All in Blue

[By Richard Câmara in Lisbon, Portugal]

In Lisbon, there´s a small Art Deco neighborhood from the mid 1920´s, called “Blue neighborhood” (“Bairro Azul”, in Portuguese), because according to some, in its origin all the window frames were blue. In 2009, in a collective effort from a group of people that live there, it was classified for it´s architecture and historical importance, but still some don´t seem to value it and disrespect it´s integrity, changing the way it looks both out and indoors…

I went there some months ago to draw, interested in getting acquainted with this place and trying out something new: looking for a different way to relate materials and subject. Since I have always been intrigued an appealed by the name, I decided to use only blue colors and draw in a jam session manner with everything I had home that scribbled, wrote and/or painted in any blue color I could find. I ended up with a wide set of blue materials that I used randomly, sometimes even taking it from the box without looking, while sketching. It was very liberating and fun too! And I suggest you try it sometime, where ever you are, in blue or any other color 😉