Studies in Blue

Research and processes for new artwork

Photo by Lamar Graham, edited by TC

When we gaze into Nature’s mirror, we are able to understand ourselves and the world, and the relationship between the two.

That leads me to wonder, how I will answer my child when she asks the quintessential question, “why is the sky blue”?

One day Zeus was hanging out with his daughter Athena and asked her to make a wish. The blue eyed goddess wished that the world could see her beauty every single day. Zeus granted her wish by making the sky blue, the colour of her beautiful eyes.

Athena and Zeus, photo edit by TC

Granted, this is a completely modern myth, more than likely inspired by Athena’s epithet “glaukopis”, meaning “grey-eyed” or “bright-eyed”. Because the ancient Greeks didn’t have a name for blue. They were among the cultures that perceived colours based on brightness and saturation verses chroma. This distinction is interesting as people within these differing cultures are only able to see colours based on their language. Those that have chroma-based linguistics can distinguish between blue and green, for instance. But those same cultures can’t perceive the difference between various shades of blue like the ones that have colour lexicon based on brightness or saturation.

This modern fabrication about Greek Gods inadvertently illustrates an interesting fact about the cultural and linguistic relationship to colours, which I’ve uncovered in my relatively recent research.

For my next series, I am investigating colour. This is obviously a broad topic that deeply affects us all in perceptible and imperceptible ways and is multifaceted and complex. I am focusing on the historical symbolic meaning of colours across cultures and spiritual practices, including the biological perceptions and effects of colour. I’ll be reading up on various masters’ studies of colours as well as the history of the pigments themselves.

What I won’t be studying so much is the present use of colour in modern commercial graphic and media arts, because at bottom I am a fuddy-duddy traditionalist even if I am trying to evolve the traditional arts. That doesn’t mean I’m a total Luddite, since I utilize modern media in some of my work. Maybe I’ll eventually research the effects of electronics and digital media on our perception and judgment of colour, but I have to draw the line somewhere or else I will be doing this for the rest of my life. I think there are a lot of people doing that kind of work and to put it quite simply, I am not really interested in doing what everyone else is doing. I want to do my part to preserve and bring the traditional arts into the future. Although it is a fascinating field, it’s flooded. But I am a painter and I prefer practical effects and the use of colour in a non digitally manipulative way.

Dammit... You know what? Scratch that; I do need to look into this. Because it is important to see the evolution of the effects of colour and how it is being used in our modern society and technology and it is relevant to my work with Erik in film and media. Looks like I am going to be here for the rest of my life! The topic is so inexhaustible, I will never reach the end of studying everything there is to know about colour. Great. Another reason to live another thousand years. Good job Heather. Moving on...

After reading Salvador Dali’s 50 Secrets of Magic Craftsmanship, I have become enamored and committed to using his list of “permanent colours which can be used with confidence” (pg143). For my next body of work I am going to be using a limited palette of three colours: Blanc d’argent (pw1), Ivory black (pbk9), and one of the colours on the list. Considering my present experiences in life, recent studies in Novalis and subsequent series of works on the German Romantic symbol ‘blaue blume’, I am going to be starting with the blues. First up is cobalt blue (pb28). More than likely I will be adding to my ‘blaue blume’ series, but I have a couple of other ideas and compositions forming so there will be some overlap with this series.

“Blaue Blume #3” - acrylic on canvas board, Heather Joi

I have already discovered that several of the pigments on Dali’s list are no longer in production. I am not exactly sure how I will manage that yet, but fortunately all of the blue’s are still in production. Granted, one of the colours in the blue list is ‘real ultramarine’, which is highly expensive and not exactly easy to procure, actually, but I trust that I will be able to manage at least a small tube. Perhaps I’ll even grind it myself, as the powdered pigment isn’t that difficult to acquire (and it’s not heinously toxic). That will be a fun exploration... I have always wanted to grind my own pigments.

The journey to always improve my crafts moves forward by viewing my work with honesty, and noting my weaknesses. This has led me across focusing on line, composition, and form. Now is the time for colour.

I am eager to see where this exploration will take me, and develop my palettes more thoughtfully. I think it is important for us, especially artists, to be aware of the history as well as the cultural and biological effects of colour. By doing this we are able to enrich our experience of the world and understand the deeper layers of meaning in art and symbolism. The history of the evolution of colour hides within it the history of how we got here. The more we understand the world around us, the more we understand ourselves. And the more we understand ourselves, the more we can understand the world around us. Biology and esoteric symbolism have a symbiotic relationship, with the inner and outer worlds mirroring each other. We are nature, after all.