Santorini Blue

Santorini does blue better than Picasso, and in just as many shades. The shimmering deep blue nipping at the edges of the cliffs drove me nearly to artistic distraction , so desperately did I wish to capture it on camera. Every angle on the blue created a different shade, as did the changing light and varied foregrounds.

Here are a few of Santorini's blues...

Imagine an aquamarine right up close to your eye. Now imagine it begins magically to ripple, and sunlight catches inside each ripple.

Imagine the pale getting-over-winter blue sky in May in the Midwest. Imagine the way the clouds almost blend into that blue.

Imagine you are making frosting for sugar cookies, and you forget for a moment that blue food is really truly unappetizing. Imagine you keep adding drops of food coloring to darken the shade, until suddenly you realize you have gone a drop too far and it is so blue it will repel all eaters.

Imagine a bonfire puffing smoke at dusk on a gray-blue night by the lake. Imagine the soft final rays of the sun hitting the smoke as it drifts over the water.

Imagine the clear turquoise sea of all those advertisements for resorts in the Bahamas that look photo-shopped. Darken it by one degree in your imagination, so it looks deep instead of fake.