Ultramarine blue | Outside The Lines

Free Trial Downloads for Segmation SegPlay® PC (see more details here)

In previous blog posts, we examined the many different shades of blue and studied the vibrant variations of yellow.

In this post, let’s take a closer look at a color that also boasts just as many wide-ranging hues: the secondary color green.

When painting nature, the color green will usually pop up prominently on your palette. Landscapes featuring forests, trees, or fields will involve a range of greens. Likewise, still lifes of apples, olives and limes will require their own sets of greens, not to mention the leaves and stems on flowers.

No matter what your medium, there are many types of greens available to suit your purpose. Here are a few of those greens along with an inside look at their origins:

Chromium oxide green gets its name from the inorganic compound that is used to create the pigment. This green has a bluish tinge, and is also known as Viridian.

Cobalt green is an artificial pigment made from a heated mix of cobalt oxide and zinc oxide. Although it is a permanent color, it has weak tinting strength.

Hooker’s green was named for the English botanist/artist who created it in the 19th century by combining Prussian Blue and Gamboge.

Phthalo green is short for ” Phthalocyanine Green G”. This synthetic pigment is created from a combination of copper and phthalocyanine. Available in a blue shade or yellow shade, Phthalo green is one of the most popular greens for painters.

Sap green was originally made from the berries of Buckthorn shrubs, but now it’s manufactured from a mixture of other pigments, including Phthalo green.

Segmation

FREE Newsletter

Join us on Facebook

FREE SegPlay® Art Painting Evaluation for 10 days, Enjoy us, so easy, fun and what a brain teaser with no mess!

www.segmation.com – the Art of Pieceful Imaging

If you want to paint a seascape with soaring blue skies and rippling blue water, you might go to the art supply store and stand in awe at the sheer range of blues available with different shades, tints, and variations in hue. For instance, a major paint manufacturer offers at least 15 different types of blue, from Cerulean Blue on the lighter end of the spectrum to Indigo Blue on the darker end.

The more you work with your paints, the more you’ll intuitively recognize which tube of blue to choose when you need to paint blue eyes, a bluebird or a deep blue sea. Although the distinct characteristics of each blue might be familiar to you, do you know where the name for each particular color comes from?

As we discussed in a previous article on the origins of color names for artist pigments, many paint colors derive their names from what they are made of: for instance, Phthalo Blue is named for the synthetic pigment Phthalocyanine, and Cobalt Blue is named for the lustrous metal cobalt, etc.

Let’s explore where some of these other blues get their color names:

Anthraquinone Blue – “Anthraquinone” is an organic compound that forms the basis for many dyes.

Cerulean Blue – “Cerulean” has its roots in the Latin word caelum which means heaven or sky.

Indigo – “Indigo” is named for the Indigofera genus, many plants of which are used as a dye.

Navy blue – The color “Navy blue” is named for the dark blue uniforms worn by officers in the British Royal Navy and was first used as a color name in 1840.