When I was at primary school, if you were really well-behaved you got to mix the paints.
They came in big silver cuboid tins and the teacher would go along with a spoon, levering the lids off, one by one.
They were powder paints and the colours would virtually leap out of the cans as the lid was prized open onto the darkness.
The one I remember most vividly was cobalt blue. I was about ten and I remember thinking it was the most tantalising blue I’d EVER seen.
It was royal and special, the blue of Mary at the nativity, the hue of the deepest sea.
I also loved the black powder and how it seemed to gobble up the light.
Were you ever given the job of mixing paints at school? What was your favourite colour?
Martha, The Colour File x
