Blue Thoughts

I never get tired of the blue sky. - Vincent van Gogh

Aaah to sing the praises of the colour blue. Vivid, ephemeral, timid and bold, blue can say so many different things, in so many different hues.

One of my most favourite blues is the autumn sky where I grew up back east. There are days when it turns the most electric shade, and deepens to a shade that seems now, to not be really, real. I know now that the colour is due to some atmospheric phenomenon thingy, that interests me far less than remembering that bluest of blue skies while swishing through piles of leaves, on a walk on an autumn day.

I tried endless times to photograph that sky, and the film or the slides would get close, but never re-create the exact hue.

If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy . . . Rejoice, for your soul is alive. -Eleanora Duse

When I was in Greece, I discovered that blue was predominant. More often than not, there was a blue sky, and just about everywhere I was, there was the the blue sea and so much of the mediterranean architecture typically included white washed walls and blue doors. After I had been there for a while I learned that the blue doors were less about beauty and more about warding off the evil eye. Whatever the reason for the blue doors, they never cease to make me feel happy when I see photos of them now.

The first summer I was in Greece I worked on a fishing boat, mending nets. No, not your usual job. I sometimes considered putting it on my resume, but have never done it. But when I think back to that summer, my first memory is of blue. Blue Sky. Blue Sea. Blue Boat. We would leave before dawn, and as the sun came up the greys and pinks and golds would all build themselves up to be blue. All morning, I would sit on the deck and mend the nets that were pulled in, as others were thrown out. The squinting glare so blue, the blue would bcome a blinding white. We would get back in the early afternoon, just in time for siesta, and my eyes always felt such relief, to see greens and browns, colours that would soak up the light, rather than boucing it back.

Oh! darkly, deeply, beautifully blue', / As someone somewhere sings about the sky. -Byron

Blue seems to be hands down, most everyones favourite colour. In psychological terms, blue is safe, it is capable, blue is trustworthy. With sky and oceans, blue is seen as a constant in our lives. Some "colourful" phrases about blue (from Sensational Colour)

Out of the blue: unexpected

True blue: to be loyal or faithful

Once in a blue moon: an event that occurs infrequently

Blue ribbon: first place; to describe something as being of the highest quality

Blue blood: an aristocrat

Blue law: laws about morality issues

Blue comedy: jokes about socially taboo subjects

Blueprint: a detailed design of an object or idea

Blue plate special: a special priced meal at a restaurant

Bluestocking: a woman with strong scholarly interests

Feeling blue: to feel sad or unhappy

and then of course, everyone's favourite, most comfortable

blue jeans.

Blue is the only color which maintains its own character in all its tones... it will always stay blue; whereas yellow is blackened in its shades, and fades away when lightened; red when darkened becomes brown, and diluted with white is no longer red, but another color – pink. -Raoul Dufy

The touch of an infinite mystery passes over the trivial and the familiar, making it break out into ineffable music... The trees, the stars, and the blue hills ache with a meaning which can never be uttered in words. -Rabindranath Tagore