Autumn's Paint Palette

Toronto is often thought of as a grey city of concrete and snirt (our own special word for snow and dirt).  You don't have to watch Game of Thrones to know that Winter is coming.  Nature knows it, and as a last hurrah, throws a vibrantly coloured paint party.  The leaves of trees are brushed with Cadmium Red, Cadmium Yellow, and Phthalo Green.

Think of October, and the colour orange comes to mind.  After all, it is the month of Halloween pumpkins, and there are all those brilliant orange coloured Autumn leaves.  Nature's paint palette for October is so much more than just orange.  Just look at the magenta, olive green, periwinkle blue and pale pink of the hydrangea blossom (above), and those little crabapples are well, apple red.

   

Nature's paint palette provides inspiration for artists and designers to create fabric, clothing, jewelry - everything from teacups to laptops.  There are beautiful variations of colour, and colour patterns within a flower.  I love the yellow ochre centres of the violet purple flowers (above), balanced with the dusty periwinkle blue of the buds.  The magenta coloured dahlia's centre is an almost black shade of plum.  The vibrant pink of the chrysanthemums is complemented by the cool minty green of their leaves.
 

As if getting ready for the cold Winter, nature's predominant palette for Fall is warm.  From the golden yellow of morning light, to the deep oranges of the sunset, the days are painted in yellow, orange and red.  Colour experts say that yellow is associated with  joie de vivre, orange with energy and stress reduction, and red with really high energy.  Paint party!

   

Ever wonder why leaves turn red?  It's the anthocyanins, which also colour cranberries, apples, concord grapes, cherries and plums.  Anthocyanins, and the yellow and orange producing carotenoids, are in leaves all the time, we just can't see them.  From Spring through Summer, chlorophyll, which gives leaves their green colour, is constantly being produced, and the green colour covers over the yellow and red. Then, as the days grow shorter, chlorophyll production stops.  The yellows, oranges and reds start to show through.  What an understatement! 

Warm, sunny days and crisp cool nights are best for vibrant red leaves.  In maple trees, glucose in the leaves, turns red with sunlight and cool temperatures. 

On a cold, windy October day, nature gives Torontonians one last brush stroke of blush pink and coral, before giving us an all-white Winter canvas, of Titanium White and Zinc White.  Winter is coming...Oh, snirt!

Photographs copyright of:  Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Inc.

Paint palette:  Google Images