As someone who for as long as they can remember has loved neutral colours (see “glaze colours and their names”), I’m surprised to feel myself currently drawn to – not to say obsessed with – pale, bright greens.
No doubt the French names have played their part in casting the spell… could it be also partly the time of year; tired of bare branches now and yearning for young foliage? Looking at the branches and seeing some of them not bare but covered in lichens?
Although both colours are “clean” rather than “sludgy” they are however, hard to pin down; verdigris in particular. It belongs to the perennial “is it blue or is it green” debate. The name is misleading as I see no “gris” in it but a lot of “bleu”. In its original form of oxidised copper it is variable and mottled. Hard to pin down colours appeal for that very reason: they are intriguing, slippery, complex.
Another dimension to the complexity of this colour is that I am cautious of it. I would not wear it, I don’t think I would eat it (arsenic?). I wouldn’t want large quantities of it anywhere and I’m not sure how long my obsession with it is going to last. I suspect it’s fashionable and I’m attracted to but wary of that too.
In the workshop I’ve done a line blend of a new glaze stain which I can’t stop looking at. We’ve yet to decide what to do with it but I’m sure that it’ll start appearing on pots somehow before very long.
