Color Decoder
thatprovideda coolcontrasttothepre-
dominantlywarmearthcolors.Natural
blues,intheformofcrushedazurite
andlapislazuli,wereusedbyartisans
thousandsofyearsago.Around 3000
B.C.,Egyptianbluewasmadebyheat-
ingcopperandsandtogethertomake
a glassthatwasthengroundtoa pow-
deredpigment.Inthe16thcentury,
thiswasreplacedbysmalt,another
typeofglassmadewithcobalt.
Noneoftheseblues,however,
comparedtotherichnessoflapis
lazuliandthepigmentthatwas
derivedfromit:ultramarineblue.Thehighestqualityofthismineral
was—andstillis—minedina tiny
regionofAfghanistan.Duringthe
Renaissance,lapislazuliwasso
expensivethatanartistneededa
wealthypatrontopurchaseit,and
it wasreservedonlyforthemost
importantsectionsofa painting,
suchastheVirginMary’srobeinreli-
giousimages.Theterm“ultramarine”
means“frombeyondthesea”—and,
indeed,thispigmentarrivedinItaly
fromacrosstheMediterraneanSea
aftera longanddangeroushaulalong
spiceroutesbymerchantcaravans.TheManmadePigments
Inthemodernera,blueshavebeen
synthesizedinthelaboratory,some-
timesbyaccident,aswerePrussian
blue(1724)andcobaltblue(1802).
In1824,theFrenchgovernment
offereda 6,000-francprizetoanyone
whocouldsynthesizeultramarine
blueata costoflessthan 300 francs
perkilogram.(Atthetime,genuine
lapislazuliwasn’tquiteaspriceyas
it wasduringtheRenaissance,but
it stillcostnearly 2300 francsper
kilogram.)Theprizewasawarded
in 1828 tochemistJean-BaptisteQUICKTIPS
These color swatches
are Blue Earth blue tints
and shades on Wallis
Belgian Mist paper.
A Blue Earth represen-
tative says, “Blue is a
straightforward color.
We base our formulas
around three different
cobalt blue pigments,
tinting them with white
and graying them with
a complement. We add
some ultramarine to
dark values, but prefer
cobalt because of its
opacity.” The purest
color is in the bottom
row, with more graying
from bottom to top.Blue is perfect for modifying yellows and oranges. In the illustration at left, I’ve taken two values of an orange—an intense,
light version, plus a darker, almost-brown version—and have used them to modify two different values of blue. The first row
shows how a dark orange can be modified; the second, a lighter orange. The dark blue is on the left, and the tint, on the right.
In the illustration at right, I’ve again taken the same two values of blue but have used them to modify two different values
of yellow. The first row shows how a dark yellow (almost a greenish-brown) might be modified; the second, a light yellow.
For both of these illustrations, I used a soft plastic spatula as a blending tool. It’s interesting to note the beautiful grays that
result from the blending.18 Pastel Journal OCTOBER 2019