It’s a wild and stormy wintery night. The wind whips from every direction, lashing the ocean into a maddened frenzied swirl. And, as the day fades, the subtle light of the storm begins to play with the shadows. In this new illumination, the sea becomes an almost inviting black ink well, beckoning and tempting one to wander right in. Well, I have given up trying to write for Mills & Boon (En Plein Air) so I won’t go on, but…just got to say…the murky midnight pool set against shadows of solid ebony is pretty stunning.

The bitumen-black swirling depths lead the imagination to run riot! The young damsel distressed by discovering Fabio is a mere 5’4″ (cut me a break; I spend a lot of time in the USA so am adept at the ‘old’ measurement scale ) at the book cover photo shoot, runs from the set with tears staining the green of her eyes and her gown lashing behind her to throw herself from the cliffs into the murky depths of the ocean roaring below her. Jolly good thing that security won’t let her beyond make-up (Oh, and that’s it for M&B today; promise!)

And then there is the shipwreck that has washed up on Long Beach during the HUGE storms down at Robe (apparently a Chinese boat from the early settlers making their way to the Victorian gold mines) which has conjured up the memories of Daphne Du Maurier’s novel, Jamaica Inn, with all its mystery, thrills and intrigue. The one in which a gang of hard-drinking thugs are responsible for causing ships to run aground on the rocky windswept Cornish coast (I am such a tragic for the classics )

Tinerate, this doomed foreign vessel that has just emerged from its watery grave completely reinforces that I am currently surrounded by coastline to rival that setting! (And I simply refuse to let the latest reports that it is a fisherman’s tinny ruin the illusion )

Anyhoo, getting back to point …Black (yes, that is my point..black in all its many forms…colour, mood, symbolism….) works an absolute charm on the table and as mentioned, with the versatility it offers, will work for almost any occasion.

Add white for contemporary sleek…

(just love the idea of grabbing the paint brush and designing one’s own custom placemats ) Anyhoo…

Or red for murderous smuggler drama…

And even whimsy fresh to take it everyday-casual…

Intriguing base line right!  But be warned…Black is a powerful colour: proceed with caution

Till next time.

Tipsy Pipsy xo