Category: "Colors"

Акварель

by Janell  

Watercolor is Акварель in Russian.The word both means the watercolor paints and an actual watercolor painting. The word theoretically has a plural, but really it's mostly used in the singular.

SgPl
Nomакварельакварели
Accакварельакварели
Genакварелиакварелей
Preакварелиакварелях
Datакварелиакварелям
Insакварельюакварелями

У меня есть акварель. I have watercolors.
Он рисует акварелью. He paints with watercolors.
Научи меня писать акварелью. Teach me how to paint with watercolors.
У неё нет акварели. She doesn’t have watercolors.

Акваарель may come from the French word ‘aquarelle.’ Watercolor is a medium of art in the form of painting such as oil painting, charcoal, markers or colored pencils. One of the traits of watercolor is that it appears more transparent than marker or regular paint because it is “relatively pure with less fillers obscuring the color”. There are many different techniques for water-coloring from how you use the paints to how you lay them on the paper and what you do with the paper. Wet on Wet refers to the act of wetting the paper itself and then laying down the watercolor instead of working on a dry surface. Usually the surface used for water color has to be thicker to stand some of the rougher techniques used in watercolor.

As with many forms of art, watercolor can be used in therapy for patients as a way to express their selves if they feel they cannot with words alone, or a way to relieve stress in a positive way. For more information on watercolor such as its history or usage here is where I found most of my information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watercolor_painting.

Голубой

by Don  

Russian has two words for blue, and the one that is the equivalent of light blue is голубой, which declines like this:

Masc Neut Fem Pl
Nom голубой голубое голубая голубые
Acc * голубую *
Gen голубого голубой голубых
Pre голубом
Dat голубому голубым
Ins голубым голубыми

In its primary meaning the word means the same as its English equivalent:

Она любит носить голубые свитера. She likes to wear light-blue sweaters.
Она сегодня в голубом свитере. Today she is wearing a light-blue sweater.
Банк находится около пятиэтажного голубого здания. The bank is located near a five-story, light-blue building.
Сегодня небо без облаков, ясное и голубое. В такие дни у меня такое хорошее настроение. Today the sky has no clouds; it's clear and blue. On days like this I feel so good.

The word also has an alternative slang meaning, which is ‘gay, pertaining to homosexuals’:

— Я так люблю Гришу. Он будет моим парнем!
— Даже не надейся. Разве ты не знала, что он голубой?
— Правда? Чёрт подери. Я должна была знать. Он ведь так хорошо одевается.
“I really like Grisha. He's going to be my boyfriend!”
“Don't even think it. Did you seriously not know that he's gay?”
“Really? Goddammit. I should have known. He dresses so well.”

Interesting enough, голубой in this sense can only be applied to men, not to women.