Nature is a superlatively gifted color artist. The manner in which she use varying degrees of light in order to produce an endless variety of shades and tones has got to be the envy of every human artist.
She can take the soft pastels of spring’s greenery and emboss it on the backdrop of cobalt blue storm clouds to provide the most arresting display of contrast.
The rose and gold light of a colorful sunset can have the additional function of gilding the white feathers of a flock of seagulls with rubineous highlights.
Both the sky and the sea are all referred to as blue but the varying shades of blue are endless.
Blue can be the misty blue of spring or the enamel blue of winter. Blue can range from soft, delicate pastel that holds about it a hint of celestial radiance or it can be the sullen blue of an approaching storm.
I’ve seen the waters of a lake range from aqua marine and turquoise to a vivid shade of violet flecked with silver.
It is in world of flowers where nature expresses her boundless creativity. In the plant kingdom she is utterly prolific and completely uninhibited. She employs every color in the spectrum including colors so subtle the human eye cannot discern them, but the bees do. Left to her own devices it would seem she has a preference for yellow which ranges from buttermilk to lemon, gold and tangerine.
One may look at a summer landscape and call it green, but on closer inspection is becomes apparent that there are dozens of shades of green. Green is never monochromatic,
Winter is a masterpiece in contrast, There are fewer colors to be seen in a winter landscape, but bold statements of contrast are viewed using blue, black, and red against a white or grey backdrop.
But beyond that the sunlight brings out the sparkling array of tiny colorful jewels to be see wherever the snow lies blanketing the earth. She strokes the snow drifts with blue velvet shadows and makes sure the winter stars are more brilliant than diamonds.
In Autumn nature knows no bounds as she sets the forest and the woodlands ablaze in so many colors it would take a dictionary to describe them.
By late November all that color profusion has faded and one is left with the impression of faded beige and taupe; and yet even in this faded landscape the brilliant red of osier dogwood is there to accent the otherwise desolate landscape.
And so it goes. Nature’s use of color knows no restrictions. She is the envy of every human artist.
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