3. Ardlui

Hello Ardlui and welcome to my stash! I understand this shade takes its name from a tiny hamlet at the edge of Loch Lomond where – Kate says – “the light by the water is quite frequently this weird, soft, complicated shade of blue”.

Is it blue or is it green; is it somewhere in between?

Today I got out my stamp collection, looking for just this colour. There are many blues in my large collection of standard QEII stamps…

…though none are quite a perfect match. It’s nevertheless a useful exercise; the search points me to the grey, green, turquoise, teal world of this elusive yarn shade.

Ardlui feels as mutable as the sea, which can also be this colour… as can the sky. Sometimes, when we look across to the English Channel from the end of our driveway, the water is a strip of Ardlui.

Looking through old photos I find other Ardlui-coloured waters. On holiday in Nerja in 2011…

…and in the canals of Venice (also in 2011).

It’s almost there, too, in a face that’s painted on the walls of our favourite local co-working space, The Compound, home of W.ave Arts.

At home Ardlui appears in the triangles of blue and green that feature in our new doormat. Like with the stamps, it’s fun to study the hues and to try and pinpoint just where this special colour sits between teal, green and blue.

There’s a stack of sea-inspired/knit-print washi tape in my office that also speaks to Ardlui; an in-between blue that makes me think about water and sky and their luminous, unfixed qualities.

What does Ardlui speak to in your world?

These posts coincide with the KDD & Co. Colour Compass advent calendars. Each day, throughout December I’ll be opening my calendar beside you, and exploring the yarn shade that is revealed for that day. Read more about these posts here, and prepare for a few weeks of polychromatic fun as we discover the shades together and revel in their suggestive associations and creative possibilities together! Even if you don’t have a calendar, I hope you’ll love exploring colours with me, and thinking about each shade as it appears, and how it is connected with the everyday colours of your life.