Hmm…
I would assume then that the effect is somehow tied in with the fact that the light is diffused and relatively dim, since it’s simply a fact that the blues and greens are the colors that pop. Possibly there isn’t enough light to show up orange or red - effectively, everything is sort of in shadow?
And by contrast, as I write this, it’s very smoky where I am, and yes - the light is notably orange. And I’ve noticed before that when it’s like this, shadows have an obvious blue tint.
Pretty much.
Don’t get too hung up on the name - it’s just a personal bit of shorthand. What I’m talking about is the actual phenomenon. Parrish’s paintings are just the closest popular representation I’ve seen of it.
It seems to happen most often in late summer, when (in my area at least) afternoon thundershowers are relatively common. There are times when the clouds will roll in, but they’re not dense enough to bring rain, and just at dusk, the light through those clouds is diffused but oddly clear, so in spite of the fact that the light level is low overall, colors, and especially blues and greens, really pop.
In HSL terms, it’s essentially 100% saturation but only maybe 30% light, and since the light shifts toward red/orange, the blues and greens are the colors that stand out the most.
What I call Parrish light - the distinctive tone that’s prominent in Maxfield Parrish’s paintings.
It’s a relatively subdued but clear reddish orange that I see most commonly with relatively uniform but thin thunderclouds at dusk. It makes blues and greens much more vivid, in spite of the fact that the overall amount of light is relatively low. And it’s glorious.
I think there are two different things at play there, and both have been mentioned, so all I can add is that it’s not one or the other but both. (Well - that and a song)
Partly it’s the common human need to feel that we matter - that our lives are in some way significant.
And partly it’s the fear of death and the resulting desire to believe that we’ll “live on” at least figuratively.
And the song is from Shriekback and is directly on topic - Dust and a Shadow
Broadly because the entire dynamic of left-wing partisanship in the US - both for the politicians and for the voters - is built around the binaristic idea that the only alternative to supporting the Democrats is supporting the Republicans, and that doesn’t work if they admit that there are more possible positions than just those two.
Probably an odd take, but this is actually something I sort of like about this timeline.
I keep getting this amusing visual image of actual people tiptoing away and giggling and shushing each other, as somewhere in the background, the site they used to be on is nothing but corporations showing ads to bots posting to bots.
It’s the state of mind caused by simultaneously believing two (or more) things that conflict with each other.