Red barn in snow
Terri Webster Schrandt

Sunday Stills Monthly Color Challenge: The Earth Laughs in Brown and Auburn

Welcome to the Sunday Stills Monthly Color Challenge! This week begins the two-week cycle of posts that continues through the first week of February. November through mid-January always tends to be a slower time in the blogging world, as bloggers take breaks to enjoy the various holidays. I did not want to take a long break, so this 2-week posting cycle is a happy medium.

Surrounded by fiery rocks
Colors in the Valley of Fire State Park

“It looked like the world was covered in a cobbler crust of brown sugar and cinnamon.” Sarah Addison Allen

November’s color theme includes shades of brown and shades of auburn (a rich, brownish red). You are welcome to include images of both colors or pick one to highlight. Here is an idea of the colors.

Brown color palette

Earth’s Tones

“Brown is the color of the earth, the foundation upon which all life is built.” -Unknown

You probably know I love nature and being outdoors. Our adventures take my husband and me on many, including our brown dogs and sometimes family members. We loved visiting Nevada’s Valley of Fire State Park, and my visit to Antelope Canyon was unforgettable.

Red Rocks and Dogs
Hans with Brodie and Aero!
3 men
Valley of Fire
Walking through Antelope Canyon
Walking through Antelope Canyon

Made in Man-Made Shades

“Brown is a restful color and symbolizes stability and wholesomeness.” – Ward Bennet

We love to build and decorate in shades of brown and auburn. Here are some homey examples.

Rustic hook
Rustic wall at Fort Vancouver
vivid dried corn
Snow-covered wooden flower
dog and pine pole fence
Red barn in snow

Hans created this towel rack out of old driftwood. We chose to leave it in our former home.

Lowly 2x6 board abandoned at the delta gets re-purposed into bathroom towel rack

A Plain, Brown Bird…Is Not

“Paint the flying spirit of the bird rather than its feathers.” — Robert Henri

Redheaded Male house finch
Redheaded Male House finch
Feeding Red Crossbill
Crossbill finch
Juvenile American Bald Eagle
Juvenile Bald Eagle

All The Leaves Are…

“The transition from summer to autumn is marked by the turning of leaves to shades of auburn, symbolizing change and the cyclical nature of life.” ~ Spiritualsynonyms

Red Autumn Leaves on a wall
fallen leaves
Leaves from our Rayford Ash Tree

“All the leaves are brown…” ~ Mamas and the Papas

Brown oak leaf

Flowers of the Day…for Cee

“Dahlias are the cabaret act in the autumn garden” Sean A. Pritchard

Auburn Dahlia
An Oregon Dahlia for Cee
Red sunflower
sunflower from Sacramento
Bee on glowing sunflower

“Express gratitude for the greatness of small things.” — Richie Norton

Sharing for Cee’s FOTD, Dawn’s Festival of Leaves, Johnbo’s Cellpic Sunday, and Lens-Artists: Gratitude.

brown swatch

Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Reminders

The Sunday Stills weekly-themed photo challenge is easy to join. You have *two weeks to share and link your post. Please use your own original images, whether new or from your archives.

  • Remember to title your blog post a little differently than mine.
  • Please create a new post for the theme or link a recent one.
  • Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
  • Tag your post “Sunday Stills.”
  • Don’t forget to create a pingback to this post so that other participants can read your post.
  • I also recommend adding your post’s URL to the comments.

*A reminder that beginning with today’s post, the following Sunday Stills themes will each be published in two-week cycles. I am ever grateful for your interest in reading my posts each week.

I can’t wait to see how you interpret the various shades of brown and auburn from November 17-24. Creativity is encouraged, so please share your own photographs (old or new), poems, original short stories, and music inspired by the theme. Join me on December 1-8 as we explore TRADITIONS.

Please visit my Sunday Stills Page for the schedule.

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137 comments

  15. I would like to spend Thanksgiving with my daughter’s family but Lynton wants to see his family also. Lynton has five siblings, four married with children and grandchildren. There’ll be about 30 without in-laws, and just two of us.

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  16. I used to like everything brown including shoes, clothes, purses, etc. Terri, until I felt bored. The auburn color palette has some nice shades. I like the color of the barn, your top at the canyon, Antelope Canyon, the Rayford ash tree, and the corns. I can name more.

    I can’t believe there are five weeks before the year is over. Where did the time go? I may post about the Thanksgiving tradition next week. We’ll go to California to spend Thanksgiving with my husband’s family. His family used to get together three times a year – Mother’s Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. As the kids became grown children and had their children, his siblings spent Christmas with their own family instead of the extended family. Thanksgiving is the only time they get together with the extended family.

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    • Thank you, Miriam! Didn’t 2024 fly by? I hope you share a post if you have time. We’re staying local for Thanksgiving this year, but heading south to Arizona in time for Christmas. Sounds like your Thanksgiving will have a lot of family to visit with! Enjoy!

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  17. By the way, I got a scam page that locked up my computer when I visited Jez’s site. I pressed continue when I shouldn’t have. I wanted to warn anyone who visited it and possibly others. It was super loud. Vince was able to unlock it, but I did call the microsoft number provided, and I’ve gotten two scam call since then from other numbers.

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  21. I love the towel rack made of driftwood, Terri. Using Mother Nature’s free gifts is a fabulous way to keep our planet safe.

