Taos Blue

[Mike Jackson]

Photo from greatbuildings.com

Hi all,
I suspect many of the readers here have made a trip through northern New Mexico at one time or another. If so, you notice a pale teal blue paint used on almost all doors and some trim on the adobe structures.

A few weeks ago, I was in a very nice book store in West Yellowstone, MT and was asking the owner if he had any books on sign painting...a typical conversation for me, I guess. Anyway, he told me of a book by Eric Sloan called "Eighty" (1985, ISBN 0-396-08541-1). He said it is out of print and hard to find. Naturally, I came home and looked for one on the Internet and found one I could afford. It is a very nice book, one of many written by Eric Sloan (you know, the barn painter). He was also a sign painter.

On one page, he discusses the teal blue color paint:

One mystery of Taos puebloes has been the use of blue on its window frames and doors. Historians agree that blue is one color that cannot be created with local plant dyes, yet blue paint has been traditional in Taos puebloes since the early 1800s. I once asked an old Indian about this and is reply intered me. "I don't know," he said, "but my great grandfather used to call it sugar-blue." His remark started a spark of research that resulted in what I believe is the answer to the riddle.

Early American sweetening was first derived from maple syrup (a plentiful product of eastern forest), but when the pioneers went westward they brough with them imported cane sugar in cones wrapped with blue paper rich in ididgo dye. New England housewives had long prized these indigo wrappings for dyeing cloth, and when venturing westward it was natural for them to include a supply for trading with Indians.

Pennsylvanians used milk and indigo for manufacturing paint, and many Contestoga wagons were painteed with a pale turquoise blue the exact shade found on old Taos doors. It is interesting to consider the source of paint coming from sugar wrappings of covered wagon days, but I cannot think of a better explanation. The indigo and milk paint had a sturdy plastic quality that lasted for a century, and in the early 1900s Sherwin Williams Company established "Taos Blue" as a standard house-paint color. Eric Sloan, 1985

Mike Jackson

[James Kelly]

Very interesting, Mike. It is amazing just how resourceful folks were back then. Paint made from milk and lasting 100 years, as the saying goes... we learn something new every day.

[Doug Bernhardt]

Fascinating!! ....how a term and an old mans tale unite. Have to add that milk paints are actually very very old, Casein (sp?) tempera is what it's called when used as artists medium.

[Mike Jackson]

Hi all,
I have to admit I am still a bit skeptical of Eric Sloane's theory, but it sounds pretty good. I'd feel better about the theory if the same color showed up in other regions along the Oregon Trail and offshoots of the trading routes. Maybe the Taos group of Indians were just a bit more resourceful than other traders along the route? The windows and doors certainly have that distinctive blue, but if the settlers moving across the country traded with other people along the way, you'd think others would have taken advantage of the indigo color. Additionally, it seems to me that would take a LOT of wrappers to paint so many doors and frames. I don't know if the milk and dye actually lasted that long...100 years, or if they started painting the larger quantity of the doors and windows once the paint companies came out with the color. There is a good chance his theory is at least partially correct, especially when he ties it to someones recollection of it being called "sugar-blue".

Either way, I thought the information was worthy of discussion here. Eric Sloane also claims to be the one to introduce masonite to the Taos Seven artists. He was using it for signs, but they were interested in the woven texture of the back side as a substiture for stretched canvas. That information is in one of his other books.

Mike Jackson

[Doug Bernhardt]

just a quick add to the masonite thing.....paintings done on masonite (untempered) by Andrew Wyeth (one of my heros) are already in need of restoration as the chemicals inside are migrating through the surface and destroying the paint layers. This is a HUGE problem as the whole process breaks from the traditions of painting egg tempera over seasoned woods. The tempered versions are oil treated in some manner and make it impossible to use the grounds required for this medium. All to say that it is always worth persuing the idea of experiment and using the tried and true.

[John Lennig]

Thanks, Mike, for the story of Taos Blue. Even if it's only part true...it's fascinating! We will be in Taos next month, and i will be aware of the Blue now, and not have to make up my own story/theory...
We'll also be in Santa Fe and AB... doing a 2 week loop , any "must see" sign things to look out for?? Thanks

John

[Mark Yearwood]

John,
when in Alb. you could look up Bob Padilla and Bobbo Dunn. Two great pinstripers out there and good friends.
I have their contact info if you want to e-mail me.