Blue Color at www.japanese-home-gardens.com

As a basic rule, choose one color of an existing item and use it as the cornerstone of your color scheme. To match, extend tonal variations of this color - lighter and darker tones - onto the walls and other features. Alternatively, pick two colors that are very close on the color wheel (see p. 14), such as blue and blue-violet, and then use varying proportions of each. As long as you make sure that there is sufficient continuity of color to create a consistent atmosphere, you can then introduce touches of black, white or some other colors to avoid a bland result.

By April 1968 more than 1,100 items had been cataloged, including a piece of blue pigment large enough to undergo analysis. Archaeologists have determined the origin of all Maya pigments except blue, which is apparently a vegetable substance. The pigment is important because it was the sacrificial color; victims who were sacrificed in the cenote were undoubtedly painted with this rich blue color. Until excavations at the well, not enough of it had been discovered to make analysis feasible.

Such variations make a huge difference to the effect of color combinations; different intensities of one basic color create a completely different feel. Take an apparently simple association of blue and yellow. Pale blue and pale yellow is a soft, unchallenging combination with a restful and airy feel to it. Now consider a mixture of golden yellow and violet blue and you have a far more vibrant and challenging effect which makes much more of a statement.