Anna Atkins and sun prints

via love & reason

As we stay inside because of another heavy, humid, and unbearably hot day - the only things I am drawn to are a dark and cooling blue. I'm not just talking about swimming in blue icees or taking cold baths, but I am also presently addicted to the brisk landscape and cinematography of "Wallander." Set in Sweden, the British series is based on a series of Swedish novels by Henning Mankell and stars Kenneth Branagh. It is also really good.

I am also fully obsessed with sun prints and the work of Anna Atkins. Possibly the first woman to take a photograph, Atkins was a British botanist who published multiple books on algae and ferns that included gorgeous photographs created through the cyanotype (or "blueprinting") process. I cannot get enough of these and am thisclose to trying myself.

 

 

 

  

images via nypl

what winter looks like...

by {kittybits}

I love the look of blue jars and bottles, but sometimes the way they are captured in pictures reminds me of a certain blueness found in winter. For example, these images feel so quiet and cold and melancholy - like that color that occurs when fading light is reflected in melting snow...

by the snail and the cyclops

by bianks

by buradori

via la douleur exquise

by e m m a j a y

Blue in the Face

The blog Smashing Color created such a neat little color game: matching names to familiar blue faces. But I also love how she assigned paint chips to those faces to really highlight the shades of difference between Smurf blue and Braveheart blue. (For the game go: here, for the answer key and color chips: here). Maggie Maggio, blogger and artist, has not only come up with 21 faces, but also also devoted a couple of posts (real blue faces, Mayan blue) to every baby boy's favorite color. I'd love to play the game with other colors - it's such a clever idea and it really shows how rich the shades of one color can be.