Colours of day!

I am back! I am not fully back to normal, that will take quite a while, but have been allowed to return to work. This is cause to celebrate! I am so grateful for those, Jude, Penny, Sue, Rick and Edwin who enabled the blog to keep going and also my daughter, Becky who rose to a challenge and frequently did her own thing! Thank you all so very much.

Travelling down from Dinas Powis to St Athan yesterday morning the sky and cloud formations were wonderful, in fact quite amazing. As you know very likely at about 7:30 there was some small patches of wishy washy pale blue sky and the majority was swarved in various grey clouds, a big one was in shades of greys which went from charcoal to almost a grey orange shade, quite unusual and very striking.

It set me thinking about colour and how very often we do take it for granted. Just for a moment think of the tremendous range of greys there can be in the sky, or greens in the grass and foliage, no one pink or yellow is exactly the same.

What is your favourite colour? Do you tend to use the same colours all the time? I know I look at my wardrobe and it is naturally predominantly black, with splashes of grey,navy and neutrals and occasionally bright pinks or pastels. I know in the past people have told me to be more adventurous with colour, but don't like clerical shirts in others shades very much and they have a purpose in being black too! But certainly I would not mark the liturgical seasons in black and colour has a purpose there to mark the passing of time and the season in which we are at any one time. I had a Methodist colleague who marked the liturgical year and holy days with liturgically coloured socks! So does colour have to have a purpose to be used? Green in the plants, trees and grass does enable photosynthesis to take place with the presence of chlorophyll, so they can live and grow and reproduce.

So is colour essential in our lives and world? In the darker November and Winter days colour can often seem to be durgy and muddied. But is it really? What about the old leaves fallen and lying are they are the same shade of muddied brown? Is the soil all the same colour or are they variations? Are the birds all the same brown or black in their Winter plumage? No of course not, there is still even at this time of the year so much variation in colour, perhaps we have to stop and look at it more carefully than in bright Summer days, but it is still there for all to see. What about those who have no or limited sight or those who are colour bind? How do we enable them to have some experience of colour and shades of colour too, after all yellow I might explain as heat, but there are no degrees of variation between warm and boiling hot. Equally, could you ever explain adequately that white light is made up of all colours in the spectrum together, but when you mix paint you cannot ever create white by mixing colours.

Have you thought about what colour tells us too? When you are unwell and feeling sick you might appear grey or even green, a big shock might render you white, if you have liver problems you could be yellow, "liverish," and if embarrassed you might blush and be puce. Of course if unwell with a fever, you could show redness a sign of a high temperature. You could say different colours shows how we are sometimes but our emotional life can be expressed too, green for envy, yellow for jealousy, black for rage, red for love but also anger, white for purity etc. We also express how we feel in our clothing colours frequently and have you wondered why shops always promote pastels in the Summer and olive greens rusts etc in Autumn, Christmas are the reds blacks and of course silver and golds and then Spring yellows blues and zesty greens. Colour makes a statement about where we are and how we feel. Red for danger, soft shades to relax with and so on.

The ancient festival of Holi is a Hindu festival held in the Spring and celebrates the battle of good over evil, and this is expressed in colour. The people might throw powder paint and coloured water and there is much rejoicing and dancing. It is a joyous time and colour expresses light, love and joy celebrating light being victorious over dark/evil. In the same way at Easter we mark and celebrate Christ's victory, with colour of robes, flowers, colour of food, and "colour" as in joyous music, so different to the heavier time of Lent and Holy Week.

So be colourful today! Think about what you dressed yourself in and why. Are you expressing how you are today? Do you shy away from certain colours or do some colours make you feel not yourself? Have you looked in the mirror, what colour are you and does what you see today reflect where you are at? Autistic children and adults often can not accept red and green together or do you live in just one shade? Would you have entertained getting married in lime green or gothic black? Do you struggle when decorating to separate the many and differing shades of colour - how many shades of white are there and which is best and most flattering to your home? Do you just go with brilliant white to make a statement or is old white, warmer and more welcoming? Does it even matter, after all white is white is white! Enjoy being in colour today whatever colour or shade you pick!