Joe! I haven't read the article yet, but I'm so glad that you are working on this project and hope you will share pictures of some of your results with us from time to time. Very interesting subject!
I haven't thought about trying for blue myself, but I do have one of Grace Stamile's little diploid minis, LITTLE BLOOM RIDER, that always reminds me of a lighter blue whenever I see it in bloom. It has a sort of metallic looking eye that sometimes seems to have a green overlay, and it always seems to remind me of a baby blue color, even though it's not. Here are three of my garden shots of LITTLE BLOOM RIDER:
If I personally were trying for blue I think I would somehow try to incorporate that daylily into my program. You probably have others that would be much better, but that is the bluest one I've found so far.
I wish you luck on this quest, and I know we'd love to see pictures of your blues!