Project #33 Basic Color Theory

Most of the time using color in artworks is a very intuitive thing but knowing a little color theory can be very helpful.  Technical knowledge in combination with your intuitive creative process will give you an ease for color mixing and working with color.  

The basics are:

Primary Colors - Red, Yellow, Blue.

Secondary Colors - Orange, Green, Violet (Purple).  

Tertiary Colors - Red-Orange, Yellow-Orange, Yellow- Green, Blue-Green, Blue-Violet, Red-Violet.

Neutrals - Black, White, Gray, Brown.

As you can see on the color wheel, Blue and Yellow make Green and the colors in between, Yellow and Red make Orange and the colors in between and Red and Blue make Violet (Purple) and the colors in between.  

Colors that are opposite on the color wheel, for example yellow and violet (purple) are called complimentary colors.  When they are next to each other they compliment each other.  Yellow makes Violet look even more Violet and vice-versa, Violet next to Yellow makes Yellow look more Yellow.  

Adding white to a color is called a tint.  Adding black to a color is called a shade.  Adding grey to a color is called a tone. 

This Blue Apple painting by Usman Ali has blue and tints, shades and tones of blue in it.  It can be called a monochromatic painting like the one below.  

A monochromatic artwork is an artwork that uses only one color family, such as greens.  Below is a monochromatic painting by Britanny Cartie, Stripes and Ceramics.   

The photograph by Stacey Raven below use primary colors and some shades of primary colors.

Afternoon Color by Cynthia Peterson uses primary and secondary and tertiary colors.  

Bunch of Mimosa by Pierre Bonnard uses primary, secondary and tertiary colors.

  

Windmill in Sunlight by Piet Mondrian below, uses the complimentary colors, oranges and blues. 

Have fun playing around with color mixing.  Watercolors, gouache, tempera, acrylics and oil paints are excellent for color mixing. 

There are more fun things to learn about color but we will save that for another project.