Blue, in all of its variations is the most embraced color. It runs from soft and powdery to rich cobalt to intense midnight. Interesting, that it conveys warmth, trust and calm and then also references the darker “winter blues”, in part due to winter’s more somber mood, shorter days with less light.

As I look outside at a late afternoon winter sky, there’s a beautiful blue mixed with rose but it’s darkened by the bare trees, similar to the sky in Elena Lyakir’s, Dream of Flying

Artists have always been inspired by nature, and attempt to capture the essence of what they see and feel from it’s colors and beauty. Claude Monet’s Water Lilies, a series of 250 paintings of his famous gardens at Giverny, is a striking artwork illustrating this. The Clouds, 1920–1926 installation at the Musee de l’Orangerie in Paris provides an all-encompassing view of the stunning blue canvases

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The blues of winter range in depth and hue. Westport, from Elisa Keogh's Horizons Series has rich red blues contrasted with a golden light.

Anne Raymond’sJanuary Blue Series combines similar deep blues with greener warm tones of teal. I talked recently with Anne about her inspiration, always from nature, “The refracted light of winter and the movement in the gorgeous forest where I work are both visual inspiration in this series. The branches move swiftly sealing in my memory their momentary energy.” Two paintings from the series; January Blue lV and January Blue l

I often reference Wolf Kahn, Dark and Deep is one of his beautiful works using a blue palette

Blue, from the Color Block Series by Shelli Breidenbach are softer, reflecting her response to the ocean. “The Color Block Series is a … true abstract landscape photograph, inspired by the early morning hues of Sag Harbor Bay. The challenge has been to capture the integrity and tranquility of the water without compromising it … in hues that suggest simplicity, elegance, and an understated emotion."

The grayer blues of Predator Views, by Andrea Bonfils, a mixed media painting captures the starkness of winter.

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Blue has cultural references that have to do with melancholy. One explanation for the term ‘feeling blue’ dates back to the ‘blue devil’ in the 17th century. Songwriters use this symbolism when they ‘sing the blues’. January and the cold, dark months to come are cause for the “winter blues”. The Blues, from Elena Lyakir

Interesting that even with this ‘dark’ side, blue is the most popular color. It also has it’s ‘light’ side; the sea, the sky and with it the intangible references of warmth, trust, loyalty, authority and more. I took a quick look through Pinterest at the blue boards - it seemed endless. There are pins of blue flowers, fish, food, home furnishings, fashion, a bit of everything.

The blues in winter are more serene, and darker. Kerri Rosenthal known for her exuberant use of color, especially bright color, also captures the more somber mood of winter, “Color is everywhere for me, but in winter I tend to see and paint in washed down tones." From her Puzzle Moderne Series, Recharge

"Everything seems a bit out of focus, this is reflected in my wintry paintings…muted, cold, snowy, foggy scapes.” Stormy Sunday No.2

The soft blue I saw in the late afternoon light when I started this post, has now deepened in the early evening to a rich slate blue that rivals any summer sky. The dark evening sky of Stuart Zaro's, Crescent Moon, Blue Sky from The Nighlight Series.

Winter stays around a little too long for me, but I enjoy it’s warm colors, mellower moods and the artwork it inspires while it’s here…

Late August, and the reality is setting in that Labor Day is around the corner. Barely two weeks left of summer and the ease we feel in the months of July and August. But, two long weekends lay ahead and time to still enjoy the long days and cooler nights before the pace picks up and the fall season begins. The cool shades of blue in these artworks speak to the start of the changing seasons.

Blue is nature’s color, from the water to the sky, it has many depths and hues, from a soft “sky blue” to an intense almost black, “midnight”. A look at the range of blues, from Pantone, an international color resource.

From the soft blues in Bewitched, a great name for this ethereal photo from Elena Lyakir where sky meets water and barely changes color but for a few clouds and horizon line.

To the vibrant color that Andrea Bonfils captures in the depth of the ocean’s blues, in one painting in an encaustic wax diptych, Beyond Deep.

Figurative artist Alex Katz uses broad flat colors in his portraits and landscapes. In August, 2007, he captures sky and water with a medium range of colors, in a spare yet definitive way.

Kerri Rosenthal, an artist known for her colorful work, also reflects the seasons in her paintings. She describes blue as, "Summer skies and the blue oceans, feelings of warmth and happiness." Rosenthal's expressive Monsieur Bleu,

Blue is statistically the most popular color. I have experienced this as I’ve shown and sold artwork and visited homes with varying degrees of the color. Artist Anne Raymond is strongly influenced by the natural beauty of her surroundings in the Hamptons. Blue July is one of her many stunning blue works that reflect the natural color, combined with warmer colors.

The color blue is considered cool and slow as opposed to the warmth and intensity of reds. It’s a comfort color, it takes you to a good place, to where you feel the cool water and endless sky. Photographer Elisa Keogh captures the spectrum of colors in Weston, CT (blue-green-black) from her Horizon Series.

Artists use blue pigments evolved from natural sources, dating back to the mid-1800‘s. The Impressionist painters introduced some of the blue paints, including cerulean, cobalt and ultramarine. Vincent Van Gogh famously captured the night sky in several paintings. In Starry Night Over the Rhone, painted in 1888, he described the many blues, "The dark blue sky is spotted with clouds of an even darker blue than the fundamental blue of intense cobalt, and others of a lighter blue, like the bluish white of the Milky Way ... the sea was very dark ultramarine, the shore a sort of violet and of light red as I see it, and on the dunes, a few bushes of prussian blue.”

Blue is often balanced or calmed with the contrast to white. Traditional blue and white porcelain has been made for over 2000 years from the pigment cobalt. This striking abstract blue and white painting, Passion Noted, aptly named by artist Xanda McCagg, considering the strong feelings many have for their favorite color.

and back to August, the beach and the water. These boys are looking to catch The Wave, a great way to end the summer - from Bramasole Photography by Christine Wexler.

For others, the last weeks of summer are a bit more quiet and reflective. Balance 5, by Andrea Bonfils,

For me, I plan to enjoy the last summer days and will keep wearing my white jeans on these last August nights...before it's time to transition to the blue jeans I'll wear throughout the fall!

Hoping these last days stay warm and the nights comfortably cool.

Color // Warm Winter Blues

Color // Cool Summer Nights