A Bahamas Palette
The vivid colors of the Bahamas keep me coming back to paint here every winter.
This year I took closer note as I explored Elbow Cay of the relationship between nature's hues, and man-made "local" colors.
The clear blue sky sets the color theme
for the ultramarine and cobalt houses, walls and textiles you see everywhere on the island.
The water shifts toward turquoise
and so do signs, posts and houses.
Foliage is blue/green, yellow/green and all green shades between
all echoed in painted wood.
The sunset over the harbor is a fiery orange
but not quite as neon orange as buoys.
The reds of bougainvillea
repeat in details I see as I walk around Hope Town.
The dreamy pastels of conch shells
come back again in the violet of siding, the coral of a kid's go-cart, and the magenta of shadows.
Yellow sand underfoot
and yellow on New England styled capes, and the Bahamas flag.
The silver and browns of a pile of coconut husks and tree trunk
are echoed in shadows and light on cement columns and sidewalks.
Yesterday I said goodbye to the Bahamas palette, and flew back to the white on white of a Vermont winter. My view from above the clouds was a reminder of what I was leaving...
Click here to compare a Bahamas palette to a Paris palette.
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