A colour connected to nature and growth, green hues can evoke feelings of freshness and calm, but have also been connected to jealousy, poison and evil. 'Emerald Green', named after the gemstone, is a fresh mid-green, given the references of the Eurasian teal, ficus plant and (of course) emeralds in the Thames and Hudson Book, Nature's Palette (2021). Due to this colour's ability to calm the mind and the fact that emerald is the birthstone for May, it seems a fitting time to take a look at this relaxing shade.
Although not the exact shade given here, Emerald Green was the Pantone Colour of the Year in 2013 and was promoted as enhancing wellbeing and promoting balance and harmony. As greens are the most abundant colours in nature, it's perhaps not surprising that many languages have associations between the colour green and nature.
The modern words 'green', 'grass' and 'grow' all stem from the same Germanic root, 'grün'. Many other languages connect the meaning of green with vegetation, growth and fertility, with even the Ancient Egyptian hieroglyph for green depicting a growing papyrus sprout.
Some of the more negative connotations have sprung from the use of green pigments and paints that contained arsenic. Scheele's Green was developed in 1775 and proved extremely popular due to its much improved vibrancy over previous green pigments. Such was the craze for this colour, that artists and designers continued to use it after its health-damaging properties were noted. William Morris used the colour in his wallpaper designs and it was a popular paint colour for interior decorators of the time. It has even been implicated in the death of Napoleon, as arsenic was found in the vivid green wallpaper in his bedroom at St. Helena. See the article 'Green Death: The Art History of Arsenic' on the Artist's Network, or the books 'The Secret Lives of Colour' by Kassia St Clair and 'The Complete Colour Harmony, Pantone Edition' by Leatrice Eiseman for more on this.
Animal Reference: Eurasian Teal
The Eurasian teal (Anas crecca) is a small dabbling duck found across Europe, Asia, and parts of North Africa. These birds inhabit a variety of freshwater wetlands, including marshes, lakes, and rivers. They mainly feed on aquatic invertebrates and plants, often foraging in shallow waters. Renowned for its striking plumage, the male has a chestnut head with a broad green eye patch and a greyish body during the breeding season, while the female displays more subdued brown tones.
Eurasian teals travel in large flocks between their breeding and wintering grounds, which can span vast distances, from Europe and Asia to as far south as the Indian subcontinent and North Africa. They are to be found on the Isle of Man, particularly in winter, with the Manx Birdlife website recommending the Ballaugh Curraghs as a particularly good spot to see them.
I didn't realise until after I'd drawn this sketch, that the reference given in Nature's Palette is actually for the green beauty spot on the wing of the Eurasian teal drake and my reference photo hadn't shown this. It's a very similar green to that found on the head of the drake, but if you'd like to see the beauty spot on a bird photographed on the Isle of Man, please see the excellent photos on the manxbirdphotography website.
Vegetable Reference: Ficus
The vegetable reference for Emerald Green was given as 'Ficus' in Nature's Palette. Ficus is a genus of around 900 species of trees, shrubs and vines in the family Moraceae. Many of these plants are known as figs (see the Britannica entry for more information about this large genus). The species of ficus featured in the illustration in Nature's Palette appears to show a specimen of Ficus petiolarus, also known as the 'rock fig'. Rock figs are a tree species and grow in Mexico to a height of around 30 metres. The leaves of these plants are heart shaped and bright green on the front of the leaf with whitish tufts of hairs on the back.
This plant has proved very useful in the past with the bark of the rock fig being used by the Aztecs to make paper known as 'amate'. The roots and bark of the plant have also been used for a variety of medicinal purposes, including the healing of fractures, attenuation of fevers and in the treatment of intestinal parasites.
Ficus petiolarus is a type of strangler fig. These trees often start as epiphytes, which means they establish themselves from seed high in the branches of another tree. They send roots downwards and encircle the host tree. As the roots touch the ground, they enlarge and eventually start to strangle the host tree, which dies from this and a lack of light due to shading by the fig tree's branches. In certain areas with few trees, fig seeds are dropped and grow to encircle large rocks instead of trees.
To find out more about strangler figs and see how they enclose trees see this video.
Mineral Reference: Emerald
Emerald is a variety of beryl, a colourless crystal when completely pure, that turns the green colour of emerald when trace amounts of chromium or vanadium are present. Beryl crystals with only a weak green colour are usually known as 'green beryl' and not called emeralds at all. It's the rich green colour that makes an emerald an emerald, although there is a debate about where the line between green beryl and emerald lies.
The green of an emerald can be more of a bluish green or yellowish green depending on the oxidation states of iron that can also be present in the crystal. Emerald deposits are quite rare, but have been found in widespread locations such as Columbia, Zambia, Brazil, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe. The colour of the emerald tends to vary by location, with emeralds from Columbia being particularly prized due to their strong green colour. Apparently around 70 - 90% of the world's emerald supply comes from Columbia.
Emeralds were much beloved by Cleopatra, who claimed all of the emerald mines in Egypt as her own. Many other royal families have held collections of emerald jewellery, including those of India, Spain and Russia. Elizabeth Taylor, the world's highest paid actress in the 1960's, owned an impressive collection of emeralds from Bulgari (see the Beau Monde website for pictures), many of which were given to her by her twice husband Richard Burton. It's no surprise that these beautifully coloured and rare gems have been prized by actual and Hollywood royalty. Some emeralds can cost more than diamonds of the same size, as it can be me much more difficult to find an emerald of high clarity and rich green colour.
Luckily, for those of us that can't afford the real thing, we can recreate the colour using the colours recommended in Nature's Palette. The Winsor and Newton reference is Winsor Green, which is a phthalo green (PG7) and the Caran d'Ache reference is Cobalt Green.
These are quite different greens and as Nature's Palette gave only the name Winsor Green as the reference I'm not sure if they meant the blue or the yellow shade version. I only had the blue shade, but a look at the Jane Blundell website, which has swatches of the full Winsor and Newton professional watercolours, shows me that the yellow shade (PG36) is closer.
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