Making a Colour Palette For October
One of the things that those of us who love autumn cherish most is the colours.
October is a particularly colourful autumn month. Early September is really still late summer here, and by the end of November, most of the leaves are gone. October, sitting in the middle, holds autumn colours in abundance. From lingering greens in early October, to yellow, orange, red and brown, often all in the same leaf, to the berries and rosehips in the hedgerows, and the acorns, horse chestnuts and sweet chestnuts scattered on pavement and path. Grass that was once green is now yellow, and the downy, feathery seedheads, those wispy, cloudlike ghosts of summer, come into their own on damp, misty mornings when everything is grey and soft.
A few weeks ago, I shared a post about creative invitations for autumn. One suggestion was to collect autumn colours. As creative invitations are designed to be open ended, there are any number of ways to do this, through collecting bits and pieces, taking photos, or just taking a moment to notice.
The purpose of a creative invitation is to slow down a bit, pay attention to what is going on, and, if it feels right, give our hands something to do. I love autumn, but the seasons pass so quickly. I don’t want to feel that I’m missing them in the chaos of everyday life. Creative invitations help me to notice and to enjoy the seasons in a quiet way.
There are also no rules about how to approach creative invitations. You might do one as a one off, or you might return to it over several weeks, or even a few years.
At the moment, I am making a point of noticing autumn colours. It’s wonderful to be outside on a sunny day, when in the golden light the leaves to look as though they are on fire. But the other day, when I walked to the post office in the early morning mist, that was lovely too.
I’ve been noticing that other things around me are also the colours of autumn. Orange roof tiles, the colours in an old wall, somebody’s yellow front door. My orange kettle, the blanket on the sofa, orange fire in a brown fireplace beneath red and white heart bunting. Carrots on a grey plate. The grey and orange plaid dress I am making. And memories of my beautiful ginger cat, Stripod, who died 4 years ago, whom I still miss, even though I have 2 furry little girls now.
Collecting, noticing, and taking photos, I felt inspired to do something else. So I made a colour palette for October.
This time I used water colour, but like all creative invitations, there is no single right way to make a colour palette. Coloured pencils, other kinds of paint, fabric scraps, yarn, and embroidery thread all work beautifully.
Digital colour palettes can be useful too, especially if you like to create projects that start life on the computer. There are plenty of tools that can generate hexcodes and rgb values so you can reproduce exact shades. An easy way to do this is to choose a photo, pixelate it and choose colours from the pixels. I’ve written about this before, and you can find a post about it here.
The point is not to make something that is perfect, but something that reflects the beautiful colours of autumn. This colour scheme may not be finished. I might leave it as it is, make a new one next year, or come back to it another time. For the moment, it is enough that I have made a colour palette for October.
If you like the idea slowing down a bit, paying attention to what is happening outside, and having some open ended, joyful things for your hands to do, you might enjoy the Wild Blossom Companion. It is a gentle, seasonal, monthly guide designed to help you notice and celebrate the changing seasons. It is available as a subscription here, and individual months are available in my Etsy shop. There is also a free stand alone edition, A Gentle Beginning, which follows the same format as the full Companion, and you can find it here.
