Let’s Talk About PAINTING Blues
Which blue is true? Here I am, trying to decide the colour of White Head Harbour in Nova Scotia. What do you think? I’m trying to really see what I’m looking at. The middle oil pastel appears to be the best match. But what about all those ripples closer to me? Those would probably be best done with the pastel on the left. And the more purple pastel to the right? That might be useful for mixing that mauve cloud above the horizon.
I’ve seen whole treatises on Blue, but it begins with seeing – and what about feeling? Here is an oil pastel I did some years ago, alongside the reference photo:
That’s quite the intense blue I chose – and not really true to the “original”. But I still “see” it that way, even when I look at the photo. Why? Because it was a calm day, the ocean was still, and it was unusually HOT. And the blue I chose for the painting speaks to that heat. It’s not a cool blue. So when I look at that painting today, I still feel the very hot sun of that day at the wharf.
What about that flat endless china blue of a cloudless summer sky? Well, there’s a trick to painting the sky. It actually isn’t the same blue all over. It goes from a paler blue at the horizon to a much more intense blue overhead. Have a look:
And is the lake blue? Not where the deep green of the trees reflect in it. Out in the middle of the lake, it will look more blue, where the sky reflects in it.
Here’s a picture I want to paint one of these days:
It’s truly a study in blues. The boat is blue, but there’s a much deeper shade under the curve of the bow. And if you look closely at that shade, you will see squiggles of bright turquoise where the sunlight is reflecting off the water onto the boat. The interior of the boat is also turquoise (green? teal?) and interestingly, the reflection of the blue hull of the boat in the water contains much the same aqua hue. I wonder why? The rest of the water is not blue at all – it’s a grey-mauve. There’s bit of blue high up in the sky that picks up some of the blue of the boat-hull. Altogether a blue challenge! (And thank you to my friend Howard M. for taking us for a sail that day!)
And before we go, let’s talk about white snow… which couldn’t look more blue in this late afternoon photo. It’s all about the seeing when it comes to the blues. And the feeling. Choose your chilliest blue for this one!
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