Bringing colour to life: Gold

That it exists is beyond doubt, but is gold actually a colour?

Throughout time artist the world over have used gold in their art work, to symbolise extravagance, wealth, riches and excess.

The colour gold is a warm colour that can be either bright and cheerful, like on these Burmese statutes ,or

it can be more sombre and traditional; mind you, in this photograph Buddha looks as though he's smiling!

In all of these the gold colouring is from the application of gold leaf not an actually pigment paint. Part of the allure of gold is it's colour and as it's a metal it's scarcity and therefore value.  Cloth woven with gold threads has been around since Roman times and is often associated with wealth and Royalty - imagine how sumptuous and glittering the meeting of King Henry VIII and Francis I of France would have been in what became known as the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520.  Henry is reported to have had a marquee made entirely from golden cloth!

Gold has also been used to inspire awe and wonder; is seen as the colour of reverence and is often used in religious iconography and on statues.  Last year in Myanmar I lost count of the number of golden Buddhas I saw. 

Despite living very economically challenged lives I was amazed as hundreds of people bought small squares of gold leaf to apply to the surface of an already glittering Buddha.

And the sight of so many golden stupas in the harsh mid day sun was enough to burn the image onto the back of your eyes.

The colour gold is closely associated with yellow and brown.  Closer to home, think of the golden canopy of autumnal leaves against the cooling blue autumnal sky or

a host of golden daffodils in springtime!

A meadow full of buttercups, nodding their golden heads or 

as they are just now - golden brown (or more accurately Wheatabix brown, and no, that isn't a Farrell & Ball colour!

From the golden skins of Finnish smoked fish to

golden Easter bunnies, gold is an enduring choice of colour.

It's just started to rain...so may be our next colour will be green!

Best wishes
​Hazel & Terry