GREAT UNUSUAL STRANGE WEIRD COLOR NAMES THAT YOU PROBABLY DON'T KNOW

I saw an article recently that listed several unusual color names - I had never heard of most of them.  I decided to do a little more research and found a ton more! I knew several of them: Titian (a warm red), Vermilion (bright orange-red), and Verdigris (greenish-blue poisonous pigment on copper) and Malachite (a green mineral) but not the others.

Here's a test - without looking them up (!) - try to guess what the colors are -reply to the post and next post I will add the colors and descriptions.

1. SARCOLINE
2. COQUELICOT
3. SMARAGDINE
4. MIKADO
5. GLAUCOUS
6. WENGE
7. FULVOUS
8. XANADU
9. FALU
10. EBURNEAN
11. AMARANTH
12. MALACHITE
13. GAMBOGE
14. FALLOW
15. CAPUT MORTUUM
16. VERMILION
17. VERDIGRIS
18. TITIAN
19. BISQUE
20. PUCE
21. CATTLEYA
22. SMALT
23. DAMASK
24. BITTERSWEET
25. BYZANTIUM
26. PAVO
27. AUREOLIN
28. BOLE
29. FILEMOT
30. RUFOUS
31. VINACEOUS
32. HARLEQUIN
33. MELICHROUS
34. EAU DE NIL
35. CIEL
36. FELDGRAU
37. SOLFERINO
38. JASMINE OR JESSAMY

Office color (dark!)

 Here are photos my one of my most recent painting projects - transforming an orange bedroom into a multi-use bedroom/office space. We used a first coat of a softer mid-tone red over the orange, then Benjamin Moore's Ruby Dusk in matte surface (using Aura -a new line - although this particular paint has a slight sheen which is quite nice).

 Before

 During

 After (with flash)

After (no flash) - most accurate

Here is a screen grab of the chip and of the room which inspired me - although to be honest, it only looks like the chip in the third photograph where I used a flash. It looks washed out here on my screen (on a Mac with a nice Cinema Display monitor).

I am very much enjoying the value of the color - it feels cozy, warm, enveloping.  I am looking forward to creating a display of my black/white photography on at least one wall.  That will probably be a summer project when I am not working and teaching - let me know what you think !

Color Palettes - slides & paint

At work yesterday, I was pulling poor quality 35mm slides from the Ithaca College slide collection. I was choosing the slides to de-accession primarily based on color. Slides have three dye layers (cyan, yellow & magenta). When the cyan and yellow layers have disintegrated, only magenta is left. However, I happen to have all levels of red, magenta, cyan, yellow, and purple shades here. The palette of colors here is wonderful to view.

Last night I had dinner with some friends, one of whom is a painter (David Schaffner). He uses a piece of glass as his palette and this example is from one that he recently retired. I loved the contrast of the two different mediums, one - 35mm slides mounted in glass mounts, the other paint on glass.