    Would you believe that I used to have auburn-coloured hair? Because of this, I received many nicknames, some of which I can’t repeat here.

    I used to wear a lot of brown, but I don’t see much of it these days. I have a gorgeous brown jug I bought many years ago in an art gallery. I’ll have to take a picture of it and share it.

    There are lots of brown leaves around at the moment, and some of them do make lovely picture opportunities.

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    • Hans wants to create another towel rack. That one was made of driftwood found at the delta. He was very proud of it, thank you!
      I remembered you are a fellow redhead. Trust me when ive heard all the names and jokes, Hugh. When we were younger there weren’t a lot of color choices in fashion. Much had changed since then, thankfully.
      I love this image of the steps covered with leaves! Stunning! Still brown here in terms of landscape…our predicted snow was a bust.

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  35. This is my favorite color palate. Your photos are all excellent and some bring back some delicious memories of our time with Kirstin at Ft. Vancouver – at least they remind me of that trip – the corn. The Sacramento sunflower is translucent, which is unusual in a dark color. Fabulous pictures for Cee. They will cheer her up. These are definitely your colors. Your hair fits right into the color scheme. Again, I can’t pick a favorite. The birds are amazing. It’s like they pose for you. You should charge them for portraits. 🙂

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    • Thank you, Marsha! The colors of brown and auburn are calming but warm and cozy at the same time. Our trip with Kirstin to Vancouver was so much fun. I remember we were looking for compelling, dilapidated things to photograph 😆
      I have the seeds for the dark red sunflower and bought more types to plant for 2025. As for the birds, I get lucky, and my zoom lens on the camera does a good job. I’ve made a few canvas prints of the birds.
      I hope all is well in your winter home. A major winter storm is hours away. Californians may get some rain from it! Talk soon xoxo

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  40. Glorious autumn colors, Terri! Our autumn was strange and very short lived. I feel the poor trees in our area are confused with some already bare and others still sporting their autumn colors.

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  46. Autumn colors are my absolute favorite Terri so of course I thoroughly enjoyed your examples this week! All of the images are lovely but of course the gorgeous juvenile eagle has to be the favorite this week.

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    • Thank you, Tina! Autumn had an extended stay this year once temps cooled down. I love that young eagle! He sat in a tree close to the sidewalk and occasionally flew down to the lake to hunt/fish. He seemed unconcerned with gawkers, like me!

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  49. Hello Terri, Your pictures are filled with the warmth and richness that brown and Auburn evoke in me.
    Your birds, flowers and southwest photos are fabulous! Thank you for sharing!

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  50. Terri, back in my working days (on site), I loved dressing up and always bought dressy clothing in shades of brown … there was no favorite shade of brown … I liked them all! I like brown tones in the house too, especially rustic-looking items. Now, I am more comfortable in sweats or shorts – any color will do. I like this quote you had “It looked like the world was covered in a cobbler crust of brown sugar and cinnamon.” That’s exactly how that photograph looks. Your brown leaves (and I liked the Mamas and Papas reference) look much more colorful than our brown leaves. By the time our leaves are brown, they are brittle, crunchy and not so pretty at that point. We both like Fall and its colors. While I like the pastels that spring forth in early Spring, the muted colors of Fall are my favorite.

    Here is my post, a little long, but I had a large portion of the post about brown Mallard ducks, thus the title.

    Fifty shades of brown!

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    • Thanks so much, Linda! I prefer the muted colors of fall, too. They go better with my complexion 😉 I found that quote which seemed to describe both brown and auburn. I dug through previous images and found that one of me visiting the Valley of Fire in Nevada. The colors really did look like cinnamon and brown sugar! Hooray for luck!

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  52. Thank you, Terri for the thought-provoking photo prompt. The color brown had me truly reflecting and taking note of all the fabulous things in life that are brown. And of course, you did a wonderful job sharing a diversity of photos showcasing the prompt. Nicely done!

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  53. Stunning photos and this quote may change my views and perspective….“Brown is a restful color and symbolizes stability and wholesomeness.” – Ward Bennet. I always want the snow to brighten up the brown but I am going looking today to see these restful colours that you used in your post. Absolutely loved all your photos and how you tied the colours physically into your post! Well done.

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  57. Glorious images, Terri! This post was uplifting in its message and beautiful images. It’s hard to imagine a winter scene yet. Here in Texas, for example, I was meditating outside in shorts and t-shirt with temperatures only in the low 70s.

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  60. Terri,

    We absolutely love Dahlias, and your wine-red one is stunning. Snow!?! Say it ain’t so. We’re basking on sun-drenched sand at the beach, and I captured an image of a gull with brown wings. I include it here as my contribution. Great pictures, as always. Have a great week! Joe

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    • Very cool to see your brown-winged seagull, Joe! Oh that warm sand and blue sky looks inviting! I walked home from church (about a 10 minute walk) in blustery conditions, just a few minutes ago. Our snow completely melted, which was expected. It will be back mid-week. About the dahlias, I was very pleased with these. I managed to dig up the tubers and store them away to replant next year. Enjoy your week!

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  62. Winter is here for us, no snow yet but it’s rare to get it anyway. I have the sense that it was a quick Autumn for us, the leaves are all gone now. Lovely photos, Terri. It’s such a photogenic time of the year.

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