Peacock Blue is defined as “a brilliant shade of blue tinged with green.” The problem is that color is subjective so peacock blue can mean many different things to many different people.
For artists there are so many blue-green options to mix, here is one paint recipe which maintains its peacock blue brilliance: try mixing half part phthalo green to three parts cerulean blue (1/2 : 3).
The challenge then becomes, being such a commanding brilliant color, do you use it on its own .. or mix it onto which palette for optimum punch?
Golden paints are my favorite brand, I cant recommend the brilliance and quality of their pigments enough!
- emerald (phthalo green)
- cerulean blue
- turquoise
- cobalt blue
- iridized gold
- azo yellow
- dioxazine purple
Peacock glass vase by Loetz
Creating your own peacock art?
These are a few of my favorite artist products:
- PanPastels – this pack has a wonderful peacock mix. I use these to gently blush anything pale.
- Jacquard Pinata – alcohol inks. I use these to dye everything small!
- Golden paints – buy single or in packs, I use both flow and fluif acrylic.
Ceramic peacock by Kathy Boortz
Remember this phrase?
“Blue and Green Should Never Be Seen Without Another Color In Between.”
This is an old Scottish phrase that was speaking of clothing colors. It meant that it was easier to get them to look good together by mixing a third color. Looking at the peacock feather, the optimum color in between is gold!
Peacock wedding table colors work with purple
The meaning of peacock blue
The peacock itself is a possessor of some of the most admired human characteristics, and is a symbol of integrity and the beauty we can achieve when we endeavour to show our true colors.
Peacock blue, as turquoise, has the power to give confidence and strength. Being a mixture of green and blue it has the expansive nature of green and the cool, quiet flow of blue. This colour can help when there’s low energy, a lack of interest in life, a failure to fit in with the surroundings or a lack of courage to strike out on your own. (“The practical book of colour therapy” – Susan Lilly and Simon Lilly)
Peacock colors in nature
Unlike most birds, peacocks do not derive their colors purely from pigments, but from a combination of pigments and photonic crystals. These branch like structures on the peacock feathers reflect different wavelengths of light depending upon the angle of the light and the spacing of the crystals.
Peacock copper is actually bornite. It starts as a brown to copper-red color on fresh surfaces that tarnishes to various iridescent shades of blue to purple in places. Its striking iridescence gives it the nickname peacock copper or peacock ore.
These same iridised colors in many insects such as this imperial beetle below.
Look closely at these peacocks and you’ll notice something amazing: They are made of polished nail tips and metallic hair barrettes. As artist Laurel Roth says:
Peacocks are often associated with vanity and beauty. So I use the “human mating plumage” of fake fingernails, barrettes, nail polish, false eyelashes, and jewellery.
ALWAYS THE ARTIST
Dina
Art by Dina:
Chrysolina beetles have always amazed me due to the amazing way nature creates bright iridisation and metallic effects. I wanted to capture the blue shell of the chrysolina into my own art-doll.
This blue beetle is made with air-dry paper clay and worbla. Her shell is a striking iridised blue covered in flowers, insects, leaves dripping with Swarovski gems and beads.
You can visit my Shop and see if she is still for sale!
