I love fall. It is full of bonfires, flannel shirts, crisp air, hearty soups, pumpkin flavored everything and beautiful colors. We have been getting outside for a walk or hike almost everyday, and have been exploring all the changes that are happening right now. This week I focused on finding color inspiration in everyday activities and life. Yes, the leaves are truly beautiful this time of year, but I found that there are a lot more things that I usually overlook.
Our garden is sadly done producing and has been ripped out to create space for burning leaves and bonfires. This means it’s time to process our pumpkins, so that we have puree for pies, pancakes and cookies until next year. Ike is a great helper when it comes to picking and organizing our pumpkins. He likes to line them up in a long line. The pumpkins are all so different in size and shape. (My favorite is how crazy all the stems are). They are all generally a similar color orange, but have slight variations. I love the pumpkin that has the green patches on it. I find the color combination so fun. When you line them up they create reddish-purple shadows on each other.
Speaking of puree, having a 9 month old means lots of puree. I try and get creative with food combinations so Reese gets to try lots of different flavors. I get lots of different colors. Some appealing, some not so much. My favorite (and probably Reese’s favorite too) is Spinach and Mango. It’s the middle container in the picture below. It’s one of my favorite colors. I realized it’s in the same family as a color I currently have on my palette.
We recently added a few more babies to our family. Our chickens are getting older and have started not to lay, so we got a new round of chicks! We were planning on sticking with Wyandottes, but options were limited, so we got some barred rocks. They are a beautiful breed (basically the zebra of the chicken world) and I am excited to paint them in the future. Anyway, in order for chicks to survive they need to be kept warm. We have them under heat lamps. The lamps make a beautiful bright red-orange. I love this color!
Every night after dinner, the kids and I go on a walk. It’s an activity we all enjoy and burns off some energy before bedtime. Ike insists on pushing Reese in the stroller, which means we walk very slowly. It gives us plenty of time to look around and really see things. We noticed some leaves that were in the process of changing colors, creating a beautiful palette.
We also saw a bush with little black berries. The stem was such bright pink, that really popped against the green leaves.
One day we had a neighbor who had a giant tree taken out of the backyard. The rounds were so big, Ike thought they were round hay bales. With Ike’s fascination with chainsaws and cutting trees down, we stopped to watch them work for a while. They had their bucket truck parked out in front of the house. I loved the seafoam/minty color of it. I definitely want to use this color in the future.
I know if I continue to pay more attention to the world around me, the more I will be inspired. I encourage you wherever you are to take a look around and find a color or combination of colors that excite you.