The Colour Collaborative: May - Childhood

Some colours from my childhood: pink suede pixie boots; yellow buttercups and the "do you like butter?" trick; pale blue school shirts; the cream and brown stripes on our boat, Kittiwake; pink cloud-patterned wallpaper on our bedroom wall; yellow for "Winchester", my school house; an orange Garfield lunch box; green grass cuttings that set off my hayfever; pale red tomatoes in my Grandpa's greenhouse; the dark brown dress I wore as part of my Brownie's uniform.

But the colours that stand out most, that I remember most clearly, come from books. 

I have always loved books and was what you'd call a bookworm as a child and teenager. I was often accused of having my head in a book, especially on long car journeys, and read paperback fiction voraciously; Roald Dahl, Enid Blyton, Arthur Ransome, then moving on to Agatha Christie, Virginia Andrews. But since having my own children it's the picture books that call the loudest, that move me the most. The pile pictured above are special. These are the ones I saved from when I was small, took with me when I left home and can never part with. They are none of them classics, I wouldn't expect anyone to have heard of them, but they hold huge sentimental value to me. They take me back in time, back to my childhood.

Primary brights with a seventies tone for camping trips on the beach, for adventure, campfires, swimming in the sea, barbecuing your own sausages, throwing your own handmade party and making decorations, for flares and freedom.

Beautiful cool, muddy colours for a tale of three children who go for a walk one winter's afternoon and find an unloved toy bear, stuck in a tree, who rescue it and take it home with them. A spare, icy palate illustrates knitted hats and scarves, snowy fields, bares trees and a cosy house. I think the illustrations in this book (The Winter Bear) by Erik Blegvad, are individual works of art.

Rosy carnival hues for this story of a rabbit who was never ready, who missed out on the family trips to the cinema, funfair and football because he could never find his mittens; earthy-toned brights for his triumphant trip to the circus, his reward for learning to be organised. (I love the moral - tidy your stuff, kids, or you'll miss out on the fun!)

These are the real colours of my childhood, I think. I was born in 1978 and would say that - in terms of music, fashion and cultural references - I'm really more a child of the eighties. But all of these books were published in the seventies and there is a definite, defiant, glorious retro tone to these colours. No wishy washy pastels, no pink for girls and blue for boys, no glitter or fairies. Just big, fat, gorgeous blocks of colour and tales of children and animals having adventures. These are the colours that stay with you.

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There are other childhood books I loved - which are still available - and which I've bought for Bella and Angus over the years, like The Tiger Who Came To Tea, Where The Wild Things Are, the Brambly Hedge stories and Dogger or anything by the wonderful Shirley Hughes. And I've loved reading with them and sharing those stories and colour-filled illustrations, layering new memories on top of my own original ones. I'd love to hear of your favourite childhood picture books, what titles or authors you especially loved and why you loved them.

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If you'd like to read posts by the other Colour Collaborative bloggers, please follow the links below:

Annie at Knitsofacto

Sandra at Cherry Heart

Jennifer at Thistlebear

Claire at Above The River
Sarah at Mitenska

What is The Colour Collaborative? 

All creative bloggers make stuff, gather stuff, shape stuff, and share stuff. Mostly they work on their own, but what happens when a group of them work together? Is a creative collaboration greater than the sum of its parts? We think so and we hope you will too. We'll each be offering our own monthly take on a colour related theme, and hoping that in combination our ideas will encourage us, and perhaps you, to think about colour in new ways.