Juzcar, Spain gorgeous blue! |
If you follow this blog at all you know that I love
color. I have this wonderful
friend, whom I will call Jo, he has an original and creative mind and he knows I go crazy for color. Jo sent me this
article on Juzar in Andalusia Spain.
They painted the whole town a light shade of blue, for the Smurf movie
and the town’s people loved it so much that they voted and decided to keep it
blue. The mayor Fernandez said, it has given a "Boost to the local economy, it’s increased
our happiness, our dreams and our levels of employment. "
Juzcar, Spain from a distance plus 4,000 litres of paint |
here's the before shot |
Man, I just love
that!
The uniformity of the color makes the design splendid.
"La Bocca" Buenos Aires, Argentina immigrated by Italians and modeled after Genoa |
When I was in Art School at Pratt in NYC, it was deep in the
ghetto of Brooklyn at that point and I wanted to get involved in painting
something that would help the community.
My roommate who was a tough, reality type girl from the South Bronx
said, “If you do that the people will just go and pee on it”. I was pretty deluded about her comment
at the time, but now looking back I think well they might pee on it happily and
then eventually they might stop peeing on it. Back then I wanted to do something small. These cities show, do the whole town in
color and it will have an impact.
When I first went to Lucca, Italy, I remember being so impressed that the whole town could agree to paint their shutters green.
Lucca, Italy ahh such tranquility |
Lucca, Italy |
Bo-Kaap Cape Town South Africa this shows all colors can work together British and Dutch influenced architecture |
Williamstad, Netherlands |
Williamstad, Netherlands |
Guanjuato, Mexico |
Lima, Peru Spanish Baroque, French Neoclassism, Art Nouveau Buildings |
“Reform the environment, stop trying to reform the
people. They will reform
themselves if the environment is right.”
Buckminster Fuller
Izamal, Mexico in the Yucatan "The Yellow City" |
I have a Norwegian stepfather and from the moment he came
into our lives he started painting the rooms in our house, soft shades of blue and pale green, lavender. Of course, I had already painted my room by myself by the time I was 10! Our house was very open and you could
see all the varying colors through archways and doorways, it brought such peace
and joy to our family.
Longyearbyen, Norway |
color works in the cold and the hot climates |
Bryggen, Norway I love all the shades of red |
Now, I believe that color can be felt and have an influence on
the tiny personal scale of life and on the larger environment of a town that leads to
confidence, a strong sense of identity, pride and happiness.
Jodhper, India in the barren Thar desert known as the "Blue City" |
Wroclaw, Poland Gothic Architecture and a Roman Catholic affiliation |
Riomaggiore, Italy The Italians put color everywhere they can |
Isn’t that just simple and lovely!
Chefchaoen, Morocco a refuge for Jews during the Spanish Reconquista and my favoirte cornflower blue |
With affection.
Natalie
P.S. Note to grammar freakers, I don't seem to have an accent mark on my keyboard, thus accents are left out.
These are really fun. The blue village just makes me smile.
ReplyDeleteSunday morning, good coffee and the colors of your posting. Meravigliosa, Natalie!
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