Monday, November 22, 2010

Purple Haze

The Queen of the Phaeacians spins purple threads, and the water-nymphs weave cloth "purple as the sea"

This Morning Glory looks like lavender to me..but at other times it appears purple
and sometimes blue..
Purple Musings~
Situated between red and blue on the color wheel, it has been the color of royalty..
Even Julius Caesar decided he alone should wear it!
But the true reason was that it was expensive to make until the first synthetic (aniline) dye- was invented and produced on a grand scale.. 


It was the most highly valued dye of the ancient world.
Purple was extracted from shellfish of the mollusk (Murex Trunculus and Purpura Haemastoma) which are found along the eastern Mediterranean shores near Tyre)..(whence the common name Tyrian Purple) I gather a smelly process back then. You can read some pretty interesting stuff here in- (Pigments from animals and plants)

In Acts 16, it mentions Lydia (a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira)

Jesus was robed in purple by Roman soldiers (Mk 15) .. was given to Daniel and Mordecai and worn by  Assyrian soldiers. The first people to use the dye were perhaps Phoenicians, whose name may come from a Greek word meaning bloodred..
Ships of Tyre had awnings of blue and purple (Ez. 27) and purple dye was an item of trade between Tyre and the people of Aram..(even used to describe the color of hair)



Black King Wood Bee winking~
Notice the shades..



I'll tell you about an experience I had with the tile in our bathroom next..
Anyway..does the color purple do anything for you?

16 comments:

rainfield61 said...

Not until I read your post, the color purple does nothing for me.

MadSnapper said...

gorgous purple in all of these and I LOVE THE HEADER those curly thingys are alwasy beautiful to me. ilike the swirly thing with the trees shot to. I knew i liked purple but not all the things about how they made it and the royalty thing. lots of good info.

Teté M. Jorge said...

Regina, I love to read you, come here and admire the photos you posted. It's all so beautiful! Here I encounter an atmosphere of peace and love. Thanks for sharing these lovely moments with us.

The color purple makes me feel sensual... and a little mystery.

Have a good week, dear.

Kisses with love.

Netster23 said...

Beautiful Regina :) this is really fantastic! :D

The bees is really nice :)

Ginny Hartzler said...

A Black King Wood Bee? I've never heard of it! The shape and size remind me of a Carpenter Bee or a Bumble Bee. Love the Morning Glories just drenched and dripping!! I have done a post all about purple and Lydia, but you have lots of cool info that I never knew!! Like the mollucks!! Purple makes me think of J.F.K.'s assination. I was a teenager and my mom was painting my room purple on the day he was killed. We even painted the trash can to match.

Leenie said...

Thanks for the pictures of the Morning Glory. We have a bindweed here which is a noxious devil with white trumpets. But I love to grow from seed the big Heavenly Blue Morning Glory--one of my favorite flowers. However, this year the cold wet spring stopped my crop in their tracks.

I'm currently reading "Colour--Travels Through the Paintbox" by Victoria Finlay. She writes about her travels all over the world doing research on the origins of pigments and dyes, especially those used by artists. Love the book so far. Highly recommend it. Fun also to see the references to the use of royal purple in the Bible.

Kilauea Poetry said...

Thank you Rainfields!
Sandra..an enchanting color huh..I recall you mention you had staghorn ferns..maybe different? Thank you Nester (I hope I'm right about that can) ha ha
Hey, I appreciate your kind words Teca!!(hugs)
Ginny, ya, it is big (the female is the orange one on the last header)..ya, seems everyone I talk to has some kind of memory to where we were when they died.. I was sitting Indian style in the livingroom in front of the TV and watching my mom cry (just a pup) ha-
Hey Leenie..I too find this fascinating and that book sounds terrific- thanks for the tip!

The Chair Speaks said...

Morning Glory flowers have lovely purple colour. It invokes sweet memories when EJ was young as there were plentiful on fences everywhere. Sadly none could be seen nowadays as fences have become brick walls.

DIGITAL WORLD PAGES ARCHIVE said...

Hello1How are YOU?!

DIGITAL WORLD PAGES ARCHIVE said...

Very beautiful post!

DIGITAL WORLD PAGES ARCHIVE said...

Beautiful colors...

DIGITAL WORLD PAGES ARCHIVE said...

I liked this header very much...

DIGITAL WORLD PAGES ARCHIVE said...

You are right about my last post in the Caucasusgeography...I do not when I photographed that photo...

Flat Creek Farm said...

I love purple. The bee and the flowers... Beautiful post as always! -Tammy

Dejemonos sorprender said...

Hi, beautiful pictures.. colors are gorgeous.. i really liked.. I will keep coming by to see this wonderful space you have ..
Saludos..

Kilauea Poetry said...

Hello Amin..Tammy- thanks and for visiting!
Greetings Dejemonos- happy you enjoyed these.. thanks-

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