Living Green

GREEN -  The color of life -          

                                       a symbol of hope and fertility, 

                                       the color of inexperience and youth, 

                                       of jealousy and sickness- 

                                                   the best and the worst of life- 

........from the Old English word 'growan'-

                                                meaning to grow 

Leafy greens ,  fresh and enticing on the Green Grocer's shelf

INTERIOR DESIGN-ORLANDO DIAZ

The fresh green of the rye grass centerpiece 

brings the room to life

With March and St Patrick's Day around the corner the pinks and reds of February have faded into the

the fresh greens of spring...

 Shamrocks ,  the symbol of Ireland

Green as a color is a neutral that mixes well with everything.  

Straight from nature gorgeous color palettes evolve

The dusty grey of  stone and the taupe of weathered

 wood have high contrast to  green grass and moss 

A soft pink stone house is set off like a fine jewel 

against a velvet field of grass

The bright colors of Gypsy wagons are even more vibrant

against the green of the field they are encamped on

Giving new meaning to GREEN ROOM, artist Neil Jones
finds inspiration sleeping in his vegetable garden in London

Ruins of an ancient castle gather moss alongside the

 natural boulders buried into the surrounding soil

"A rolling stone gathers no moss" 

...so plant a boulder or two in a shady corner 

of your garden. 

 Moss will grow where other things may not flourish.

There is much lore around the color green

Supposedly the pigment in green M&M's is an aphrodisiac

The ancient Egyptians believed it was the  color of power and protection

The God,  Isis is known as "The Great Green"

Look at the picture below and see if you don't agree that the set coloration was inspired by the ancient painting of Isis 

CLEOPATRA 1963
Starring
ELIZABETH TAYLOR
AND
RICHARD BURTON

Where are those M&M's ???

Notice that Cleo is wearing GREEN- now the Egyptian national color

The movie however, was a disaster on many levels.


A $2 million dollar budget became a $44 million budget ($300 mil in today's dollars)
and bankrupted 20th Century Fox


That's a whole lot of 'GREEN'


Liz almost died during the filming and the love affair between her and
Richard Burton became an international scandal that destroyed their two existing marriages

RICHARD BURTON

ELIZABETH TAYLOR

These photos were  taken when the actors were very young and quite "green"

Their gorgeous faces could make us all "green" with envy

Richard  presented Liz with a Bulgari Emerald broach upon their engagement.  The rest of the set was hers shortly after they were married.  

EMERALDS- the most precious of all gem stones symbolize hope and optimism- 

certainly a good way to start a marriage but not sure it worked for Taylor-Burton

Napoleon had the bed in his army tent draped in Emerald Green,

Perhaps  he learned of the symbolic power and protection of the color on his campaign to Egypt.

How chic is the combination of leopard carpet, Indienne print cotton and Emerald green taffetta silk ?!?

Madame Castaing would have approved.

INTERIOR DESIGN- MADELEINE CASTAING

DESIGN- ROSE TARLOW

A mix of  Prussian blue glassware with lettuce green ceramic 
plates, has added sophistication with the a
dispaly  of green Hydrangeas

The crisp freshness of these white radishes could 

have inspired the rooms below

INTERIOR DESIGN -FRANCOIS CATROUX

INTERIOR DESIGN-ROSE TARLOW
A  neutral white setting comes to life with bold strokes of green 
that also counterbalance the bold graphic
 quality of the artwork

Mixing different shades of green in interiors adds a layered 

interest visually, as it does in great landscape design

LANDSCAPE DESIGN-JACQUES WIRTZ.

My personal all time favorite landscape architect

Some look better in green then others


Who says it's not easy being green ?


Fear not the Ides of March


Wishing you all the best of luck

Rela