Deep oranges, warm reds, golden yellows, rich browns, and the occasional surprise of crimson — the most painterly season.
Autumn is the most painterly season. As chlorophyll retreats from the leaves, the pigments that were always there — carotenoids and anthocyanins — are revealed in a last, extravagant display that lasts only weeks before the frost takes them. The result is a palette that feels simultaneously warm and melancholic: the amber of maple, the rust of oak, the deep crimson of liquidambar, the gold of birch catching low afternoon light. Against a sky that has shifted from summer blue to a cooler, more considered grey-blue, these colours glow as if lit from within. The air smells of woodsmoke and damp earth. This palette draws from all of that — the warmth of the fire and the chill of the shadow, the brilliance of the leaf and the darkness of the bark beneath.
RGB (222-67-53)
#de4335
vivid and medium — a red that reads as open.
The Full-bodied Bog into the Cooling →RGB (185-163-19)
#b9a313
This medium yellow sits at the vivid end of its family.
When Hazel Bay through Flowing →RGB (219-36-91)
#db245b
vivid and medium — a pink that reads as open.
The Quiescent Bay unto Laboring →RGB (135-66-23)
#874217
This dark orange sits at the vivid end of its family.
The Canyon of Full-bodied from Laboring →RGB (159-29-15)
#9f1d0f
vivid and dark — a red that reads as grounded.
What the Slow Alcove toward Buffering →:root { --autumn-1: #ec7f3c; --autumn-2: #de4335; --autumn-3: #b9a313; --autumn-4: #db245b; --autumn-5: #874217; --autumn-6: #9f1d0f;}