Blue
Such a powerful and sweet color
Soul Keeper, 2016, Delita Martin
Martin’s intuitive artistic process defies easy categorization. Her finished works combine collaging, drawing, painting, printmaking, and sewing techniques, placing her figures amid patterns to visually represent “what it looks like when we become the spiritual other: when we pray, meditate, enter the veilscape.” (National Museum of Women in the Arts)
See
I am so enthralled with Martin’s use of blue and can’t resist sharing a few more.
I feel like I cannot make a post about blue without including Yveas Klein…
Yves Klein Blue
IKB 45 was one of nearly two hundred blue monochrome paintings Yves Klein made during his short life.
“Out of all the colours Klein used, ultramarine blue became the most important. Unlike many other colours, which create opaque blockages, ultramarine shimmers and glows, seemingly opening up to immaterial realms. Klein’s blue monochromes are not paintings but experiences, passageways leading to the void.” Alastair Sooke, BBC Culture
Say
Both Martin and Klein use blue as a way to connect to access or represent another realm. Why do you think blue was a good choice for them?
How does blue make you feel?
What’s your favorite color?
As part of a recent study on gender norms, University of Maryland sociologist Philip Cohen asked nearly 2,000 men and women a simple question: “What’s your favorite color?” Blue turned out to be the most popular across the board, followed by green for men and purple for women.
Do
Check out Delita Martin’s Online Exhibit
Take a tour of her workspace, Blackbox Press Studio:
International Klein Blue (IKB) is a deep blue hue first mixed by the French artist Yves Klein. IKB's visual impact comes from its heavy reliance on ultramarine, as well as Klein's often thick and textured application of paint to canvas.
Get your art supplies and invent your signature blue.
About the Artist: Delita Martin
Delita Martin is an artist currently based in Huffman, Texas. She received a BFA in drawing from Texas Southern University and an MFA in printmaking from Purdue University. Formerly a member of the fine arts faculty at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Martin is currently working as a full-time artist in her studio, Black Box Press.
Martin’s work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally. Most recently Martin’s work was shown at the National Museum for Women in the Arts in Washington, DC, and welcomed into the Library of Congress. She served as a 2020 Keynote speaker for the Mid-America Print Council.
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