Introduction to the color Green
The color green is a one of the primary colors of the additive color mixture (beside red and blue). In subtracting color mixing, green is achieved by mixing the colors cyan and yellow. Its complementary color is magenta in the RGB (additive) color wheel and red in the RYB color model.
- RYB Color Model -
What does the color green symbolize?
As the main color of the vegetation, green is associated with life and growth. Ancient knowledge tells us that our survival is assured only if once again fresh green sprout from the earth. Which is why green is a symbol of hope and confidence. This explains, why in our culture, it is a tradition in the winter to have an evergreen Christmas tree in the living room. (So it was already in pre-Christian pagan times.)
Also, the greening in the spring stood in the middle ages as a symbol of the nascent love, which is why green is also considered a color for the new love. In Old Palestine brides wore a green wedding dress to the hope of a happy life and fertility.
Green is the color of the Islam. The Prophet Muhammad is said to have dressed preferably in green. Which is why you can notice several green decorative elements held in mosques. The flags of many Muslim countries contain green, among those, the flags of Saudi Arabia, Mauritania and the former flag from Libya (1977 to 2011).
In Christianity, green is the color of the resurrection. Which is why green is the color of easter, green as in the spring green.
Green is also the color for signalizing that something is normal, positive or proper. It is used to identify processes that work or are allowed. Although intense shades of green are referred to as "poison green". This is because, as read previously, most of the developed green pigments were toxic. Green is also associated with the evil, many medieval poets drew connections between the color green and the devil.
Green Pigments!
It is believed that the egyptians were the first ones to create a green pigment, the malachite. Found mainly in their tomb paintings.
- Osiris - The Great Green -
(In ancient Egypt green represented protection)
- Malachite (basic copper carbonate) is a secondary mineral of copper which is found in many parts of the world. The natural pigments of this mineral were made by crushing the mineral, ground to a powder.
But there is also an artificial way of creating this pigment, this method was commonly used in the middle ages in Europe, is to be added potash, lime and salt ammoniac to a soluble copper salt such as copper sulphate or sulfite. And so the copper sulfate reacts with the sodium carbonate to produce a basic copper carbonate, which is finally the pigment. This artificial pigment is mainly known as copper green.
- Another natural pigment which is used since ancient times is, Green Earth. This pigments is also seen in the late Egyptian art, but it was more frequently used in medieval paintings. Green Earth is made out of the natural material glauconite or celadonite, which are micaceous structures found in submarine elevations of ancient seabeds and in sedimentary rocks of different geological systems. The pigment is produced, as in the case of many of the natural pigments, by grinding the natural material.
- The Greeks were the first ones to create an artificial pigment, which they called Verdigris. This was then often used through the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Baroque because of its unique vibrancy. Verdigris was discontinued in the 19th century due to its toxicity.
This pigment was commonly made in wine growing areas because one of the components needed for doing Verdigris is a sub product of winemaking. Verdigris was done by resting copper plates into wine mark, because the resulting acetic acid, from the wine mark, reacts with the copper forming a green / blue crust which is then scraped of and ground.
After that, most of the green pigments that were produced were artificial ones. This was due to the intense improvements in chemistry. In the late 18th century a new generation of greens was introduced. These were cobalt green, emerald green and viridian.
Cobalt Green:
This pigment was created by the Swedish chemist, Rinmann in 1780. Cobalt green was made by mixing the compounds of oxides of zinc and cobalt with an alkaline carbonate. Then the mixture had to be heated and after washing the sediment that resulted, the pigment was ready to be ground.
Emerald green:
Emerald green was a pigment, that was quickly embraced by society in the 19th century due to its beautiful color and its inexpensive production costs. This pigment was used not only for artistic purposes but also for painting homes. The problem was, that this pigment contained many toxic fumes which caused many cases of poisoning among the population.
This pigment is produced as a reaction of sodium arsenate with copper-acetate. Emerald green is also known as "Schweinfurt Green" due to its commercial origin in the little town of Schweinfurt, Germany. Justus von Liebig and Andre Bracconot are known separately for being the ones who invented this pigment.
Viridian
It is said, that Viridian is one of the best green pigments ever made. This is due to its very stable powerful cold green and its lack of toxicity, since it doesn't contain copper. Viridian pigment is made by calcining a mixture of boric acid and potassium bichromate and washing the material which is formed. The first one in creating this pigment, was Pannentier, a parisian color maker.
Melachite - Green Earth - Verdigris - Cobalt Green - Emerald Green - Viridian
(Pigments described above)
Green in Nature
- Malachite Stone -
Since many plants contain Chlorophyll, green is the main color of the vegetation. In nature it is seen especially in the spring, aside from the tropics, where the plants are constantly green. Green is a color which also appears in various components of nature such as in animals, stones and gem stones.
What is the best possible way to use this color in design field?
After reading so much about the this color, I would say that green would be an excellent color for the use in any space that has to be filled with confident /positive thoughts. Which is why I would recommend to use this color in space like living rooms, "creative rooms" in offices and in hotel lobbies. All this spaces need the good energy that green provides.
Resources:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green
- http://www.webexhibits.org/pigments/intro/greens.html
- http://www.naturalpigments.com
- http://www.cornelissen.com/
- http://www.hobby-island.co.uk/
- http://www.cornelissen.com/
- http://www.hobby-island.co.uk/
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