Whether you know me in real life or just in the virtual world, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of colour. When I think back to those days when I used to wear predominantly dark and neutral colours and my hair was mousy blonde, I feel like that was a different person. Over the past 8 or 9 years (pretty much ever since I left the civil service) my wardrobe and my world has become a far more colourful place.
Today is International Colour Day, a day established to encourage people to pay more of attention and show appreciation of colour all around us. It’s no coincidence that it also coincides with the spring equinox:
“The equinox marks the time in this half of the year when the length of the daylight is almost the same as the length of the nighttime, providing symbolic relevance as the contrast of light and shadow is considered not only in the rainbow but also in human cultures.”
Days of the year
As well as wearing a lot of colour and surrounding myself in colour at home, I’m fascinated by the history and science of colour. These two books have been on my bedside table for a while now as great reference materials for learning more about or how to embrace colour.
‘The Secret Lives of Colour’ by Kassia St Clar is an excellent way to learn about the names of colours as well as the role different colours have played in history. It’s a great way to delve a little deeper into all things colour without committing too much. It’s like a book version of pick’n’mix – just choose the colour you want to know more about or pick a page at random when you want some inspiration.
Momtaz Begum-Hussain is a Colour Therapist and her book ‘Hello Rainbow: Finding Happiness in Colour’ brings together colour theory with multiple ways to introduce more colour into your life.
I’ve met Momtaz a few times now, normally at colourful events around London, but most regularly at the London Colour Walk which I discovered via Instagram during lockdown and attended the first one when they restarted in June 2021. The colourful and creative people who gather at Spitalfields Market on the third Thursday every month are inspiring and are definitely my kind of people. Sadly I’ve not made it to many colour walks lately but it’s grown in popularity and status significantly since then. People who stumble across the group as they go about their day are intrigued as to the purpose of the gathering and you can tell the joy that the event brings to these unsuspecting people.
I’m currently doing a Celebration of Colour cross stitch stitchalong using 12 colours chosen from the colour wheel. I’m not only loving stitching each release, but I’m learning more about colour through the videos that accompany each weekly pattern. I only have two weeks left and I’m going to be so sad when it’s finished. I’ll share more about that when it’s done.
When I moved into my flat it was a white blank canvas, perfect for adding a splash of colour. For some reason I now don’t understand, I almost immediately painted the living room a very neutral creamy grey. Most of the wall is now covered in colourful art so you can’t really see the colour, but I still hate the fact I opted for such a dull colour. I guess I made up for it by painting each of the interior doors a different colour.
I see people looking at me as I walk down the street dressed in every colour under the sun, and whilst I’m sure a lot of people judge me, it brings me great joy when people compliment me or simply smile as they walk by.
At a recent team meeting it was decided we should get a team photograph. As I looked around the room at all my colleagues I knew I was going to stand out; while they were dressed in shades of white, blue, black and the occasional shot of a bright colour, I was dressed like an explosion of colour. I later said to a colleague “I am the rainbow and everyone else is the darkness”. I feel like that’s going to stick.
The fact that Adam dresses almost permanently in black suggests we are chalk and cheese, but like Paula Abdul said “opposites attract”.