Nature as a Colour Wheel

The artists' colour wheel is a chart representing the relationships between colours and shows hues arranged in a circle. Most colour wheels are based on three primary colours, three secondary colours, and the six intermediates formed by mixing a primary with a secondary, known as tertiary colours, for a total of 12 main divisions. The gradation of these colours reflect our temperature cycle when divided into the warm and cool halves of the classic colour wheel - Warm being yellow, orange, red and Cool being violet, blue and green.

In areas of Australia where there is greater seasonal variation, we experience the peak times of the hottest and coldest times of the year after the solstices, and not when we experience the most or least sunlight of the year. This is known as seasonal lag and is due to the time it takes for the Earth’s seas and land to warm up or cool down. These extremes occur around a month or so after the solstices, which are roughly at the times of Lughnasadh and Imbolc. Beltane and Samhain subsequently become the thermal turning points of the year. 

On the Southern Hemisphere Wheel of the Year Calendar ten months are represented by Australian natives. Early evening in March, Orion sinks low in the north western sky. July shows the Jewel Box, a beautiful little cluster of more than 100 orange, yellow and blue stars, situated to the left of the Southern Cross. Each of the native flora appears in the same month it blooms and the same colour that corresponds to the colour wheel. The warm and cool colours of the natives simulate the progressive and subtle changes occurring throughout the year.

This slideshow includes the native flora and star groups selected for our 2022 calendar: