Springtime means its song bird season at the Wildlife Center of Texas. I have been volunteering there for just about a year now and been fortunate to interact with loads of interesting and wonderful creatures. But a few of these guys came in not long ago and they are amazing. Indigo Buntings. And some Painted Buntings. They are bright, BRIGHT little blue birds. They are spectacular! These joyful little creatures gave me a moment to think about Blue. There is so much to think about blue. Pigments, dyes, sky, the first book I ever saw that was about the history of a color, the that time I dyed my hair blue freshman year of college. I don’t have time for all of that now, so this is about the time I visited the city in France that was famous for its blue, aka woad.

The city is Albi, in Southern France near Toulouse.

The reason we visited Albi was to pay homage to one of my favorite painters and explore the home town and museum of Toulouse-Lautrec. Tangent: I discovered Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec when I was maybe 9 or 10. On the stairs leading up to the attic in our upstate NY home, I found a paperback copy of his biography, mom must have left it there to go in the goodwill pile. It was not a picture book, as you would expect. The only picture I remember was on the cover, a self portrait, and some tiny insets on the pages. But it was full of weird and wild stories of Henri’s days at the Moulin Rouge, filled with dancing girls, absinthe, and syphilis. I am going to say that Toulouse-Lautrec was my very first formal art influence. Tangent 2: Yes, I used to play in our attic. It was filled with all sorts of great things to look and little windows to peer out of. And the stairs leading up to the attic was the best. It was the place where the adults discarded things to deal with later. Around the same time I also discovered a paperback of Amityville Horror when I was too young to use my better judgement and the red room in the basement is seared into my memory forever.

Back to Albi: As we were driving into the city we saw fields of a bright yellow flower. At the time we did not know what the fields were, but it turns out these plants are the Pastel plant or Woad in English. The town itself, in my memory, is dominated by red. Red brick is everywhere. A huge cathedral build of red brick is central to the town. The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Cecilia, constructed between 1282 and 1480, is the largest brick building in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Astounding construction.

All the shops that lined the streets have loads of Woad, and lavender, products. I purchased some fresh Woad ink, fabric dye, and some Pastel seeds for making my very own dye (note: 9 years later I have not done this). My traveling friend bought a beautiful locally made blue scarf. I was tempted to purchase more blue, but the next stop was Cluj, Transylvania, Romania and I had big ideas about Dracula souvenirs for friends and family. Unfortunately, not a lot of Dracula souvenirs happening in Romania. So the lesson is: always buy the blue.