September’s flowers reveal varying hues of yellow in the marsh, along the roadside and in the garden. Some, like the Sunflowers, are bright and bold, while others like the Sea Radish are pale and barely there.
Traditionally it is women who are considered best at discerning subtle differences between colors. Often attributed to women’s historic role as fruit and nut gatherers, it’s no surprise that the ability to select safe and ripe foods is so closely tied to the skill of correctly choosing and remembering colors.
Yet, it was two males, the colorist Josef Albers and the painter Vincent Van Gogh, who made the greatest strides in harnessing the wonders of yellow in art.
I was for years in the yellow period, you know.
~ Josef Albers
Above, a sampling of yellows found in just six species of wildflowers reveals a marvelous variety. September’s warm light gives them a cheerful disposition despite the approaching cold.
The names of some flowers are inspired by their colors as in the Butter and Eggs shown above.
Like human beings, colors are influenced by others in their immediate surrounding. They possess the magical ability to transform one another into even more wondrous versions of themselves. How striking the Black-eyed Susan appears above against a backdrop of white spruce!
There is no blue without yellow and without orange.
~ Vincent Van Gogh
Despite advances in digital imaging, colors seen by the naked eye in natural light still cannot be replicated truly by technology. When I was an art student, one of my painting professors told me she could tell that I had used a photograph of a sunset as the subject for a painting because she could see that I had made use of a more limited palette. Had I made the painting looking at a real sunset, I would likely have chosen a greater variety of yellows and oranges than those made available at the time by Kodak.
There is no substitute for seeing late summer’s yellow blooms in person. The time to drink up your fill of them is now, while the warm September light is still able to show them at their best.
I really just want to be warm yellow light that pours over everyone I love.
~ Conor Oberst
In art theory, red and green are considered opposite one another on the colour wheel. These are known as complementary colours.
Whether it’s a light or bright blue, October’s sky contrasts beautifully with orange tinged leaves. Their warm and fiery hue manages to balance the crisp coolness of the clear blue sky, making autumn seem less chilling.
Nothing brightens up the Canadian landscape like a Blue Jay. The brilliant hue of these clever birds from the Crow family makes them easy to spot regardless of the background or the season. 
Four sub-species of Blue Jays exist in North America, each distinguished by different colouring or size. The lavender blue Northern Blue Jays found in central Canada are paler than the bright Coastal birds found here in Nova Scotia. The Inland jays found in the United States are a darker blue that contrasts sharply with their whiter underside. Florida Blue Jays are of the smallest size yet are similar in colour to the Northern variety.
