An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere.

-Albert Schweitzer

I love green and use its various hues quite frequently in my paintings. Green features at times in my writings, too, and certainly in my perceptions. I feel awed by the diversity of how the color presents itself, sometimes dominating the environment, other times quietly there in almost a supportive role, enabling brilliantly colored flowers to take central stage. The color green seems to be accompanied always by its promise of life and of renewal. And then there is emerald green with its startling depth of color and its luminescence.

Green in many ways, is primary in my mind and yet the pigment is not a primary color. If I mix blue and yellow, I will make green. Although I find that there is something reassuring about green, I am also aware that the color  needs reassurance from me – from us all in fact – that we do understand its importance to life.  Green is an intrinsic representation of the health of our planet and like the color blue, is also a dominant color of our Earth. Emerald is a shade of green that can be so intense, vivid and verdant, that it is startling. Emerald describes the lush landscapes and rich greens  of Ireland – the Emerald Isle – with its rolling hills and vales of white. It also describes Seattle – the emerald City which is green almost all year round. Emerald is the ultimate pure, brilliant green hue we can see nature.

A few years ago I wrote a blog called ODE TO GREEN: A SCIENTIST AND A FANTASIST IN CONVERSATION together with paleobotanist John M. Anderson and I am featuring it again because it fits so well with my green-emerald theme:

JOHN’S LETTER TO ELLEN:

Dear Ellen of GlimpseLand,

Prompted by your invitation to penetrate a Glimpse, in your splendidly special book, THE WORLD OF GLIMPSE, I thought I would penetrate one…

And there I found a whole rainbow, end to end,

All synnovated with swirling color,

Particularly green!

Bounding with greenescence it was!

A veritable spectrum of greens!

And here was my very next thought

That came tumbling by

From right within your Glimpse!

Wander through any grassland

or woodland or forest,

Wherever you might be!

And what will you find?

You’ll find that every species of grass or shrub or tree

Is a different color of green!

Your Lunaberry Forest and well beyond, is filled with

Spunktaneous green, and emeralding green,

Of infinite range,

An endless spectrum of green,

The middle color of the rainbow!

Thanks so much for The Glimpse – The fleeting journey!

With lots of love,

John of MoltenoLand.

ELLEN’S REPLY TO JOHN:

Dear John of MoltenoLand,

What a beautiful Ode to Green!

Yes, green, that somewhere between yellow-and-blue color, seems to be everywhere with its many tones, tints and shades. It is, indeed, the color of nature, of early spring and mid and late summer. It is both soothing and energizing – just think of brilliant emerald!

I love the mystery of the emerald flash which, if you are fortunate enough to witness, occurs just as the last part of the sun disappears at sunset. Green, which deepens into emerald, is also the final color of THE WORLD OF GLIMPSE and the source of its completion. Just imagine a world without green!

With love and appreciation for your wonderful insights,

Ellen of GlimpseLand

P.S. VIEW a short excerpt from THE WORLD OF GLIMPSE, where the rainbow, too, which stretch-arches across Glimpse, now has a final color:  Green!