Thursday 27 March 2014

The Colour Collaborative: March: Bud


Buds.  A universal symbol of spring.  Every year we look for them.  We wait and watch, never knowing exactly when they'll be here.  It's something the plant works out with nature, with its environment.  And when the time is right, there they are.


Enclosed tightly at first in pale greens and browns and the old bleak colours of winter.  Just a hint, a suggestion of something more to come.


It happens slowly, slower even as we watch so avidly.  But as the days tick by and our little patch of earth tilts a touch closer to the sun, there's a glimpse of something more, a sliver of colour, the edge of a petal, the promise of life.


From the palest of baby pinks to the most vibrant raspberry, every tone and every colour is there.


Every sensational flower, every dramatic, showy bloom, and every subtle one too, they have all emerged from drab overcoats with an explosion of sensory overload.  Colour, texture, scent, sensuality.



Not every bud makes it.  Some are lost, frozen, plucked, knocked from their stems.  Life is hard, storms are frequent.  That's why there are always more buds.  The plant keeps trying.  If one lot of buds doesn't succeed, more are sent forth.


Some flower and go no further.  Petals fall and the idea is gone.  But sometimes, when there are kindly bees and gentle rains and the softest of winds, you look one day at the place where there was a bud, and if you are lucky you find fruit.


For me, the colours of spring are pale pinks and greens and whites.  Subtle colours that hum but don't shout.  The colours of apple blossom and magnolia.




As I thought about buds this week, it occurred to me that ideas are like buds.  They are there, waiting, just waiting, for the time to be right.  They are delicate, easily damaged.  They are slow, shy, tentative.  Often they are lost to storms and circumstances.  But sometimes they flower, these ideas of ours, and when they do they are beautiful to behold.  Bold and strong and tremendous.  Because they are a little part of us, that we have opened out to the world, that we have been brave enough to try.  Despite the ideas that didn't happen, we've tried again.  And sometimes, just sometimes, after an idea there's fruit.

Of course, occasionally it's a lemon.


Right now, I have a little idea of my own.  Something that might be a bud or it might not.  A plan for the future, that I might make work or I might not.  But to try is everything right?  Do you have a dream that deep down you wish you could pursue?  Is there something that might make it happen?  A small step you could take on the path to the place you wish you could be?  Wishing you bravery and flowers and fruit, CJ xx

To visit the other Colour Collaborative blogs for more of this month's posts, including one from March's guest blogger, Sarah at Mitenska, just click on the links below:

Annie at Knitsofacto                                             Sandra at Cherry Heart                                       

Gillian at Tales from a Happy House                     Jennifer at Thistlebear                                          


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.

28 comments:

  1. What a beautiful post it made me realise that what is missing here chez Marigold. I used to have lots of ideas some of which did in fact open into flowers and one or two even fruited but these days I seem to be stuck in winter with no buds peeking through. I must try to get the sap flowing again - after all even very old trees put forth buds don't they?!

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    1. You're right they do. Sometimes I find my energy levels dip and the ideas don't flow, but I'm determined to push on and keep trying and keep learning. All we can do.

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  2. A most enjoyable post and wonderful photos. It would be a sorry day if we stopped dreaming as I think they're one of the things that keeps us going!

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  3. Isn't it amazing how so much can emerge from a tightly packed bud?

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  4. Very thoughtful and great photos. X

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  5. A beautifully written and photographed post. Good luck with your budding idea x

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  6. What a beautiful post CJ, I really enjoyed this and the photos are just oh my gorgeous!! Yes I have dreams, dreams so big and so exciting and I keep them firmly in my mind every day. It has taken me some time to reshape my dreams but lately it feels that the time has brought me to the place where I know where my path needs to go. I hope it can unfold like a beautiful flower xoxo

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  7. I love this post, give me more lesson about spring time. Thanks for sharing

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  8. Lovely post and I like your parallel between buds and ideas. Very true, and like the plants that keep striving, giving out new buds to replace failed ones, we can do the same. I like that thought and I agree, we have to try.

    S x

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  9. Lovely photos, especially the first one of the soft, downy bud. Good luck with your idea, I'm looking forward to hearing more.

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  10. Such a lovely post CJ, so beautifully written. I completely agree with you about the colours of spring being that beautiful pale, muted pink and then green and white. Your photo's are just stunning .
    My last post was also about Spring colours, but in particular vibrant Spring green, pop over a take a peek if you get a chance,
    Have a good day,
    Kate x

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  11. I really enjoyed this post. I think you're right about buds and ideas, and I wish you all the best with your new idea. I loved seeing the flowering plants you have around you. The lemon is wonderful! I would love to grow a lemon tree. I would have to do it indoors because it gets too cold here in the winter for it. Yours produced a beautiful lemon.

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  12. Your photos are amazing CJ! I hope that your bud of an idea grows into something beautiful, and that if it is a lemon it is a very sweet and tasty one that goes beautifully in a lovely cold drink! xx

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  13. What a fabulous post! Eye candy and true wisdom intermixed, with a giggle at the lemon. Whatever the idea you are hoping will bud and grow is, good luck with it xxx

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  14. I like this post very much. I haven't really thought of ideas as buds but it is a beautiful metaphor that I shall remember for a very long time. Your photos are amazing! Cx

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  15. The photos are all beautiful, but that first one: oh MY --- love how you captured the little fuzzies!!!

    You are so right about some make it some don't and ideas being buds. What a great thing to think upon when I feel frozen in place.

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  16. Love these photos, particularly the magnolias - such beautiful shades of pink.
    I agree - ideas are indeed like little buds. I often have to write them down to ensure they stay nurtured and grow. Some are shared and others are kept close.
    We are currently taking little steps towards bigger goals so yes, I identify with your post completely. Very intuitive - and it's nice to know others share similar journeys made up of these little steps.
    Sarah x

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  17. Beautiful. If it can work, you will make it work.

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  18. This was such a beautiful post that made me smile while I read it. So perfectly worded, and the pictures were magical. That is exciting about your bud of an idea. I hope it starts to bloom and flourish and produces fruit:)

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  19. I'm part way to following my dream, CJ. When I realised how essential gardening was to my life, I was lucky in having garden colleges nearby so could get to classes. A step I will never regret. You've captured some wonderful moments in your photos - I must ask, is that lemon home grown? I have a lemon tree that flowers throughout the year but the tiny green lemons always fall…. :( xx

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  20. Your photographs are so beautiful. I think you've really captured Spring at its best here. Good luck with your idea... :)

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  21. What a great post! The first picture is amazing, with the color and the texture, the lemon comment made me laugh, and all the rest was goodness. I have a bunch of ideas, but not enough time to make them happen at the moment. It seems that the more creative things you do, the more creative ideas keep coming. Thanks and happy weekend.

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  22. Such a beautiful post, both words and pictures. You writing soothes my soul, and your message spurs me on to keep trying for more buds. You know in many plant species, if the main bud is prematurely removed, the plant develops TWO secondary buds?!

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  23. If it's a lemon, then we drink lemonade and eat lemon meringue. Wonderful post - and really striking the chord with me, because I am currently budding towards my better life..... But then again, we all do that, all the time, even if we do not always realise it while it's happening.

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  24. Oh yes, lovely analogy. Buds are like ideas, needing time to germinate and grow. Your photos are lovely, as ever, and I hope your idea-bud grows and is fruitful. x

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  25. I agree, buds are the start of something special - and ideas can be too. I always look for buds early in the New Year, a sign that winter is loosening its grip. Good luck with your own plan.

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