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  2. I'm so happy you got to leave a job you were unhappy in and be able to spend time with your boys and crafting.. good for you!! ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  3. What a wonderful celebratory post - it is nice to find someone who actually likes winter - maybe if I look at it through your eyes it won't seem so interminable next year. I personally never wear black - I thought I was the only one.

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  4. So I guess you won;t be going back to work any day soon. I'm afraid that I just can;t enjoy howling wind but it is good not to have to go out on a miserable morning.

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  5. Fabulous sky photos! Gosh, those rain clouds look so dark and threatening. I am often drawn to grey in my clothes and my makes. For years it was a much-maligned colour and it's fun to see it coming back into fashion again. x

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  6. I do love a stormy sky, like the ones in your beautiful photos, but I have fallen out of love with them this winter. The skies over my house have looked like that pretty much every day since October, you can have too much of a good thing! Our skies are still very cloudy but the clouds are white with a hint of blue, I am enjoying these right now.

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  7. Looking around me I see winter colours. I love them. The knit I am about to embark on would have as its mood board one of those pictures.. the colours in a winter sea.
    It's just the bloomin' winter that's the problem!

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  8. I can relate to a lot of this post. The dullness of endless office black, finding out there can be joy to be had from winter, yes I know these things too. I love your pictures and it's been a lovely read!

    S x

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  9. I've come to like Winter too - enjoying the changing seasons as we walk across the fields each morning, - but I must confess I am more than a little fed up of the rain, and so much standing water. I love being tucked up in our house and listening to the wind howl outside. But I am looking forward to Spring, the brighter light and blue skies. x

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  10. I'm a summer girl, no matter how hard I try, I just can't like winter. I don't have to go out in the storms or howling winds either, apart from when I have to take Archie out for a walk, and I admit to liking the sound of the rain splattering against the window panes when I'm tucked up snuggly in bed, but it's the dull days I just can't embrace. My mood tends to to be as grey as the sky. I do enjoy the crisp winter days when the sun's shining, but they tend to be few and far between.

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  11. I am a winter girl. I adore the grey tones of winter. I think I love the fact that I can go home and light the fire sit under one of my handmade blankets and crochet or read the evening away. I love wearing layers and I love to wear my woollen makes .It is like being hugged, winter comforts my soul.
    Your photos are stunning

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  12. I love winter, I love grey skies and your photos are magnificent! I think that nature is always beautiful but we aren't always able to see its beauty. Today is the first day I feel spring in the air and I'm so happy about it!

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  13. :) your attitude is fabulous :)

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  14. I wish I could enjoy Winter! Unfortunately I'm a British girl at heart who has British blood which is not made for these Ottawa winters! It is snowing again today. I do love your photos Clare, those skies look pretty mean! Good for you for giving up work when your children were born. Motherhood is the best career there is and is so important. There is nothing worse than being in a job you dislike so much.

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  15. This is beautiful. I've felt the same way upon leaving a job which was completely, utterly terrible, as in cry-every-night terrible. I remember the feeling of liberation when I got a new job, doing the same thing, but in a much friendlier environment. Your photos are beautiful. I would really love to try living by water someday. I never have. I am glad you are embracing the natural world around you and living comfortably in it and in the life you've built for yourself.

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  16. Wow...such ominous, yet beautiful photos!!! I love how you choose fabric and wool for your projects from colors found in the sky and coastline. I recently posted something similar...the colors of the February sky are so beautiful, and I'm so drawn to them. I'm currently making sweaters for my girlies in blues and pinks found in our late winter sky. Beautiful post! I can't wait to read more.

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  17. A lovely post, I tend to go for brighter colours to use in the winter then move to more muted shades in the summer. Always looking ahead I suppose.

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  18. What a fabulous post! And I feel as though I am there looking at your photos.

    I remember a lot of this ... office black, being buffeted through the door on a blustery day pink cheeked children in tow ... now I'm more likely to be calling after them 'you can't go out without a coat in this weather!'.

    And your colour palette is my colour palette, plus deep, dark, indigo blues, I have to have those.

