The Color Palette of Winter

Crisp, bitting wind. Branches stripped bare. Low lying fog draping from the trees like spanish moss. It's winter time and for most of the world, it is cold and barren. Winter contains muted, reflective, subtle color. It's as if nature has dialed down the loud hues which bursts forth in Spring and Summer and contains them to conserve heat. Tinted neutrals dot the landscape, snow transforms the landscape into simplistic shapes.

Winter strips elemental shades down to their basic elements, giving us a more subdued coloration of the natural world. Cool, deep, clear blues team up with fresh, pure, flawless whites. Yellows, reds and oranges bend down to a more earthly hue, their tonal ranges being a counterpoint to the cooler tones that wash the world in a colder shade.

The ever present green in natures' backyard maintains its strength but stands solemnly in a backdrop of solitude and contemplation. It is winter time again and as we wade through the wash of color that paints a more subtle palette, it gives us time to reflect and go inside ourselves and rejuvenate our energies for the coming Spring.

Julie Pavlowski Green
February 1, 2014