‘When I started painting miniatures I discovered we really do live beneath a different blue. My past paintings of landscapes in the US have all required the denser, flatter pigment of cerulean blue – it’s like a very solid baby blue. But where I paint African skies, I lean on cobalt blue, deep, water cobalt. I wonder if when Johnny Clegg was singing about ‘African sky blue, you see me through’ if he also meant cobalt blue.’ – Andrea
ORIGINAL COPY POSTED ON INSTAGRAM DURING THE CHALLENGE
Anyone who’s done a bit of travelling may have realised there’s something really special about the light back home, here in South Africa. There’s a crisp, striking luminosity to it that I just don’t feel in the north. It’s somehow soft and warm at the same time where peaches and periwinkle blue blush up the sky together. When I started painting miniatures I discovered we really do live beneath a different blue. My past paintings of landscapes in the US have all required the denser, flatter pigment of cerulean blue – it’s like a very solid baby blue. But where I paint African skies, I lean on cobalt blue, deep, water cobalt. .
I wonder if when Johnny Clegg was singing about ‘African sky blue, you see me through’ if he also meant cobalt blue. 😉💙
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Inspiration from photography of @gavman18 (one of my favourite SA photographers 🙏🏼)