Addicted to colour

I bought a new winter raincoat from Seasalt in Bakewell last weekend (with £40 knocked off the price- woo hoo).  Except they didn’t have my size in stock so they said it would come in the post.

It arrived on Wednesday and I tried it on and thought…It fits, and it’s going to be warm and it’s well made and will probably last me 8 years like the last one did. But it did not bring me even the tiniest tingle of joy.

The one I bought 8 years ago that I’ve been wearing ever since, did bring me joy when it was new. It was an impulse buy. I was in John Lewis in Sheffield (oh halcyon days when we still had a John Lewis and a viable high street) buying vacuum cleaner bags and popped upstairs to the clothes department as per usual. 

I was not looking for a raincoat but there was this beautiful Seasalt one in turquoise with a gingham lining and I bought it on the spot. Shock horror! An impulse buy of a major item. But the colour made me feel happy and the purchase turned out to be one of my best, because it’s only in the last couple of years that it’s been looking tired. 

Back to the new coat…  it has been lying on the blanket chest in the bedroom since Wednesday. I have tried it on a couple of times and shown it to Dave but it does not make me feel anything other than...what a sensible purchase it is. It’s a very sludgy, very muted turquoise and I don’t like it.

I think I’m addicted to colour. Het has just bought the same coat in yellow, and as we rarely meet I considered swapping mine for yellow too, but it's not a good idea, because although I love yellow, it doesn't suit my colouring. 

Yes, I am addicted to colour. Remember that painting I showed you of the view from Embleton Beach?

Other people like it but I don’t, even though I think it works. I think I don’t like it because it lacks colour.

This is my latest work in progress: 

A field of oil seed rape with a turquoise gate I once saw in Northumberland.

And that is a whole other problem, because my brother pointed out that the trees would not have summer foliage in May, and he’s right. I had changed the trees because I thought it made a better composition, and now I am wondering if it matters. My colourful nasturtiums painting wasn’t horticulturally accurate. Does this one need to be? Who knows? 

What I do know is that I’m taking the coat back to the shop this morning.