Alphabe Thursday T is for Turquoise and Turpentine

T is for Turpentine and turquoise; I am so disappointed that there is no colour that begins with ‘T’ so I am clutching at straws this week.

None of the books I have relating to colour refer to turquoise.   Is there such a pigment ?

Turquoise is an opaque blue-green mineral that is a hydrous phosphate of copper and aluminium according to Wikipedia. I have  no reason to think that it is ground to a paste and used in painting.

So back to the drawing board. I remember my dad as a boat builder using Turps or Turpentine when varnishing the boats when they were completed. I can remember going to the ships chandler’s in the nearby shipyard to buy the turps ‘loose.’ I would take a medicine bottle or two and a few shillings to buy 1/2 a pint of turps, some methylated spirits or some boiled linseed. I remember the smell of the shop and my dad’s workshop with much pleasure.

 Turpentine was also called spirit of turpentine or oil of turpentine it is a fluid obtained by the distillation of resin from trees, particularly pines.  It is mainly used as a solvent and it is used by artists as thinner for oil-based paintings. 

I hope next week I will be able to find a colour so I can continue my theme until the end of the alphabet