An ocean of colours
Not a sight you'd expect to see on the steppes: a tulip-filled expanse. Never would I have associated this beautiful...
Purple-grey sea
Storminess at sea, as in the sky, can be purple-inked.
'Beyond the ragged horizon of the purple-grey sea...'
Source:...
Petunia-coloured horn
I liked this description of an old-fashioned gramophone loud speaker, which I associate with the image of a Jack Russell...
Topaz-coloured eyes
Adrienne is far the most interesting female character in this monumental trilogy, and there is great finesse in the author's...
Scent as colour
I like metaphors that use one of our five senses to convey another - here a visual image serves as...
Grape-blue skins
The second time Laurie Lee uses this original idea of 'grape-blue' to describe a colour.
'... the slow talk of...
Ribbon when the colour’s gone
Mrs Poyner offering up her pithy view of many wives in the neighbourhood, during a good-natured discussion with her husband. ...
An opiate vista
A curious vista of 'tallow-coloured' images floating before an opium-steeped lord.
'Laudanum' was the name for various opium-based preparations and...
Blue as deep as…
It seems some newborns have blue eyes even if later they take on other hues. Colour is one of the...
Many-coloured shield
A rich description of 17th century London, this appears to refer to Westminster Abbey, with lights brightly burning inside.
'Now...
Of cornelian cherries
We often read of 'cherry-red' so I found it refreshing to find cherries described as resembling the red of cornelian,...
Glassy-blue shoreline
Glassy blue suggests bright blue eyes, and you can imagine the sea washing up azurely.
‘The islands are spread over...
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