Now we have talked about our friends in the last two parts…they are quite a handful, aren’t they? I also got introduced to your friends…Loved what I was reading:
Sue Clarke: Purple…so royal and yet playful!…
Dottie: Loved your posts on color! Made me think that black and white are sort of like the adults. All the other color children are running around on the canvas displaying all their glory and exuberence in their own personality and style, The adults come in to offer a little containment and accent…
Caroline: you could do white, even if it is a bit the same as black some people say it’s not a color. But there are a lot of other voices that are saying that white is the color that means pure, hope, innocence, clean, …Then there is pink that is totally “think pink” Red the color off passion and warmth…
So now that we have thought a bit about their personality we might wanna study our friends a bit more. Kind of like the CSI of colors ;)
Remember the Color Wheel?
Good old color wheel – that is how I started years ago exploring colors. I made one for you…actually the plan was that you could download it…but you know…smarty-pants forgot that her scanner is not THAT big – so the color wheel is bigger than the size of my scanner…and …oh well…
BUT- you can definitely make your own …*snigger* or you just google color wheel if you are lazy and you will find thousands and can just download one of them.
So let’s start with some basics here and we talk about pigment colors…because color theory is so much more complicated (just open your printer and look which colors are in there to be mixed- different world!)…we keep it easy, ok? – for most of you it is a refresher I’m pretty sure- but it is never bad to get some refreshing, right?
Primary Colors:
Your friends Red, Blue and Yellow carry the last name Primary. Those guys cannot be created by mixing any of the other colors out there. But- they have super powers ….they can be mixed to create all kinds of other colors on the color wheel.
Check out where they are located on the color wheel.
So what does that mean for you if you love to play with Paint Media?
Well…I would recommend to really have those three colors, because you simply will never be able to create them on their own with other colors. I know, sounds like obvious….but sometimes the obvious is hidden ;)
Secondary Colors:
Now these guy’s last name is ….Secondary…Ding Ding Ding Ding ;)
Not the coolest name right? Always the second…never the first….LOL. That doesn’t make them less attractive or nice though. In fact I love the Secondary Guys :) mmmh- why my friends are all of a sudden guys, no idea..let’s roll with it.
So they are Secondary because they come out when you mix the Primary Guys.
Yellow and Red = Orange
Blue and Yellow = Green
Blue and Red = Purple
So check out where they are on the color wheel ? EXACTLY :)
And because you see it- you know already who is missing on the color wheel and you might assume right why they are called:
Tertiary Colors:
So Tertiary are those colors that are the result of mixing a primary and a secondary color. Those friends are Yellow-Orange or Blue-Green and so on. That is why they are located in between the Primary Colors and the Secondary Colors. Pretty nifty those friends- just as in real life- sometimes your friends fall in Love with each other and produce a new little one ;) LOL- sorry- couldn’t resist.
Now off to you:
If you take one paint media you own – say all your acrylic paints colors or waterbased spray paints or one company for example, which of the colors on the color wheels do you have covered and which would you be able to mix if you take in account what we already said about mixing?
Now if you think about this way- you might realize that you have way more options then you thought you would have – or you just figured that you definitely need some more colors to cover your possibilities. What you think do you need more or are you good to go?
Next time we talk about how we make colors sing :)
Have a gorgeous colorful day!
Nat
Related articles
- Colors Are Your Friends or let’s talk a bit of “my” Color Theory I
- Colors Are Your Friends or let’s talk a bit of “my” Color Theory II
Comments (4)
Marsha.
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Sorry… Playing catch up while traveling by train… You are making me want to create my own colour wheel… Which is difficult right now as I’m on said train LOL!
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Sue Clarke
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Funny…when I find a new product to buy I usually buy the deep blues and yes, purples and I must change my approach if I am to play with all of your friends. LOL
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Riikka
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Heh, when I find a new paint media I like, I always try to get the primary colours bought first. :D Great post!
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Milagros
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Your tutorial is very interesting, yesterday I was doing a book signing for a christening watercolor on white paper, blue boy embossing seal of dylusions, proof of first use yellow color and a lighter brown, but turned off the blue not to vibrate, finally use the NEOCOLOR II and the colors yellow, green and brown and completely change the page they made those colors stand out and vibrate more the blue and white embossing of the page.
If you want to see is here http://cleoscrap.blogspot.com.es/2012/05/el-summun-de-la-originalidad.html
hugs
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