Inscribed Hail Verdigris

Latin īnscrībere, to write upon — past-participle of inscribe. As a color modifier, inscribed implies a clear-and-text-or-pattern-cut quality, the crisp color of Roman-Imperial-period monumental-stone inscription-and-monumental-text incised-relief. Sits at the crisp-and-incised end of the grid, parallel to etched and engraved in usage.

Old English hægl, hail-stones. As a color modifier, hail implies a hail-stone-and-clattering-and-spring-thunderstorm quality, the visual register of prairie-and-summer-thunderhead-hail hand-hail-stone-and-clattering-and-spring-thunderstorm prairie-and-summer-thunderhead-hail-and-Great-Plains hail-and-hail-stone-and-clattering surfaces under prairie-and-summer-thunderhead-hail-and-Great-Plains Tornado-Alley-and-Kansas-Oklahoma-storm-cell prairie-thunderhead-light. Sits at the modifier-and-weather end of the grid, parallel to sleet and flurry in usage.

The basic copper carbonate that forms on weathered copper and bronze — the pigment scraped from oxidized metal and used in Renaissance painting before being supplanted by more stable greens. The color refers to a thick verdigris on aged copper roofing or the Statue of Liberty's surface: a soft, slightly muted blue-green with the powdery finish of mineral oxide. Cooler than patina, warmer than seafoam, with the archaeological weight of a mineral made by time.