B
lue sizzles in the hot flame of a
Bunsen burner, but lies quietly
in the cool shadows cast across
snow. Blue sinks deep in sapphires,
but buoys to the surface of a bruise.
Blue kicks up its heels in an Elvis
Presley classic, but shows itself
rarely as a blue moon.
In the West, blue is the most
popular color, where it’s often associ-
ated with tranquility, cleanliness and
authority. In the East, it’s associated
with luck, happiness and joy.The Beauty of Blue
Blue occupies the space between
green and violet in the visible electro-
magnetic spectrum, or between the
wavelengths of 450 and 495 nano-
meters. Blue is a primary color, like
red and yellow, which means it can’t
be mixed from another color. Although
it’s a primary color, it comes in a
variety of versions—from azure,
which is a blue-green, to ultramarine
blue, which contains a touch of violet.
Blue is a color that we painters use
with abandon in our work: in skies
and shadows, in vases and glassware,
in robes and blue jeans. Quite often,
the richer the blue, the better. But
the richest, purest blue hasn’t always
been so common. Natural ultra-
marine blue, made from lapis lazuli,
once cost more than gold.A Brief History
Until the invention of modern syn-
thetic colors, blue was the only colorLEFT
Snow Blues (12x16) is all about blues—
everywhere but in the yellow patches of
sunlit cloud and snow, and in the orange,
fiery trees. Van Gogh wrote, “There is no
blue without orange,” and I’ve chosen to use
orange as an accent color to all that blue. To
create a sense of distance, I’ve used warmer
(greener) blues in the form shadows of the
closest clouds and in the foreground cast
shadows. I’ve used cooler (redder) blues in
the distant clouds and shadows. All of these
shadows, both form and cast, are grayed to
varying degrees; the richest blues appear in
the distance but mostly in the patch of clear
sky, which is almost a pure ultramarine blue.
BELOW
Tiny bits of orange butting up against the
blue areas in Passage (24x18) make for an
exciting meeting; the richer the blue, as in
the distant mountain shadow, the more
the contrast with the rich orange. For the
cast shadow of the closer cliff, I introduced
touches of green to warm up the shadow
and bring it to the foreground.ArtistsNetwork.com 17