Color Wheel and some basic color theory for art.

This is an unpainted color wheel. If you copy and paste it to a word document and enlarge it on to the page you can then paint it in. Try mixing Blue and Red to get the violet Of there is more red than Blue it will go in the space between red and violet and this is called red violet. If it has more blue then red it is called blue violet and goes in the space between blue and violet.

Do the same thing with Red and Yellow

Finally Mix the Blue and Yellow

Looking back at what I shared in naming blue violet and red violet can you name the in-between colors that are more yellow than red and more red than yellow?

These unnamed in-between colors are called tertiary colors

Primary Colors are the colors that most other colors can be made from. There are three primary colors: Red, Yellow and Blue. For the purposes of art the Theory of color mixing works if one just happens to have a true Blue, True Red and True Yellow. As it goes most of the materials man has to make paint pigment often has traces of the other primary colors in them. This may be why you weren’t able to get very good violets when mixing your secondary and tertiary colors

Secondary Colors are the result of mixing equal amounts of any two Primary Colors

Primary Color

P R I M A R Y

P R I M A R Y

Secondary

2ndary

Secondary

Sometimes I spell color (American spelling) and sometimes colour (British/Australian spelling) It comes from growing up in one country and teaching in another. As I know my readership is likely to be around the world I tend to just let both pop up as it will.

I intend to include more color wheel theory and color blending in this section at a later date. It will include tinting and toning and things like analogous colours.

There are a few exercises below.

Above are some color experiments. Ask yourself questions about each. Some examples might be:What colors are dominate? How does each picture make me feel? Do some pictures seem stronger than others? Why? The more you reflect on where and why you put down various colors in a picture the more control you have over what your picture communicates.

Now I will provide you with the same picture without color. Print it out and do your own experiments.

Ok here’s your next challenge. Do a net search of paintings done at different times of day and different conditions. Eg. Sunrise paintings, Sunset paintings, Rainy day, Mist, High Noon, Cloudy. In the next picture which I’ve provided paint it using the colors and mood of each of your research. There will be more than one copy of the picture so you can see the different effects of color.

Or copy and paste into a painting program to fill in your own colors

In the next few pics observe how the picture changes. Color can be applied in many different ways.

Some of the sky is applied watery and parts with a dry stroke. The water is a flat color with lines and shapes of color placed over the top to make it seem liquid. The types of lines and direction provide a feeling that the water is moving.

The land forms are just different coloured shapes. To get atmospheric perspective make those in the distance less detailed and somewhat blurred. Put detail and more variety in your close areas. I attempted to make the close water transparent by allowing the fish in the water to be seen. It was important to color them so that they somewhat blend into the water which is best shown with the shark.