Sanguine

Hard pastels come in a variety of colors, but one of the common drawing tones is sanguine, my personal favorite. Redder than terra cotta, which is only a very dull reddish-brown, sanguine hard pastel leaves marks the color of clean red brick. It lends drawings on textured paper an antique old masters feel, and looks equally good on pink pastel paper (for a more feminine effect) and on varieties of cream, pale blue, and light brown. At its best, however, sanguine and sepia hard pastels may be combined on hot-pressed, off-white paper to produce sketches of great expressiveness and depth. Sanguine alone is particularly good for sketches of the male nude, lending the drawing both a tone kinder to flesh than charcoal and a masculine energy which brings the lines of the masculine form into a state of high aesthetic tension.

San"guine (?), a. [F. sanguin, L. sanguineus, fr. sanguis blood. Cf. Sanguineous.]

1.

Having the color of blood; red.

Of his complexion he was sanguine.
Chaucer.

Like to that sanguine flower inscribed with woe.
Milton.

2.

Characterized by abundance and active circulation of blood; as, a sanguine bodily temperament.

3.

Warm; ardent; as, a sanguine temper.

4.

Anticipating the best; not desponding; confident; full of hope; as, sanguine of success.

Syn. -- Warm; ardent; lively; confident; hopeful.

© Webster 1913

San"guine, n.

1.

Blood color; red. Spenser.

2.

Anything of a blood-red color, as cloth. [Obs.]

In sanguine and in pes he clad was all.
Chaucer.

3. (Min.)

Bloodstone.

4.

Red crayon. See the Note under Crayon, 1.

© Webster 1913

San"guine, v. t.

To stain with blood; to impart the color of blood to; to ensanguine.

© Webster 1913