According to Kate, Hirst is “a Scots word for the rough, white-ish shingle you often see at the summit of a rocky hill or mountain”. It’s a warm, light shade that’s somehow richer than white, creamier than cream.
Lauryn – one of our hens – was poorly last month and needed bringing in overnight and extra TLC. When I was cleaning out her box, (which we called the hay-tel, because it was lined with lovely fresh hay, and she seemed to really like being brought in to sleep in it) I noticed that her feathers are very close to Hirst.
Lauryn is a ginger hen, which tells you something about the undertones and hues shot through this special not-white colour.
When we stripped the paper off the wall to decorate a room here, we found some old white plaster underneath that also puts me in mind of Hirst.
When I take it outside, it reveals to me how many non-white creamy things there are around. So many buildings and structures by the sea are this colour, rather than a hard or brilliant white. As time wears on, I feel these rich and convivial pale colours only look more lived-in and interesting.
Here’s a lovely Hirst-y old boat…
…a lovely Hirst-y statue/colonnade…
…and a Hirst-coloured beach hut.
Of course it wouldn’t be one of these posts if I didn’t endeavour to find you a pebble of the apposite colour for the day!
But how amazing is it to find this colour woven through the flora that skirts the seashore, too?
What I love most of all about adventures with Hirst is finding out how many warm, rich, light things can still be found around, even at the darkest day with the longest night of the year (which was yesterday in the UK).
Hoping Hirst has brought some bright spark of joy to you today, as well.
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.
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I am loving this joyful series of posts. I don’t have this yarn yet but I’m noticing colours and how they relate to each other much more at the moment.
I haven’t posted here, but wanted to thank you for these wonderful images and associations. They really inspire our color explorations. Someone else suggested a booklet – I second that, it would be lovely and I know I would use it a lot!