This week we are into another colour week, this time brown. I’m not overly fond of brown, it’s a bit dull to me, but after last week’s Labours of Double Exposures, I wanted to have some fun this week and decided on a little subvertivityness, and that would be to add in as much bright colours as I could and that the prompts would allow. Here we go..

abbreviations for anyone new-

AFAC~ airy Fairy abstract concept. AAFP ~ annoying as F-bomb prompt. CBBP ~ completely bloody barking prompt.

Day 241~ Accomplishment. ~ “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment “- Ralph Waldo Emerson.It’s brown week!  It is going to be such a beautiful warm week in our galleries and I can’t wait to see all the richness this colour gives us. We can all be so proud of our many accomplishments!  As we near the end of August, that means you have posted a picture a day for almost 8 months. That is an amazing accomplishment. An accomplishment is something done admirably or creditably.  It’s any acquired ability or knowledge.  It might be as simple as learning a new craft, sport or recipe.  It might mean stretching yourself to physical limits, or sitting and enjoying the accomplishment of finishing a book. What have you accomplished today? Remember to add some brown to your picture!

That could have been an AFAC from Mrs.Cocktail~ dress, but I actually thought of something straight away, as I was cooking a Sunday Roast lunch today. I accomplished it very nicely, it was yummy slow roasted lamb in garlic & herb rub, accompanied by vegetables and delicious roast potatoes.

Day 242 ~ Garden, ~ Brown is described as an earthy, warm, and relaxing color, often associated with the great outdoors. So let’s head outside to see what browns are in a garden or outdoor space that you enjoy. There is so much in nature that is the color brown – trees & dirt, birds & insects, buildings & statues.  I happened to find a few large animals at the botanical gardens…thankfully not of the furry variety!  What brown did you find today? 

Typical Bank Holiday Monday – it rained most of the day, so in between drops of the stuff I ventured out into my garden and shot the waning buddleia bush we have. It’s been such a poor summer that most of it’s blooms are completely brown now, but I wanted some extra colour and found this one hanging on to a bit.

Day 243 ~ Glad. ~ I am so glad that I live in such a wildlife-filled area.  It brings me such joy finding little treasures like this while out hiking.  What is something brown you find in nature that makes you glad?  If it’s not something in nature, share with us something else that’s brown that makes you glad.  

A definite AFAC, I mean, who goes around looking at brown things and feeling glad? I had to work my brain for this one. It was a mega full on day at work, bank holidays are nice but the office manager piles on extra clients to make up for it and I’m already working flat out! I was quite knackered when I got. home so sat by the window hoping to take a picture of some brown sparrows at the Happy Eater Tree. Of course sparrows are not coming quite so much these days as they are likely to be murdered by Winnie or Vinnie (2 bodies so far) but the little blutits are fearless in spite of their death toll (3 bodies so far), and I got this little cutey instead. The tree is brown, and I’m glad the bluetit survived. 😊

Day 244 ~ Crayon ~ I have a caddy of crayons that has so many different colours in it.  I pulled out all the brown toned ones for this photo.  Brown crayons aren’t necessarily the prettiest but some of these crayons are quite nice.  A couple of them are metallic and I like the way they colour. Take out your crayons and practice some art!  Bring out your inner child.  My grandson calls his art his “masterpieces.”  Show us your masterpiece.

Luckily I have a set of artist materials, that sounds posh but they are not professional quality, it was bought for the grandkids but I purloined it for myself for a time such as this. The kids have got enough art and stationary stuff to open their own branch of Staples if they wanted to anyway! Here is my inner child’s masterpiece.

Day 245 ~ Supportive. ~ The color brown probably goes unnoticed more than any other color. The prompt today reminds of the things or people in our lives that go unnoticed but provide great support. When you are driving across a bridge, you don’t see what supports it but you trust it is sure and sturdy. This is the old trestle in Harper’s Ferry, WV that is now a walking path. You can really see how strong the supports are when you step back and away. Think about something that provides support today. It can be literal, like my example photo, or it can be figurative, something that supports you.

Yet another rubbishy rainy day, and wasn’t inclined to go out, but I know a thing or two about personal support so I got this done without too much chagrin.

Day 246 ~ Downtown. ~ Not all downtown areas are pretty buildings with colorful picture windows and flashy lights.  Some are simply boring brown buildings.  But, every now and then you’ll see something interesting for which those buildings serve as the perfect backdrop for creating both contrast and context. As you go about your day, in a downtown area or otherwise, look for something interesting to photograph where a brown building serves as a backdrop for some other subject.

And so. Sigh. AAFP because there was nothing for it but to schlep into Newcastle in the misery weather to take a picture of some structure in front of a brown building. It shouldn’t have been hard, as there’s plenty of statues and art works dotted around the city. I decided the 5 flying swan sculpture set in a small lake thing in front of the Civic Centre would be nice. I hadn’t actually seen it in the flesh so to speak, just pictures on a website, so wanted to add it to my collection. I didn’t really know where the Civic Centre was, but had my sat nav and there are signposts and maps around to help tourists and numpties like me. I worked out I needed to get off the metro at the Haymarket and it wasn’t far from there. Unfortunately I turned the wrong way coming out of the metro station and went in completely the wrong direction. The sat nav then pointed me into the indoor shopping arcade called Eldon Square, which is huge and has a lot of hilly bits, and I thought I’d get out the other side of it and be by the centre. How wrong I was. I got completely lost in Eldon Square, and ended up retracing my steps to back where I’d started. I checked the ‘you are here’ maps which list the Civic Centre but don’t actually show it on the map part, and none of the signposts pointed to it either. To cut what already is a long story shorter, after several wrong direction moves I finally found it. I walked around the whole outside of the building, which is not small, and no sign of the scupture, although there was a bit of water. I’ve since discovered you have to go inside the building and then out into an inner courtyard. So a complete fail. My Plan B was to photograph the Man With Potential Selves art work outside Central Metro station, so trundled back to the other side of the town to get to them. 2 & 1/2 hours I’d been traipsing about when really I could have just got off the metro at Central, taken the shot I ended up with anyway and got straight back on the metro home, that would have taken less than an hour. 🙄🥴

Day 247 ~ Effect. ~ The owner of this vehicle decided to have a hot drink in his van.  He got the gas going but unfortunately it started a fire, causing a lot of damage; three other cars were completely written off and those trees as well. The effect of one hot drink was a bit of destruction, as the tree had to be cut down.  The area looks completely different today. Now let’s hope the brown you find today has a good effect on you.

Well that’s an AFAC for sure. But I’d been thinking about it anyway and when I came across the M&S building in Newcastle yesterday I took a shot of it as I wanted to use it for today. Of course that’s cheating really, and I should have gone back to Newcastle and taken it today, but Phil’s younger sister and her hubby is visiting and travelled up from the Isle of Whight White Wight and I don’t have time today. So I forgive myself this once. Anyway, the Marks & Spencer Building – The 167 square metre wall has been made using nearly 16,000 plants, including Sea Pink, Thyme, Cranesbill, Wood Rush, Hebe and Ferns, and is irrigated by rainwater captured on the roof by a rainwater harvesting system. The development, which will stay green throughout the year and help to encourage biodiversity, goes alongside a number of other eco-friendly changes in-store such as intelligent door sensors, LED fridge lighting and a new heat reclaim system. These features will help to improve the store’s energy efficiency by 20%. Effect? – I think it has the effect of being dead. 😳

And that’s a wrap, I’m winning at brown! Next week we are back to technical skills, and it’s all about ‘motion’, stay tooned dear reader!