Blue was considered a debased color in western culture until well into the eleventh century, according to an intriguing book I'm reading, 'Blue; the History of a Color,'by Michel Pastoureau (more info on this in my books list below. ) But for centuries now, Mary has been painted wearing a blue robe, like the one at far left, in my sketch from Botticelli's painting 'Madonna of the Magnificat, 'circa 1482. This seemed like a good companion piece for my sketch of an African mother, done from a photograph I saw in yesterday's New York Times. I'm almost at the end of my blue color project.
"Blue is a mysterious colour, hue of illness and nobility, the rarest colour in nature. It is the colour of ambiguous depth, of the heavens and of the abyss at once; blue is the colour of the shadow side, the tint of the marvellous and the inexplicable, of desire, of knowledge, of the blue movie, of the blue talk, of raw meat and rare steak, of melancholy and the unexpected (once in a blue moon, out of the blue). It is the colour of anode plates, royalty at Rome, smoke, distant hills, postmarks, Georgian silver, thin milk and hardened steel; of veins seen through the skin and notices of dismissal in the American railroad business. Brimstone burns blue, and a blue candle flame is said to indicate the presence of ghosts. The blue-black sky of Vincent van Gogh's 1890's Crows Flying over a Cornfield seems to express the painter's doom. But according to Grace Mirabella, editor of Mirabella, a blue cover used on a magazine always guarantees increased sales at the newsstand. 'It's America's favourite colour,' she says."
I wish I could quote all 65 pages. It's from The Primary Colours by Alexander Theroux. Have you read it, Laura?
Posted by: Bela | August 24, 2005 at 09:43 PM
I really wish my lines flowed like this... I'm sooooo humbled.
Posted by: Big Harry H | August 13, 2005 at 08:53 PM
Thanks everybody! Janey, I don't want to leave blue either, but I've done my several weeks and in a couple of days it's on to purple!
Posted by: Laura | August 12, 2005 at 06:42 AM
These are lovely. The lines are just wonderful as is the color. Can't you extend your blue period just a little? I'm enjoying it too much for it to end so soon.
Posted by: janey | August 11, 2005 at 09:41 PM
These are just beautiful. Glad to hear that drawing everyday makes such a difference...I am looking forward to seeing a difference someday!
Posted by: joyce | August 11, 2005 at 06:13 PM
Inspirational drawings...as usual. :o) Thanks for the names of the books. I've added them to my 'books to read - art' list.
Posted by: Terri | August 11, 2005 at 01:59 AM