Walking in colour

“Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.”

Aug 17, 2022

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Photo of a wall covered in a graffiti mural showing a cartoon image of a girl with long dark hair and tears in her eyes with a speech bubble that reads 'I thought he was a graffiti writer... but he is just a graphic designer' art by Cept, photo taken by Sarah Farley — Hashtag disappointed – colourful graffiti in east London by street artist, Cept

Hello walkers and writers

How’s your walking and writing coming along? I’d love to hear what you discover when you try these walking and writing prompts, so feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below – or drop me a message.

And if you’d like to be among the first to see each new edition of The Writer’s Walk, including the walking and writing prompts, and guest interviews, I can send them to you by email.

Walking

I moved to east London’s Brick Lane in 2010 and immediately hated everything about it.

The flat I’d rented was proper mucky. The windows were caked in so much grime I didn’t need curtains to keep the light out, a new life-form was emerging from the shower drain and the shared staircase smelled of skunk and despair.

And it was even grimmer outside.

A lullaby of car alarms, police sirens and drunken brawls kept me awake at night, and piles of rubbish coated the pavement, turning it into an obstacle course of filth. And the streets looked like they needed a firm blast from a pressure washer.

Reader, I was convinced I’d made A Huge Mistake. But I was locked into a six-month rental contract so I had to make the best of it.

I did that by walking around the area to get to know it better. And as I strolled the sticky streets, I began to notice the graffiti and street art. But rather than add to the dishevelled feel of the place, these pops of colour brought life to the grey buildings and were the start of what eventually became, for me, a bit of a love affair with street art. And that’s thanks mostly to an artist called Stik whose simple stick-figures seemed to say so much, yet so simply:

Mural at Stik’s former studio on Pitfield Street, London

Colour is the thing I notice most on my walks. And it’s not just London’s graffiti art that captures my attention – and imagination. An early morning walk can reward me with the most magical sunrise reflected in a canal:

Sunrise over Regent’s Canal near Broadway Market, east London

And an evening walk home across London Bridge can remind me that, even at night, London is a pretty colourful place to call home:

And when I escape the city the first thing I notice is the way the landscape slides out of the grey and into the green. Call me smushy, but I really love nature’s palette. From every shade of summer green in a forest…

Dalby Forest in the North York Moors National Park

…to the burnished landscape of autumn, everywhere I look there’s a kaleidoscope of colour:

Garsdale – a Yorkshire dale in Cumbria – we have so many dales in God’s Own County we’re able to share them with the others

So this time, I invite you to go for a walk in a place you know well and pay close attention to the different colours you see around you. Take a camera or phone with you so you can take photos, or use a sketchbook and coloured pens or pencils to capture what you find. You might find it helpful to make notes as you discover things, so you’ll need a notebook and pen, or the note app on your phone, for that.

Take your time with this. Walk slowly and look at everything you see. Stop for a moment and look at the ground. Are you walking on a city pavement, a muddy track or a grassy path? Notice the colours you see there. Is each blade of grass the same shade of green? Is each paving slab the same shade of grey? Look at the sky. Really look at it. Is it blue, grey, red, peach or something else? Are the clouds really just white, or can you see different shades and textures within them?

How do things like sunlight or street lighting affect the colours of objects like cars, road signs or even your hand as you hold it up to the light? And if you’re by a river, canal, lake or the sea how do the colours of objects change when you see them reflected in the water?

What colours attract you? What are they and why do you enjoy them so much? Make notes that you can use when you write about it later.

Writing

Farrow and Ball is a posh British paint and wallpaper manufacturer known for its imaginative colour names like Elephant’s Breath, Borrowed Light and Sulking Room Pink.

And the descriptions that go with the paint names are creative yet oddly specific. Like this one for Cat’s Paw, which they describe as having “a surprisingly green undertone when used in north facing rooms.”

Photo of a Farrow and Ball paint description that reads: This warm neutral takes its inspiration from something rather different than you might expect – a darker accent to String and Cord, Cat’s Paw is aptly named after a complex nautical knot. Strong, earthy and grounding, it has a surprisingly green undertone when used in north facing rooms. — Cat’s Paw description by Farrow and Ball

And this one, for Book Room Red, which “creates an unapologetically aged feel.”

Photo of a Farrow and Ball paint description which reads: Book Room Red, the muddiest of our reds, is particularly suited to smaller spaces where the stronger Eating Room Red can be a little overwhelming. It takes its name from the reading rooms or small libraries often found in English stately homes, and creates an unapologetically aged feel. — Book Room Red description by Farrow and Ball

So for your writing prompt, I invite you to take inspiration from Farrow and Ball – or any other paint brands you might like, as many of them have creative colour names. Invent names for the colours you found and write a short blurb to describe them. I think you can be quite playful with this and maybe even a little tongue-in-cheek with what you create. I’d love to see what you write, so if you fancy sharing it, please do that by posting a comment 👇🏻