Colour Suite

Abracadabra is elated and enchanted  to welcome amongst its growing ranks of mesmerising melodies and laudable literature this adorable anthology of stimulating, spellbinding and variably shaded verse.

May it please your enchanted ears to sample the delights of.   Colour Suite.

Here’s a fun exercise to partake in, if you’ve heard of it, fantastic, if you haven’t, even better because every time you try it, your imagination is sure to lead you on a different adventure.  Think of a colour, any colour you wish.  It could be one of the Primary colours.  Red, Yellow or Blue, so called because when we mix them in pairs, we can create three brand new colours.

Don’t believe it?  Grab a brush and some paints and give these sums a try, don’t worry, they’re very easy.

Behold, as if by magic, we have six colours, three Primary and three Secondary.  Now for something even more difficult to believe.  By mixing these six colours in small, medium or large quantities and with a little help from black and white, we can create every other colour in the known universe.  Amazing but true.

Want to know how to get brown?  Take a drop of blue and add a splash of orange.  Or how about starting with a splodge of green, then adding a smidgen or Red.  Wait, there’s a third way, introduce a smear of Purple to a smudge of yellow.  There you have it, three slightly different shades of Brown and a total of nine colours conjured from just three.

Now that you’ve had a moment to think of a colour, let’s return to our little experiment.  Close your eyes tight and think as hard as you can of everything that colour means to you. Whatever it is doesn’t have to be that colour. It can be anything you want.  A word, an object, an animal, a place, or a person.

Count the things that pop into your head, no matter how quickly they leave.  Then when you’ve finished, switch to a different colour and start again.  Whom, what or where does it remind you of. Perhaps it isn’t something you can see or touch.  Maybe it’s a sound or a song or a smell.  Try a third time, take as long as you like.

Let a single colour begin your journey.  Where does it start?  When will it end?  Does the colour change half way through?  Does your mood alter with it?  Is this colour happy or peaceful, sad or exciting, hot or cold, fast or slow?

In our wide world, colours, like music, are a universal language, seen and understood by billions, but in ways as unique as our own fingerprints.     Why did your Mum choose pale blue wallpaper, I suppose she thought beige was too boring.  Why are there so many more more red cars than purple ones?  What is it about your yellow mobile that makes it so much more desirable than the green one?  Have you considered how important colours are in nature.   Do you know some of the plants and animals that use them to communicate?

When that busy buzzing bumble visits your garden every summer, which flower is his favourite?  If you were him and had the choice of a pink lily or a purple rose, which would you pick?   Have you ever seen two squids hold a fascinating conversation simply by altering the colour of their skin, or an octopus slyly blend into the sand as it secretly anticipates another tasty snack?

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to listen to colours?  The author of these captivating and mystical works of poetry was inspired by this very question.  She played the same game you did, over and over again and each time, the colours she thought of told a contrasting tale, cast light over fresh ideas and guided her down unexplored paths whose corners obeyed her footstep’s command, to seven towering gates, each sheltering shadowy shapes awaiting  to be tamed by tones and flourish in a harmony of hues.

Just as our three primary colours allow every other to be born.  Our imaginations use them all to paint pictures, unearth memories, tell stories, express our emotions, and give vivid life to all our dreams.

As you listen to colour suite, keep your eyes shut and open your ears as wide as possible.  Pay as much attention to the sounds as you do the words and think of each colour as a separate garden in which every one of your thoughts is given a quiet corner to grow. Plant your favourite things on the sunny side and make sure they get plenty of water, unless one of them happens to be rain in which case, it will probably look after itself!

No matter how strange these gardens may seem at first, take a leisurely stroll around their boarders whenever you can.  Carefully plant any new thoughts, move old ones to a different garden if your opinions have changed.  Stand, stare, hear and breathe and eventually, every bed will bloom with perfect sense.