My skin is kind of sort of brownish
Pinkish yellowish white.
My eyes are greyish blueish green,
But I’m told they look orange in the night.
My hair is reddish blondish brown,
But it’s silver when it’s wet.
And all the colors I am inside
Have not been invented yet.
– Shel Silverstein, Colors-
One of the bloggers I follow said he had a favourite colour – aquamarine with a hint of boysenberry in it.
I had to look both colours up to be sure what they are. Aquamarine – I think that is the official colour that timeshare units are decorated in for the Canadian visitors to Florida. Boysenberry seems to be quite a regal colour, but because I have never seen a boysenberry, let alone eaten one, I’m not entirely sure this is the colour the blogger was thinking of.
No matter. With a little bit of magic in Photoshop Elements, I came up with a colour that I have named Aquaboyse.
I scoured my photos in order to show aquaboyse at work, but I was not all that successful. It doesn’t seem to be a colour in Mother Nature’s palette. The closest I could find were four photos of water. The Latin word for water is aqua, hence the word ‘aquamarine’, which must mean sea water; ‘Aqua pura’ meaning Pure Water; ‘Aqua vitae’ or the Water of Life (alcoholic spirits) and ‘Aqua concus dipporum’ meaning go soak your head.
My first water photo is at the Xel-Ha Park in Mexico. It is a nature reserve, but also a tourist recreation park. The lagoons are full of fish watching people, and people watching fish. The water is crystal clear and almost aquaboyse in colour!
The second photo is a lake at Fairmont Hot Springs in British Columbia. Because it is fed by a creek that flows down from the hot springs above, it stays ice free all winter long. The plants that grow on the bottom of the lake help to give the water a bit of an aquaboyse colour.
The third photo are the Dhows in the Doha Harbour in Qatar. The water is the Persian Gulf. There is a colour called Persian Blue, but I think the water looks much more like aquaboyse.
The last photo is a fish tank at The Vancouver Aquarium – a bit too green for aquaboyse, I’m afraid.
And there you have it – a brand new name for a colour.
Amusives 
Lovely photos.
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Thanks pensioner – a new color for you to decorate your living room with, perhaps?
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This is awesome. There are like 64 million colors, according to some sources. But if you look at a color range chart and can tell the difference between the blues sitting next to each other, your eyes are better than mine.
Now can you make us;
ochrange…
majurple…
cyareen…
and rasbed…
Also, please ask the sport drink companies to stop naming their drinks after colors instead of flavors. I do not know what glacier blue is supposed to taste like.
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Well, PMAO, you are a wealth of colour information. I’ll leave it to you to define all those colours – I can’t picture them at all! I certainly agree with your beef with the sport drink companies, especially because blue food reminds me mostly of things that are past their best before date.
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That is precisely why green eggs and ham made people so nervous.
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I love color. When working with quilts, I choose beautiful hand-dyed batiks. Your pictures remind me of so many fabrics in my “stash.”
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Hi Lorna – I can relate to your fabric stash, as I have a fair sized one myself. I keep thinking I should downsize it, but I enjoy the colours too much!
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Hi Margie,
Wow, you invented a brand new colour, well done. 🙂
The lake in the first photo just makes me want to jump in that is just so inviting, what a perfect place to go swimming.
I love how you have chosen water for the colour, and all great photos. 😀
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Thanks Mags – If nothing else, I sure know a lot more about aquamarine and boysenberries!
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I love your new colour (color). And the pictures you chose as examples are wonderful. Makes me anxious for spring to really arrive here so that I can go to my cottage, find a big rock to sit on by the water, and stare at the ocean for a few hours. I never seem to tire of that. Maybe this year I’ll be able to find an aquaboyse wet-suit for when I try snorkeling again!
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Hi Sylvia – It sounds like you are going to have a wonderful summer. Good luck in your pursuit of aquaboyse!
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Your journey to find things with the color, aquaboyse, is so fun and fascinating. I could actually see that “colour” in some of your shots or did I just wish to see it? You are up to the challenge for sure.
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Hi Dor – It is a tricky colour to see, that is for sure!
