28 January 2026 – Or, maybe: “Colour.” Or, for the old-school among us: Colour [sic].
Meaning, I have found myself playing with the concept of colour these last few days. It is all thanks to a comment by J. Walters on my previous post — her pleasure in the “gorgeous colours” in Vancouver, viewed from her farther-east landscape of “variegated white.”
(By the way, if you don’t already know her Canadian Art Junkie blog, give it a visit.)
So I walk around, and I amuse myself by seeing colour differently. Seeing it in relation to other attributes.
Colour: Brilliant
What’s more brilliant than reflected colour, bouncing off the plate glass of a downtown tower, under a blazing sky?
Colour: Muted
A murmur of colours, quietly living and breathing within the textures of their host, a tree trunk.
Colour: Juxtaposed
I’d not have bothered with either, on its own. Dead leaves. Pretty but unexceptional tiny blossoms. Yawn. The appeal is the contrasts of their juxtaposition. Deep rust vs sunshine yellow; battered vs fresh; last-season vs right-now.
Colour: Unexpected
One of the Monty Python skits had a character intone: “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.” Well, nobody expects a Very Colourful Dog on a tree trunk, either.
Colour: Obsessed
Namely, the colours I discover while indulging my obsessions. Two examples.
1 – My obsession with neighbourhood street-side “fairy trees,” decorated by civic-minded residents, sometimes with a swing for extra delight. Plus, in this specific example, our “Unexpected Dog.”
2 – My obsession with winter moss. In this case, right at the base of my “Colour: Muted” example above.
It’s all colour, if you want it to be. Hurray for colour.
WALKING WOMAN 
J Walters
/ 28 January 2026Wow, between the unexpected dog, the Fairy Tree swing and the crystal blue reflection, those colours are a batch of wonderful. I am still so surprised there is anywhere in this country where you can actually go for a walk in January to collect colours, which only goes to show you what a central Canadian I really am. (And thank you very much for that lovely shout out, appreciated.)
icelandpenny
/ 28 January 2026Bundle up, and go notice all the colours of “variegated white.” (Mind you, easy for me to say, with plus-zero temps.)
Lynette d'Arty-Cross
/ 28 January 2026A wonderful post, Penny. I agree. If we look, it’s there.
Rio
/ 28 January 2026well not wanting to promote/sew (sp?) racour between the provinces, what colour is “whiteout” friggin B.C.? Eh? I dont have spell check on my phone and i am not getting out of my warm bed to respond on my computer
🫤nice colours
icelandpenny
/ 28 January 2026In Toonto these days I’d be under my duvet also, not walking around. I get to walk around here so freely because it’s friggin’ sea-level Vancouver, not all of BC. Quite other stories in the interior of the province, and also at altitude, here on the coast. But again oh yeah, it’s duvet-time in the east.