Colour My World Green

From wikipedia.org

We are in the home stretch of the Colour My World Challenge,  people! We've made it through 11 colours so far -- some fun and some, well, not so fun (I'm talking to you, Orange). We're going to end on a fun one, I think. Green!

From Pantone.com

And guess what? Emerald is Pantone's Colour of the Year for 2013. It's like I'd planned it or something. ;) Pantone calls Emerald, "Lively. Radiant. Lush… A color of elegance and beauty that enhances our sense of well-being, balance and harmony." {Edited} Generation Q Magazine has an article today on Emerald -- check it out!

According to Sensational Color, "green occupies more space in the spectrum visible to the human eye than most colors, and is second only to blue as a favorite color. The natural greens, from forest to lime, are seen as tranquil and refreshing, with a natural balance of cool and warm (blue and yellow) undertones." Green comes between blue and yellow on the colour wheel and in the light spectrum. Green is a primary colour in additive (light) colour theory, but a secondary colour in subtractive (pigment/dye) colour theory.

Green is considered the color of peace and ecology. Green soothes and relaxes us mentally, as well as physically. It helps alleviate depression, nervousness, and anxiety and offers a sense of renewal, self-control, and harmony.

Random tidbits about green from Wikipedia and Sensational Color:

• For those of you planning a fashion show, there is a superstition that sewing with green thread on the eve of a fashion show brings bad luck to the design house. 
• As we learned last month with the colour blue, some languages like old Chinese, Thai, old Japanese, and Vietnamese, use the same word for blue and green. 
• In several religions, green is the colour associated with resurrection and regeneration. 
• In some areas of Algeria, houses painted in green indicate that the inhabitants have made a pilgrimage to Mecca. 
• As the colour of Ireland, green represents the vast green hillsides, as well as Ireland's patron saint, St. Patrick. The God of fertility in Celtic myths was associated with green. Green is the color that represents Irish-Catholics, while orange represents Irish-Protestants. 
• Libya is currently the only national flag of a single color -- you guessed it, green!
• Forget red; green is the colour of love associated with both Venus, the Roman goddess and Aphrodite, the Greek goddess. 
• Green is the colour adopted by the environmental movement and is also used to symbolize a range of causes, such as organ donation and transplant, awareness of Bipolar Disorder, solidarity with Chechnya, and support of farmers in America. 
• The human eye is most sensitive to and able to discern the most shades of green, which is why green is used for night-vision goggles. 
• Bright green is the color of the astrological sign "Cancer." 
• Dr. Pierre Ordinaire commercialised 'modern' absinthe as a cure-all in 1792. Then, Henri-Louis Pernod founded the Pernod Fils absinthe company in 1805, seeing its aperitif potential. Absinthe's moment came with the 1840's Algerian wars, when French soldiers drank it as a prophylactic against disease. They brought it home, and by the 1860s, Parisian cafes had established 5 p.m. as "l'heure verte" - "the green hour." 
• NASCAR racers had (have?) a superstition about the colour green for decades. Reportedly, it began after a 1920 accident in Beverly Hills, California, that killed defending Indianapolis 500 champion Gaston Chevrolet. It was the first known racing accident in the United States to kill two drivers, and Chevrolet reportedly was driving a green car. Tim Richmond once refused to drive a car sponsored by Folger's decaffeinated coffee because the primary color was green. He wound up in the Folger's regular coffee car - and its red scheme. But the fear of green cars is fading, primarily because sponsors are willing to pay $15 million to splash their colors on a race car. Green is now the primary color of cars driven by Mayfield, Marlin, and J.J. Yeley. 
• The message you send by driving a dark green vehicle is that you are traditional, trustworthy, and well-balanced. If, however, you drive a bright yellow-green vehicle, you are trendy, whimsical, and lively. Fun!

Now we know a bit more about green, but what's it like to be green? Kermit tells us...

 

Other random Green resources:

• List of Terms Associated With Green
• Making Natural Dyes from Plants
• National Geographic: Life in Green
• ColourLovers: Green Colour Palettes
• House Beautiful's The Color Guide to Green 
• Greed Day's Official Site
• How to Make a Green Screen

What does green make you think of? Feel? What would you do with green? Do you use green in your quilts? I used to, but haven't over the last couple of years. Let's see if this month changes that.

I'll be putting up the linky party for this last colour on December 31st. The rest of the challenges are also still open until then.

Be safe, be happy, be green!