Blue, the colour of MCO – how an artist found inspiration in dark times

GEORGE TOWN – When Australian free-form artist, Madeleine Ekeblad uses the colour blue in her paintings, it always resembles fear and danger. She would rather use her classic red, white and black – a colour combination she believes is much more attractive and powerful.

“I’ve never been successful with the colour blue as it was not a happy colour.

“My husband used to go to sea very often, and he would send me terrifying pictures of storms, and I would be so scared. I would then paint rough blue seas, which always had a negative connotation,” the renowned international artist said.

Then Covid-19 came ashore to Penang, her current home. The blueness of the whole situation parked itself outside her door during the first movement control order (MCO) and stayed there. 

But when the second MCO was announced, the gloom showed up in her latest work, ‘I Paint Music’ with the introduction of blue hues.

“The second lockdown was very hard as most of us were over it by then. We have had the novelty of having to live together for 24 hours during the first MCO and the second wave brought frustration and fear into my work, as seen in the blue I used.

“However, it helped me break barriers I was not willing to break through. Looking back 12 months ago, blue was definitely not something I wanted to experiment in.

“At the end, instead of bringing fear, blue became a colour that brought healing,” the fourth generation artist said.

“Now, I am having fun.”

She started on her latest ‘I Paint Music’ collection during the first week of the second MCO in January and introduced her signature paintings of the Lady in Red to the colour blue. She did the same to the rest of her already-powerful musical artwork.

“It was difficult incorporating blue as it is so foreign to me, but I persevered.”

Clutching on her mentor’s words to paint her passion, she began working in the Covid-19 storm, incorporating colourful enamels, acrylic, inks and old music manuscripts dating to the late 1880s to create music on canvas.

Now complete, her 26 pieces of music-inspired paintings are showcased in G Hotel Penang’s G Art Gallery until May 31. Her moving work showcasing cellos, pianos, dance and the Lady in Red is currently retailing from RM375 to RM8,100. This is her second exhibition with G Hotel since 2017.  – The Vibes, May 8, 2021