Paris and L'Heure Bleue

.......L'Heure Bleue/the blue hour.....that time of day when the sun has set, but night has not yet fallen.  L'Heure Bleue is the moment when the sun disappears beneath the horizon and the sky is painted in the velvety blue of night.

I recently read that quote by Guerlain en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerlain, that fabulous French perfume house, to describe their sublime fragance, L'Heure Bleue.

I think this perfectly describes an early evening sky in Paris in Springtime and it's one of the things that I love most about Paris at this time of year.

That precise shade of blue is sublime........and I'm so looking forward to gazing up at that soft velvety blue sky in a few weeks time.  Have a look at l'heure bleue below...........and you can see what I mean.  The sky actually changes to those shades of blue.  Magnifique/superb!

C'est magnifique...non?

No doubt le coleur bleu will find its way into my journals this Spring too....perhaps I'll create a midnight blue collage or a series of prints using a steely blue/black ink (that shade of blue that you see on construction blueprints.)

This colour first called out to me many years ago when I saw a print of Joan Miro's fabulous painting, Carnival of the Harlequin en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Miro.  Miro used an intense cobalt blue in that painting......and I've loved the colour ever since.

Below are images from my Blueprint Series (all monoprints) inspired by Miro's cobalt blue.

Blueprint I
and above Blueprints II, III, IV.

And I thought you may like these images from the Miro exhibition in London last year.  Miro, Miro on the wall........

A vibrant combination of hot orange, cool green and a shot of Miro's cobalt blue.

I love le coleur bleu!  So here's my little collection of blue images, taken in Paris and environs, last Spring.

Royal blue in the Invalides

The magnificent Musée de l'Orangerie....home to Claude Monet's waterlillies.....one of his favourite themes.

Sockin' it to ya in the Marais!

As proud as......and with good reason!

Un vélo bleu/a blue bike in the 7th arrondissement

A little bee enjoying un plat bleu/a blue dish in the garden at Musée Rodin.

Elegant blue lines in the courtyard at Musée Carnavalet

J'aime le bleu/I like blue!  Maintenant/now...........only 30 sleeps to go!

You might also like my post on:

http://parisallons-y.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/parisian-vert-orange-et-gris.html