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Looks good to me and I like the colors – I think you are very close, if not spot on. Lovely photos!
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Thanks Fergie – I trust your colour sense!
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Great post. I like your humor a lot.
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Thanks yearstricken. The feeling is mutual.
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“Aquamarine – I think that is the official colour that timeshare units are decorated in for the Canadian visitors to Florida”
Hilarious but true!
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Hi Laura – Yes, we’ve stayed in a few aquamarine themed rooms in Orlando – but to be fair, maybe only Orlando timeshares are decorated in those colours.
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Love aquaboyse – it perfectly describes the color of purple foliage that has a hint of aqua in it (sedums, euphorbias, purple smoke bush, etc.) 🙂 Mind if I borrow this word?
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Hi composer – yes, you are welcome to use aquaboyse any time you like. It isn’t a word you will find anywhere but here, so it will be nice to see it spread.
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Love your water photos, Margie. I need to come for a visit. I have Adobe Photoshop on my Mac, and I cannot figure out how to use the darn thing. I try to follow the directions, but I guess I’m not understanding them. Can I come so you can show me?
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Susan, I think I would be lost too! I use a stripped down version of Photoshop – Photoshop Elements, and I use a PC, not a Mac!
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That’s what I have, too, Margie—Elements! I’m still lost.
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Hi Susan: There are a lot of sites on the web with good tutorials – it really is a matter of finding the ones that teach you in the learning style that works best for you!
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Wow, thanks, Margie. I’ll let you know if it helps or if I’m too thick to understand it.
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I just finished the one you sent me. Very informative. I’m going to go try it on my computer (I’m on my iPad now). But now I want to see what things I can do with my pictures.
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I wish color were my skill. I’m not the type who can put a daub on a wall and imagine the rest. Nope. The whole wall has to be smeared. So I’m impressed with your color manipulation, but of course, I’m more impressed with the photos. I always feel I’m somewhere else (like having a beer on that dock) when I look at your work.
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Thanks Barb – I’m not all that good at choosing a wall color by just a daub on the wall either. I usually end up painting a whole wall and then living with it for a while before I know if it is the right colour.
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Dear Margie,
I am humbled at your generosity and wish to say, “well done my Canadian friend.” The color (or colour) is inspired by the waters of the Carribean around the smaller, less inhabited islands. I first saw the color while in the Navy at the Midway islands in the Pacific. It was the most remarkable color I had ever seen. Some people call it aquamarine, but there was a slight green cast to it that made it so much more. I admit, I thought boysenberries were green, but I must have had the unripened stage in mind. There is a purity to the color I am inadequately trying to describe. I’m sure many of your readers could tell me the scientific reason why the color exists, but I want to remain ignorant about that. I go to the Carribean as often as I can and I so love to quietly sail into that water. It cleanses and rejuvenates and, well, makes me happy. All joy today in writing and inspiring others to do the same. HF
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Hi Harper – The colour you describe sounds peacefully wonderful. I’ve only been to the Carribean once, but if I am ever there again I will know what to search for!
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Incredible: you invent a new color, then actually find it in a photo (and it sure jumps out of that first photo in particular).
Anything by Shel S. is a winner, as was your very funny quip about aquamarine being the official timeshare color for Canadians!! : )
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Hi Mark – I am so happy there are wonderful writers like Shel. They brighten up my pages, and inspire me to try to do better with the few words I have mastered or manipulated!
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I think you did a great job of getting matches for the unusual colors. Well done! 🙂
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Hi E.C. – Since it is a colour I’ve defined, I guess I can’t go wrong with the photos I choose.
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Beautiful photos, you’ve managed to capture some very vivid colours… no shades of grey!
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Thanks David – you are right – no shades of grey in these photos!
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In addition to the photos of your “color sample” I love the word and idea of aquaboyse. I love the way the word seems to swirl through my brain before rolling off of my tongue. I would love a quilt that color(s) that in those batik fabrics previously mentioned that I could use as a headboard behind my bed. It would be like heaven to float in that color all night!!
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Hi Carol – you are welcome to use aquaboyse as much as you like. I’m sure it can be found under some other less exotic name!
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