It is wonderful to live on the Canadian prairies for a variety of reasons, one of which is the magnificent blue sky we see all around us on such a wide vista and horizon. Did you know that there is a specific colour to describe the blue of the sky? It is cerulean.
Cerulean has been used in English since 1599 to label the colour resembling the blue of the sky. It was derived from the Latin caeruleus, meaning dark blue.
Why is the sky cerulean? As sunlight reaches Earth's atmosphere it is scattered in all directions by the myriad gases and particles in the air. Blue light is dispersed more than the other colors because it travels as shorter, smaller waves. This is why we see a cerulean sky most of the time.
Some people believe the ocean and large lakes seem blue because they reflect the cerulean sky. However, water appears blue because water absorbs colors in the red part of the light spectrum. Like a filter, this leaves behind colors in the blue part of the light spectrum for us to see. The ocean may also take on green, red, or other hues as light bounces off of floating sediments and particles in the water. Most of the ocean, however, is completely dark. Hardly any light penetrates deeper than 656 feet, and no light penetrates deeper than 3,280 feet.
As we grow in years, our colouring graduates from a simple 8-count box of crayons to the amazing 64 sticks of differently colored wax. Coloured pencils, that started with a small box of 12, move to large containers of 72 hues and shades. We discover there is more than just one brown or orange or blue.
CSS Gradient is an online design stripe project that lets you create free gradient backgrounds for your website. They list 134 results for shades of blue. The base blue colour’s hex value in HTML is #0000FF. Shades include cyan, navy, turquoise, aqua, midnight blue, royal blue, baby blue, cobalt blue, denim, indigo, sapphire, and cerulean. Many shades of blue related to specific companies or sports teams: Boeing blue, Broncos navy, Dallas Cowboys blue, Ford blue, General Motors blue, Dodgers blue, KC Royals blue, and Visa blue.
Early blue dyes came from woad (Europe) and indigo (Africa and Asia). Woad is a yellow-flowered European plant of the cabbage family. Blue dye was extracted from the leaves after they had been dried, powdered, and fermented. A variety of plants have provided indigo throughout history, but most natural indigo was obtained from those in the genus Indigofera, which are native to the tropics, notably the Indian Subcontinent.
Blue pigments came from azurite or lapis lazuli. Azurite is a soft deep blue copper mineral produced by weathering copper ore deposits. Depending on the degree of fineness to which it was ground, and its basic content of copper carbonate, it gave a wide range of blues. Lapis lazuli is a deep-blue metamorphic rock, prized since antiquity for its intense color. The ancient Egyptians used lapis lazuli for the eyebrows of King Tutankhamun's death mask.
During the time of the Byzantine Empire, dark blue was most commonly used to decorate churches. In Byzantine art, Jesus and the Virgin Mary were usually depicted wearing dark blue.
Blue became the color of choice for the uniform of the German and Prussian armies in the 17th century. In the 18th century, the British adopted blue colors for their naval officer uniforms. Blue would later become the color of liberty and revolution, as George Washington declared the official color for all American uniforms to be blue and buff.
The 19th century saw blue become more of a governmental and authoritative color. This was when it became the color for policemen.
Ancient humans used blue to depict the sky and the sea which has led to the color being associated with the freedom of open spaces, imagination, intuition, sensitivity, and inspiration. Because of its connection to both the sea and sky, shades of blue also came to represent spirituality, calmness, peace, and hope. The color has also become symbolic of deep loyalty, trust, wisdom, sincerity, faith, confidence, stability, and intelligence. Yet when used in excess, blue shades can also represent impersonality, unfriendliness, and coldness as well as depression and sadness.
Colouring books for adults have become popular in recent years. Adult coloring books are often marketed as a tool for relaxation and stress relief. The act of coloring can be meditative, helping to reduce anxiety and promote mindfulness. Give it a try. When you are colouring the sky see if you can find a cerulean pencil crayon.
