Friday, July 8, 2016

MY HANDS ARE FULL OF BLUE

Summer is here, summer is here,
Time to make good memories
and to surround yourself with cool blue.
Take a photo of five blue images and send them to me!




After a week of 100 degree weather, we are back to bright blue skies, chilly mornings, leaves waving in the breeze.

Good time to have dinner outside with friends.






My favorite blues:
Azure, the intense blue of the summer solstice,
Cornflower blue, the color of Theo's bedroom when he was a baby,
French blue, which reminds me of Paris,



Indigo, a deep blue, a prevalent color in Japan. Like Prussian blue, Indigo mixed with black makes a more intense black.

I remember visiting a dye maker's shop in Japan and carefully stepping by the vats of Indigo dye. The dye maker in the photo pulls racks of fabric out of one vat to see if it is ready.





Did you know that Blue Appatite is a psychic's color, or that Prussian blue is the color of blueprints, therefore, new beginnings?








Have you ever heard of Smalt? It's an ancient color of blue used by the Egyptians. It's the blue in blue glass.


My Aunt Ona, whose eyesight wasn't good even with glasses, made me laugh. One time as she was watching a slideshow of Dad's photos, she exclaimed, "Look at the big waves!" She had mistaken the fog rolling over the hills for waves.  I think of her every time I try to paint clouds or waves.



I've been painting blue palettes and blue sky horizons, but summer is also a good time to read a book. These two are good summer reads.  Notice the blues used on the covers. Are you reading a good book today?


The ending will leave you wondering!

A good light mystery.




                                                   











Summer blue skies remind me:

Do you call soft drinks pop or coke?

Did you grow up swimming in a swimming pool,  at the plunge or natatorium, or at a river or a lake?

Did you get sunburned on a sandy beach or while playing on a rocky path through a stream?

Wasn't the sky always blue in the summer?



Here's to a quiet moment away from the relentless news of the day. Cheers!


Send your blue images to marthaslavin@gmail.com, post them on my Facebook page at Martha Heimdahl Slavin, or to Instagram at #postcardsintheair or directly to Google +  Thank you for sharing!
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3 comments:

  1. Martha,
    Another beautiful, serenity-inducing blog post--a deep breath for the soul. Thanks for writing and painting and all that you do...
    Hugs,
    Tina
    PS One summer afternoon many years ago, D. and I and the kids were driving back to Cali from my sister's house in Seattle. I will never forget how the sky literally seemed to widen, to open up and welcome us back as we crossed into CA from Oregon. We loved the northwest (still do) but oh that big blue cloudless Golden State sky. Home sweet home :)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for your thought-provoking comments, Tina. "A deep breath for the soul" means so much to me. Thank you and hugs back!

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