Verandah speak
Springtime came to Wellington in all its glory last weekend and after a quick trip to the City Market, Miss M and I celebrated with a picnic at Battle Hill, near Pauatahanui.
I thought this may be is where architects meet with the Porirua District Council, but no way: it was far too idyllic. New little lambs were gambolling around eagerly enjoying their first (and probably only) year of life and the rural buildings at Battle Hill are all painted barn red and reekingly heritage.
We moved on to try the Lighthouse Pauatahanui (we are big fans of Lighthouse Petone but this was our first trip to its sister cinema). The experience couldn’t have been more extreme than the bucolic loveliness of Battle Creek. We had front row seats at TT3D: Closer to the Edge, a documentary about the annual TT motorcycle race held on the Isle of Man.
Aside from being a tax haven, (or perhaps because of it) the Isle of Man is also picturesque and seriously bucolic for most of the year, except for the week when this this annual event destroys the peace.
A colour filled evening
I had a rare and wonderful serendipity experience last night.
The annual Resene Colour Awards were on, and as the office had not made a submission this year, I thought the least I could do was wear my yellow leather jacket for the occasion.
Years ago Dulux had a similar function. The MC on that occasion was Gary McCormack ,who lambasted the guests for all wearing black at a Colour Awards event.
One of Billy Connolley’s memorable lines is ‘there are some people who think that black and white are colours’. Most architects and most German Car manufacturers think they are.
So back to my jacket. It approximates Resene colour Corn.
After the various categories were presented the MC announced an inaugural ‘lifetime achievement award’, and proceeded to describe the 40 year career of a certain person, who turned out (huge huge surprise ) to be me.
My jacket made my unprepared speech credible, and I am genuinely thrilled and delighted.
Colour is a fundamental philosophy with me. I buy cars, on the basis of their colour. I try to use colour to be a no-cost joyful contribution in beige environments .
Colour however is not a ‘free for all’ It must be controlled. It is this difficulty of control that causes timid people to avoid colour decisions.
Looking to nature is a pretty good start as to the use of colour.
The colours of big areas of nature such as sky, sea, or land generally are not as intensely coloured as the less frequent, more mobile and smaller areas of nature, such as sunsets, birds and flowers respectively.
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Rog on Beauty
After 40 years in business, I’ve decided it’s time to leave the communication stone-age so have set up a website. Not content with doing things by halves, I’ve decided to also enter the mysterious (to me that is) world of blogging.
I’ve been told it’s a cheaper alternative to holding court at various Wellington drinking establishments to share my passion for telling stories and expressing opinions on architecture, planning, design, cars, travel, and related topics. (Not that I have any plans to stop that completely. In fact the name of this blog came to me while enjoying a tasty drop of shiraz at my favourite table at the Tasting Room recently.)
My reference to ‘beauty’ is not a conceit.
Everybody responds to the word. It is fascinating and somewhat elusive. Read More
