Hello,
As a child, I learned the mnemonic Roy G Biv, a memory device for colors as they appear in a rainbow. Years later I recorded a daily practice on Instagram called my Roy G Biv life in which I worked my way through the rainbow one day at a time: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Seven days, seven colors. Layering this colorful structure on top of everyday life was an unexpected joy.
An accidental photo of my favorite shirt this week reminded me how delightful daily color captures can be. Sadly, you won’t find my 100-day color project on IG because it was all lost last year when hackers took down my gardener/cook account. But then I remembered a hidden gallery on my website, a digital scrapbook of sorts filled with a few of those lost images. I hope you find it as delightful as I do. This community means so much to me — I’m glad you’re here.
xo Lorene
Looking to explore a chroma practice of your own? Check out The Color Diary Project
created by Wendy Tribulski at Every Day Color
From the Archives
We are all original
and we are all exactly alike...
I spend a fair amount of time thinking about what constitutes originality. There’s nothing new under the sun — that is until you take it in and make it your own. Comparison, doubt, and imposter syndrome are familiar companions — heartless bullies, if you really want to know. Emotional and creative vampires that silence my thinking and drain the colors.
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Shop Talk
It’s hard to summon the desire to market anything during these dog days of summer. Maybe I’m saving my energy as I ramp up to launch the 2026 Living Color Calendar which turns me into a packaging queen and I become a one-woman post office — more on that soon. Until then, here’s a look at last year’s calendar. However, if you do have an itch to purchase postcards/books/stickers/prints, you’ll find everything here.
Instead, I’m offering a (packaging and post office free) sale on subscriptions. For the next 30 days all annual Cultivating Color subscriptions are 20% off. That’s a savings of $10 on your first year of paid support for a weekly dose of color and community. My suggestion: use those ten bucks to purchases fragrant berries, ridiculously ripe peaches, or a couple of pounds of musky ripe tomatoes to savor this last month of summer.
Color my World
Ruby Juniper Forkner was born August 2, 2025 at 5:54 am. We all agree, she is perfect in every way. As her father said she’s “stubborn and strong just like her mama.” In this photo, my little June Bug is only 4 hours old and already home in her family’s arms.
The showy milkweed (Asclepius speciosa) is cover with a bumper crop of seed pods. It’s going to be a very fluffy, flossy fall.
A languid evening primrose (Oenothera versicolor) spills her fragrance at dusk and seeds at will around the front garden.
These are the days. Now it’s time to let the plants begin to set seed for next year.
Richard of York gave battle in vain.
Great baby!
So happy to see all the rainbow colors you collected!!