LIVING BY DESIGN: Colour

Colours convey romance, create moods… 

Descriptions of colours can be immediately evocative - the French writer Colette: ...'eyes that are ‘Tabacs d’Espagne’.

I keep pigments and gaze into the powdered depths before specifying a colour!

Colours from Chinese ceramics: Rose de Chine, Jaune de Chine, Vert de Chine...Celadon

Heliotrope is not Parma violet, Ox blood is not Terracotta. 

Reds are Carmine, Crimson, Cardinal, Red Poppy, and many others including Cadmium and Pomegranate.

Yellows: Saffron Yellow, Chartreuse, Absinthe, Frangipani yellow, Lemon... 

Eucalyptus Grey, Dior Grey [a standing joke with my specialist painters who know I will ask for it sooner or later] and Dove grey is not Gorge de Pigeon…

Browns are Donkey brown, Chestnut, Morello and paler...Café-au-lait.

Pinks are Venetian rose, Ottoman pink, Rose fanné, Rose madder

Whites are plentiful, some Italian whites – Giallon di Napoli and Rosetto di Napoli are examples of my favourites.

Greens are Sage green, Pistachio, Lovat, Ogido di Cromo Puro…Verviene green.

  

Black: Roman black, Graffiti, Black oxide...

Ochre: Dark / Medium & Pale – Roman/Tuscan.

Blue: Azure, Batik blue, Indigo, Bleu Outremer, Cobalt blue, Sky blue, Ink blue, Aquamarine…

Interior by Raoul Dufy

From the International Herald Tribune, October 24, 2012: 'Captivated by the Purity of Blue' by Natalie Angier, she quotes Raoul Dufy: 

‘the only colour..to remain blue in all its tones’.  

‘In the Congo basin, a new species of monkey 'Lesula', has a patch of brilliant blue skin on the male’s buttocks and scrotal area.

Blue’s emotional balance is calmness and open-endedness…coolness and tranquility..