Got the winter blues? Us, too—however, we’ve also got the kind you DO want. Cerulean pigmented paints have been prized for well over 6,000 years, and were originally derived from the semi-precious stone Lapis Lazuli. The Egyptians started using a mix of sand, copper, alkali and limestone to create a cheaper, easier to produce color called Egyptian Blue around 2,200 BC. The Renaissance ushered in an era of Ultramarine Blue (which again used Lapis)—lots of blue in your painting meant it was very expensive. Indigo came next in the 16th and 17th centuries, then Prussian Blue in the 19th and 20th centuries (remember Picasso’s Blue Period?). And no blue discussion is complete without mentioning Yves Klein’s signature color, the bluest of all the blues!
Whichever shade you prefer, there’s no denying it: blue is calming, blue is serene, blue is expansive. Blue is yin where red is yang. Ironically, when you have THE blues–especially this winter–there’s no better color therapy.
