Sphere Of Influence

For our blues we have the azures and ceruleans, lapis lazuli, the light and dusty, the powder blues, the deeps: royal, sapphire, navy and marine; there are the pavonian or peacock blues, the reddish blues: damson, madder and cadet, hyacinth, periwinkle, wine wisteria and mulberry; there are the sloe blues, a bit purpled or violescent, and then the green blues, too: robin’s egg and eggshell blue, beryl, cobalt, glaucous blue, jouvence, turquoise, aquamarine.

—William H. Gass from On Being Blue