31 days of colour - day one - introduction

welcome to 31 days of colour

scroll down to read 31 days of colour - day one - introduction. I'll add links below each day as they go live.

31 days of colour- day two - blue

31 days of colour - day three - my blue world

31 days of colour - day four - mr blue sky

31 days of colour - day five - diana vreeland

31 days of colour - day six - pink

31 days of colour - day seven - my pink world  

31 days of colour - day eight - think pink

31 days of colour - day nine - yellow  

31 days of colour - day ten - my yellow world

31 days of colour - day eleven - yellow (again)

31 days of colour - day twelve - frank sinatra

31 days of colour - day thirteen - orange

31 days of colour - day fourteen - my orange world

31 days of colour - day fifteen - beige 

31 days of colour - day sixteen - red

31 days of colour - day seventeen - my red world

31 days of colour - day eighteen - red alert

31 days of colour - day nineteen - audrey hepburn

31 days of colour - day twenty - purple

31 days of colour - day twenty-one - my purple world

31 days of colour - day twenty-two - the wizard of oz

31 days of colour - day twenty-three - grey 

31 days of colour - day twenty-four - my grey world

31 days of colour - day twenty-five - back to black

31 days of colour - day twenty-six - king david

31 days of colour - day twenty-seven - green

31 days of colour - day twenty-eight - my green world

31 days of colour - day twenty-nine - brown

31 days of colour - day thirty - my brown world 

31 days of colour - day thirty one - the seasons finale

what's your favourite colour?

I'm guessing when you read that question you, like i, immediately have an answer. while i was on holiday i started reading a book called the artisan soul by erwin raphael mcmanus, something i read in the first chapter has stuck with me. 

macmanus tells of an exercise he would do at the start of each leadership course he ran. he would enter the room, write a word on the palm of his hand and then ask everyone to write down their first and second favourite colours. they would be divided into groups of 8 or 10 and asked to reveal their favourite colour to the group, if there was not a majority decision on the groups favourite colour they would then include their second favourite colour until they had the primary colour of the group. each group would then merge with another group and do the same again to find the primary colour of the larger group, this would continue until they had a primary colour for the whole group; something mcmanus calls the cultural colour of the group. he states that universally wherever he has travelled this colour is blue. to illustrate this point, after the group decision was made he would ask someone to come and read what he had written on the palm of his hand at the outset - you guessed it, he had written blue.

red is my favourite colour.

never before had i considered there was a universal colour. never before had i considered that my favourite colour would be cast aside by the majority in favour of a colour i wear quite regularly but to me is a workaday colour. i had no idea how i would argue for my colour. i wondered how others had argued for theirs. 

for me, the thing about reading a book at the beach (sans little people) is it gives me time to digest. i closed the book, brushed my windswept hair off my face and tasted the salty breeze as i licked my lips, i watched the tide ebb and flow, sunk my feet into warm sand and daydreaming, directed my gaze up towards the bright yellow heat source. as time passed with my thoughts meandering around colour i realised what i was looking at: 

blue water.

blue sky. 

both the same colour but each a different shade. 

not just a different shade but many different shades.

sat in front of an expanse of water and an unending horizon, the four letters making up the the word blue suddenly seemed too small to me. blue might be the universal cultural colour but there are many shades within it. there are many shades within many colours and red is certainly included.

welcome to 31 days of colour.  this month for the first time i am taking part in the nesters challenge to write on the same subject for 31 days. game on. join with me as i rediscover colour and all its wonderful shades. i hope you will sojourn with me on the journey. So, tell me, what is your favourite colour?

Emma