Friday colour: the grass is greener

It’s finally feeling like Spring and green is the go – the limey citrus of new buds, the bright emerald of spring rain on lawn. Grow green grow!

Green Facts

Green is growth, freshness, nature, fertility, life, ecology, naivety, youth, inexperience, envy, jealous, sickness, money and prosperity.

It is also a verb: ‘to go green’, ‘greening the suburb’.

The modern English word green comes from the Middle English and Anglo-Saxon word grene, from the same Germanic root as the words ‘grass’ and ‘grow’

Without Chlorophyll (the essential component in photosynthesis), we wouldn’t have most of the green we see every day.

It is the colour of the Roman Goddess of love Venus. It is the traditional colour of Islam; and is also associated strongly with Catholicism.

In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, green was worn by merchants, bankers and the gentry and their families.

The most famously pictured woman in the world, The Mona Lisa, wears green.

Green is both lucky and unlucky: a green shamrock is lucky, green race cars are not. Green may symbolise bad news in Israel or infidelity in China, but is definitely lucky in Ireland.

Some famous characters associated with green

• Santa Claus was often traditionally depicted wearing green; it wasn’t until Coca-Cola dressed St Nic in its signature red that the current costuming stuck.
• Leprechauns
• Fairies and elves are traditionally green
• Peter Pan and Tinkerbell
• The Green Lantern
• The Hulk
• The Wizard of Oz (and all the inhabitants of Emerald City), as well as the Wicked Witch of the West
• Yoda
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Frankenstein
• The Green Goblin (Spiderman)
• Kermit the Frog
• Mike Wazowski (Monsters Inc)
• Shrek (and Fiona)
• Gumby
• Oscar the Grouch
• The Grinch
• Robin Hood

Shades of green

Lime, forest, moss, British racing, emerald, peridot, malachite, summer, spring, jungle, grass, olive, khaki, fern, pine, shamrock, clover, mint, tea, teal, football field, laurel, army, celadon, Paris, sea, jade, harlequin, neon, Brunswick, bottle, apple, chartreuse, hunter, pistachio, French lime, electric, dollar bill, Dartmouth, Castleton, Carribean, cal poly, bud, avocado, asparagus, android, Amazon, acid, viridian, granny smith, guppie, India, Kelly, La Salle, lawn, limerick, Lincoln, mantis, May, aquamarine, myrtle, mountain meadow, pear, office, rifle.

Some green idioms

A green thumb – a good gardener.

The green-eyed monster – jealous and envy are lurking. Also green with envy.

The green room – the waiting and rest area for actors or TV guests, before they head on stage.

Green around the gills – someone who is looking sick.

Give the green light – it’s a go

Greenhorn – an inexperienced person

Green belt – an area of fields or trees around a town or city

Greenwashing – promoting positive environmental practices within an organisation in order to cover up the destructive environmental impact the said organisation has had.

Going green – becoming more environmentally conscious.

The grass is always greener on the other side – other people’s circumstances always look better when you’re looking in rather than living them.

 

Friday colour: the colour purple

Purple Symbolism

Often associated with royalty – mainly because of the difficulty and expense in acquiring a natural purple dye (the most famous being Tyrian purple, a dye extracted from sea snails). Though synthetic dyes make it possible to dye our clothes any colour we desire, we still link purple with royalty, and an image of wealth and luxury.

In many cultures purple is a colour of mourning; specifically in Thailand, widows wear purple while mourning their husband. Similarly in Europe in the 19th century, widows wore purple partway through their mourning period. It was the ‘inbetween’ once the appropriate time had been spent wearing black, before returning to normal clothing.

Purple is often thought of as a ‘mystical’ colour, the colour of spirituality and astral planes. There is a valid reason for this – purple is right of the edge of the visible colour spectrum, before it tips into ultraviolet, which is invisible to the naked eye. Because of this, purple is a difficult colour for our eyes to distinguish.

Purple is also a culturally important colour for feminists – the Suffragettes used purple, white and green as the distinguishing colours for the suffrage movement (purple for dignity, white for purity, green for hope). In the 1970s, purple resurfaced as the colour for the womens liberation movement in the USA, as a tribute to the suffragettes.

Shades of purple

Lavender, violet, Tyrian purple, lilac, mauve, aubergine, amethyst, Byzantium, magenta, wisteria, orchid, plum, indigo, fuchsia, heliotrope, fandango, thistle, mulberry, Han purple, royal purple, mauveine, red-violet, blue-violet, electric purple, palatinate, phlox, purple pizzazz, liseran purple, purpureus, pomp and power, eminence, pansy, vivid violet, dark violet, mallow, French violet, African violet, patriarch, purple heart, Rebecca purple, regalia, Russian violet, Japanese violet, Chinese violet, Spanish violet, twilight, Veronica, wine, ube.

“o purple finch
please tell me why
this summer world (and you and I
who love so much to live)
must die”

“if I
should tell you anything”
(that eagerly sweet carolling
self answers me)
“I could not sing”

e.e. cummings

Friday colour – pink

I have a love-hate relationship with pink. A soft yet striking suits-everyone hue; yet walk down the ‘girl’ aisle in any toy store and it’s enough to put you off pink for life.

Here’s a collection of pink.

Looking for more colour inspiration? Here’s our post on how to choose the perfect colour for your brand. Here’s some ways to work with copper too.

Friday colour – four seasons

Melbourne is not a city that sticks strictly to its seasons. It likes to keep us guessing.

It has turned us into a people obsessed with the accuracy of weather forecasts. Fifty-percent of people I know have the weather radar app on their phone and yet are not outdoorsy types. We Melburnians compare notes on the art of layering over a beer. We share umbrellas at traffic lights with sodden souls. We frequently test our city by planning outdoor events without back-up plans; but we will brave any weather providing there is coffee or wine nearby.

Here are some colour palettes from the last few months inspired by the seasons.

Winter

Winter clouds, storm coming, blackest night, red velvet armchair, Baileys on ice

Spring

Velvet grape, mulled wine, come-get-me pink, dusty rose, grey clearing, electric teal, neon lime

Summer

Clouds ahead, Wash away grey, summer girls, peachy glow, copper ground, emerald eyes, tropical foliage

Autumn

Pearl blush, French blue, off-teal, pale bronze, spotlight, shiver of emerald, mossy grey, hello mustard.

Looking for more colour inspiration? Here’s our post on how to choose the perfect colour for your brand. Here’s some styling with yellow too.

Friday colour – books and artichoke

I’m sitting in the library trying to write, so here is a book-inspired colour palette for today.

Good growing soil, russet, leather journal, forgotten pink, dirty cream, foggy beach sky, blue dress.

And here are some more book-inspired palettes: with red, with pink, and with navy blue.

Friday colour – 5 palettes with pastels

With some sunshine today I’m dreaming of Spring. Here’s some pastel-inspired palettes for our Friday colour.

Minty blue, foggy lake, dusty pink, milk chocolate ganache, purple dusk.

Kitten grey, steely blue, copper, rose pink, buttermilk.

Deep turquoise, lavender, cold grey, mushroom, sage.

Faded silk, light copper, gold, spun straw, grey blue.

Minty grey, gold wash, forest green, black, iced pink.

Looking for more colour inspiration? Here’s our post on how to choose the perfect colour for your brand. Here’s some styling with yellow too.

Friday colour palette- it’s grey out there

A palette for Melbourne winter. Rug up.

Winter clouds, storm coming, blackest night, red velvet armchair, Baileys on ice

Looking for more colour combos that work? Here’s 7 different pairings with teal, how to work with copper and 10 individual colour palettes for red.