Blue

This is a monochrome painting in the style of Yves Klein's works. If it is light out, I invite you to carefully take it outside and see the way the pigment absorbs the sunlight. If it is not, I hear the bulbs in the Aumann kitchen are fairly high CRI.

This painting uses pure ultramarine blue pigment, which used to be the most expensive pigment in existence. You might have encountered it in Scott's essay The Colors of Her Coat, where it's a metaphor for something else.

The pigment is underbound - that is, the ratio of pigment to medium is very high, so it might stain your hands a bit. That's alright, it comes right off when you wash your hands afterwards.

Klein's monochrome paintings are much larger, but they also sell for like $20 million at auction. For $50 in materials, this ain't too bad!

Some believe Michelangelo's The Entombment went unfinished because he was unable to source enough of it.

Traditionally reserved for the Virgin Mary's cloak, Vermeer used it for everything and bankrupted his family. The pigment in the blue headwrap of Girl With A Pearl Earring was as expensive as gold, by weight. Then the painting was named after something painted with lead white, a much cheaper pigment.

Go look at it in the light, and get some blue on your fingers. Or just enjoy it where it is.

If you're curious, I have more notes on the process here.