Monday, August 24, 2009

The Colors of My World

The weekend, as usual, came and went too quickly. The good news is I got to spend a good chunk of it painting! The bad news is - alas! - it was not in my Moleskine watercolor journal, and not with my lovely watercolor pencils, and did not include dainty florals or any scenes from nature. It did, however, include a very pretty color called Urban Mist, even though it came in a gallon sized can.

I have been wanting to paint my bedroom for a long, long time, so I am very pleased that it is (mostly) done. The color is not exactly what I wanted, but is such a tremendous improvement that I'm happy with it. (Hubby is out of town and it'll be interesting to see how long it takes him to notice when he gets home next weekend.)

I also bought a couple gallons of paint to paint my living room and my entry way. I painted the dining room about a year ago - one of those not-quite-beige-not-quite-cream-not-quite-tan colors that seems to be different hues at different times of the day. I have an open floor plan and the dining room and living room flow one into the other, so I will continue that color into the living room. It's called Baked Scone. Mmm . . . yummy.

And that got me wondering - who gets to name all these colors? The other paint chips I picked up when trying to decide what color paint to buy are called Mesa Taupe, Silver Sage, Verdigris, Cafe Cream, Clear Pond, Sculptor Clay, and Ozone. I have a brochure/catalog from a few years ago from Anna Sova, a company that sells "healthy paint" as well as organic bedding. (They even, at one point, had what they called "Paint Aromatherapy." You could add a small container of "aroma" to your paint and it supposedly lasted from 6 months to a year. Aromas included Clean/Fresh Lemons, Hope/Vanilla, Exotica/Sandalwood, and Courage/Orange Clove. Are you getting this Fragrant Muse? ;) Don't know if they still sell them.)

Anna Sova's colors were outrageous! Elephants of Victory. Tibetan Turquoise. Fish Calligraphy. Flying Lizard. Stonehenge. Filipino Eggplant. I could go on and on.

And have you checked out a box of Crayola Crayons lately? The box of 96 still includes my old favorites from SO many years ago - Sky Blue, Apricot, Sea Green, and Burnt Sienna. Now there's also Timberwolf, Big Dip o' Ruby (metallic), Inchworm, Purple Mountain's Majesty, Tumbleweed, Macaroni and Cheese, and Wild Blue Yonder.

I want that job! I could come up with a few I think. How about Marilyn Monroe Lipstick Red, Caramelized Onion, Bird of Paradise, Egg Yolk. (I have a small eyeshadow compact with two shades of green. I put the lighter one on one day and instantly thought, "Oh no! It's that weird pearlescent green color that ham turns when it's getting a little old." Haven't ever worn that one!)

And I have some for the Grunge set - Four Day Old Bruise, Marilyn Manson Black, Dirty Dreadlocks.

What colors can you come up with?

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5 comments:

  1. Eliane ZimmermannTuesday, 25 August, 2009

    here in ireland many paint suppliers name their colours after mountains, bays, islands etc. we used to have a wonderful blue named CLEW BAY in the boy's room and i had no clue what it meant. until the elder son went to summer camp two years ago and we learnt that the wonderful bay where they would be kayaking was the famous (!) clew bay. good learning for poor knowledge of irish geography.
    I'm not fragrant muse but an aromatherapist as well and wonder how the combination of smelly chemicals and (artificial?) essential oils might smell and what it might do to your health. but it for sure keeps mosquitoes from your place!

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  2. JanetTuesday, 25 August, 2009

    Hi Eliane! I've never heard of Clew Bay either, but I think I'll go look it up. :)
    And the paints have no smelly chemicals - they're more like milk paints. I haven't ever purchased any, but I always wanted to - just the paint, not the aromatherapy stuff. Their site is beautiful too; so much gorgeousness to look at.

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  3. HollyTuesday, 25 August, 2009

    Love this! Yes, I'd like that job, too.

    And, I did it....my kitchen is called Fabulous Red...and it is that.

    But, when I was looking for the right color, I told everyone I was looking for Max Factor Lipstick Red, and you know what? All the samples that people thought I should look at to consider, were pretty close to each other.

    Yeah, I could so name colors with you!

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  4. la pianistaTuesday, 25 August, 2009

    I love this post; I've always thought it would be a kick to 'name' paint colors.

    Last month, I was helping a friend finish his bedroom. He had already done the painting in black, silver and a yummy turquise color. He wanted bedding, etc. to match. Knowing how difficult it is to match blues and greens, I asked him for a paint chip of the turquise color. He knew exactly what it was...in his deep masculine voice, he proudly announced to me, "why of course, it's Mermaid Treaure!" I giggled a weensy bit. It was so funny to hear him say that! *still smiling*

    You are an inspiration to me -- It's time for me to paint my bedroom too!

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  5. judipatootieTuesday, 25 August, 2009

    I teach color theory and we name our color creations and then I giev paint samples for them to name..its AMAZING what name arise

    How about
    Cats Eye( yellow)
    Armadillo(grey)
    Flag(Louisiaana Iris purple)
    Paint Brush(brown)


    I have a sample of O'Deu..its orange.. what the heck???

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