Wow, is it Monday already?  Well, good Monday morning everyone!  I hope you are finding time to put your creativity to work this summer.  We have been talking about color and what a powerful artistic tool color can be.  It can affect your mood and how a viewer actually feels about a piece.
The color of today is Green.  Representing earth and nature, green is a soothing and relaxing color.  Green is the inspiration for many songs, titles, and phrases;  The Green Mile, How Green was my Valley, Green Acres, Green Green Grass of Home, and the eco-friendly phrase, Going Green.  
With so many refreshing sentiments associated with the color green, it's ironic, isn't it? that it is also associated with jealousy, as in green with envy or the green eyed monster.  Thought to have originated in Roman times, the association with envy was cemented into our language by Shakespeare and Othello. (1)
In the late 1800's and early 1900's, many famous artists such as Van Gogh,           Degas, Hemingway, Picasso, etc. enjoyed a popular drink of the times, absinthe, which was also know as the "green muse" or the "green fairy".  Getting it's green color from chlorophyll, absinthe became so popular in France that the "green hour" became the time that cafes filled up with absinthe drinkers. (2)
Chlorophyll is the green pigment from nature that is responsible for the production of oxygen which is what we need to survive.  So, green became symbolic as the essence of life. (3)

So, I'll leave you with some green inspiration and the following question......Is the grass always greener on the other side?

1,2,3.  Information and examples of the meaning behind the color green from, "The Secret Language of Color", by JoAnn Eckstut and Arielle Eckstut, Black Dog and Leventhal Publishers, 2013.