
Ingrid Sundberg
Now that we’re headed home, I have been hunting around for paint colors to change up our bedrooms, and I have encountered some ridiculous color names. I know the people in charge of such things must run out of inspiration sometimes, and I have been somewhat entertained by some of their more obscure efforts (Hannah Banana, Careless Whispers, and Baby’s Mittens, to name a few). But finding today’s beautiful thing feels like a great relief to me.
Author and artist Ingrid Sundberg (she of the orchid hair) created Color Thesaurus, a compendium of the perfect evocative names for some common colors, and she’s singing the song of my people. Here’s what inspired her:
“I love to collect words. Making word lists can help to find the voice of my story, dig into the emotion of a scene, or create variety.
“One of my on-going word collections is of colors. Having a variety of color names at my fingertips helps me to create specificity in my writing. I can paint a more evocative image in my reader’s mind if I describe a character’s hair as the color of rust or carrot-squash, rather than red.
“So for fun, I created this color thesaurus for your reference. Of course, there are plenty more color names in the world, so, this is just to get you started.”
Sundberg’s color names really resonated with me, and as I read them, I found myself repeatedly exclaiming “Yes!” She has a real talent for nailing just the right object to bring to mind a color, and I sincerely hope she keeps going. The paint industry should really take a page from her book.
You can follow Sundberg on her website.
August 17, 2018 at 7:41 am
Love this! I just painted our garage doors a dark teal color. After six failed color tests of paint with names like Bahamian Blue, I finally found “Tealish.” Teal-ISH turned out to be the teal I was looking for. I kid you not. I won’t even get into the front door colors. Ah, well. What I love about painting a room (or a garage door) is how different the color looks at different times of day. Large test patches are a necessity. 😉. Go forth and be brave! ❤️
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August 17, 2018 at 10:27 am
If there’s one thing of which I am not afraid, it’s color! It took a supreme effort of will not to paint the apartment walls, which were cream. Yuck. But now we get to go home to our purple and teal and grey painted rooms! Down with beige!
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August 17, 2018 at 8:29 am
I love this but….there are just too many choices in this world.
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August 17, 2018 at 10:27 am
That’s a good thing. Something for everyone!
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August 17, 2018 at 8:14 pm
She completely nails it. As a home owner, I really appreciate the relatable and recognisable names she has allotted to the colours. The creative in me, however, does enjoy the ridiculous names given to paint colours. I suspect each company gives out prizes for the silliest name that actually gets the green light.
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August 17, 2018 at 10:04 pm
I always thought it would be really fun to come up with makeup color names, too. I would have been great at that. I liked the idea of working in inside jokes that only me and my people would get.
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August 20, 2018 at 1:02 pm
These are fantastic!! Useful to a writer, too! Thanks for sharing!
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October 18, 2018 at 9:52 am
I love how creative “the namers” can be with paint colors (lettuce alone – well, a lettuce color), jam session – a grayish lavender). The Color Thesaurus certainly has nailed naming the colors where I can visualize the color perfectly.
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October 18, 2018 at 10:29 am
It’s pretty remarkable, isn’t it? Not something I would have thought the world needed, but once I saw it, I was very happy to have it.
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