    Thank you so much for taking part CJ :)

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  19. Beautiful post today, I love the grays of a winter sky, the subtle purples of the heather and the deep green of beautifull grass. I like a pink or two now and again, but more subtle color is the way to go for me.
    Hugs,
    Meredith

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  20. I love watching a storm roll in (provided it doesn't get TOO wild). That last picture is phenomenal. Love how you can barely see the ship that was so colorful in previous pictures!

    I'm not a big fan of cold, but I DO try to appreciate each season as it rolls along.

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  21. What an eloquent post and fabulous pictures to illustrate storm.

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  22. I love that you look to the sky to pick your colors. Being in an office environment, I completely relate to being in a world of non-color and just wanting to work with all sorts of color during your off time. That’s why I started making my jewelry. I was so tired of just shades of browns and blacks and wanted an influx of color. I love that you have been so inspired by color! You captured the winter so magically in these pictures:)

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  23. A most enjoyable post. I don't mind winter as long as it's not wet and windy. I don't miss wearing a suit and tie for the office in the least, and I've always liked blue and grey. Flighty xx

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  24. I believe that this is why I have been so enjoying our white winter this year CJ - because I don't HAVE to go out in it. I am lucky to also have the option to stay home with our daughter and it really makes a difference. To be able to enjoy life, 7 days a week, not just on the weekends. And having a little one to laugh at the snow doesn't make it seem like such a drudgery, like it somehow turns into when you're an adult doing adult things. Nice post. Love the thick, squishy yarns.

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  25. Hey CJ,

    I think this has to be one of my most favorite posts I have ever read. It struck such a chord with me. While I read your words, I was back in office hell. Head to toe in black (not great colour choice for a red head), eyes to the screen. Buffeted by the commute. Hating winter too.
    Like you I have come to love all seasons. They each have a reason to be joyful. I agree with you about the hunkering down winter provides, and the excitement too of getting out and embracing it. Those skies in your photographs are breathtaking aren't they? We have similar ones in St Ives today. That and huge white horses out in the bay. I have just come in from being blown over by the wind and feel exhilirated.

    Wonderful words, lovely girl.

    Leanne xx

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  26. i never thought of my 'color palette' as storm.....but it truly is (my storm tends more towards to the grey and deep grey lavenders); a lovely thought for the day. thanks..

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  27. Another lovely post with great photos. I love the idea of "living with" winter opposed to "living against it". I truly feel this philosophy can be applied in many aspects of life. Really, balance is often trying to find ways to mitigate the hard and bitter parts we don't like or appreciate. Silver lining? Bright side of winter? I dunno. I like it. Best to you and yours!

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  28. loving your winter storm colours!

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  29. A lovely post- you have just made me realise that my favorite colours have graduated to those that I see everyday in nature! Sarah x

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  30. Love photos - I particularly like the last one, very moody.

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  31. Lovely photos of stormy skies. I'm not keen on winter, particularly when I'm out in it looking after the animals etc, but I do love the large, (seemingly) bleak, winter landscapes I get in my part of the world with the big skies and skeins of geese. I was interested in your winter colours, I don't think I would wear these, but I do love autumnal tones like coppers, red-golds etc.

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  32. I so agree with you, CJ! It's wonderful to feel part of the winter, wrapped up warm and moving around there's no need to feel cold. I gave up office work as I couldn't bear to be indoors on a summer's day but the upside is I can appreciate winter too! I find I'm drawn to the same colours as you, despite spending part of my childhood abroad in hot sunshine. I think subtle colours are more suited to the UK climate but I prefer to think of them as beach colours rather than winter colours - think pebbles, seaweed, shingle and wildflowers!

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  33. I was just commenting on Gillians blog as well about how much I love the rain and I love a storm.I absolutely love these photos and the storm you have captured. I love the rain, I can't get enough of the rain! I'm sure I will change my mind when I move to England and I'm out of the constant sun of Texas!
    Much love to you and I hope you have a phenomenal week!
    Tammy x

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  34. Lovely post, I enjoyed your photos.-Especially those of outdoor scenery. :) Photos of the sky, are always calm and refreshing.

    Stephanie@crazylittlelovebirds

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  35. I love being by the sea in winter, the fierce majestic power of it all thrills me, I love walking along, wind and rain battering me staring out to sea, it's just wonderful. As is this post, beautiful pictures, beautiful colours, beautiful words! x

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