Lahey recommended H Barret Carpenter's text Suggestions for the Study of Colour (1915) to her students. Carpenter's exercises established harmony by a judicious blending of colours, whereas Lahey's own works were brilliant in their intensity. However, there is a clear connection between Lahey's works and Carpenter's recommendations for achieving the effect of shadows by using colours 'in their natural order', meaning their increasing intensity. In Calendulas, for example, Lahey uses intense shades of orange to create the effect of a shadow on the yellow flower.