Smoldering Blank violet

The progressive participle of smolder, to burn slowly without flame. Used as a color word since the late nineteenth century for the deep reds and oranges of barely-flame coal — the warm saturated darks where the heat is internal rather than emitted. Sits in the bold-and-warm corner, slightly less luminous than burning and slightly less calm than rich.

Old French blanc, white-or-empty. As a color modifier, blank implies an unmarked-and-empty-and-pristine quality, the visual register of fresh-page-and-primed-canvas-blank hand-unmarked-and-empty-and-pristine fresh-page-and-primed-canvas-and-white-room blanked-and-unmarked-and-empty-and-pristine surfaces under fresh-page-and-primed-canvas-and-white-room studio-and-stationer-and-gallery untouched-light. Sits at the modifier-and-mood end of the grid, parallel to void and hollow in usage.

Viola odorata, the European sweet violet — small, fragrant, and the original meaning of the color name in English (the Violet of the rainbow). The color refers to a fresh sweet violet blossom in late winter: a saturated, slightly red-shifted deep blue-purple with the matte finish of small five-petaled flower. Cooler than amethyst, warmer than indigo, with the perfumed weight of a flower used in Roman garlands and Victorian eau de toilette.