Perhaps the most important tool for an artist is color. It is very satisfying for many artists to allow color to express their personal impressions. Color, sometimes referred to as hue, can add depth to your painting or bring things closer, show emotion or create atmosphere, always offering endless possibilities!

The Value Of Color:
The lightest color perceived by the human eye is white, while the darkest color is black. Between these two extremes are countless shades of grey. Every color has innumerable shades. The “value” of color is the relationship of any of these shades to black or white. The closer to black, the lower its value. The closer to white, the higher its value.

Warm and Cool Colors:
Yellows and reds are considered warm colors simply because they remind us of flames or fire. Greens and blues are considered cool colors because they remind us of ice.

Primary Colors:
There are only three true colors: red, blue, and yellow. With these three colors you can make any other color except white , which is actually not a color but an absence of color.
If you mix red and yellow, you produce orange; blue and yellow, green; red and blue, violet..

Secondary Colors:
Orange, green and violet are referred to as “secondary colors.”
Mixing any two of these secondary colors produces a “tertiary color,” sometimes called a muddy color.

Complementary Colors:
Look at a color wheel or the spectrum graphics and note that red is opposite green, yellow is opposite violet and orange is opposite blue. When a color is too intense, you can add a little of its opposite (complementary) color. You can add a little violet to tone down yellow. To tone down red, you would add a little green (and so on).

Tip: While understanding how colors are achieved is important, it is better to purchase the colors that you use most often (rather than using your painting time to mix paint).

Contact us: info@FloridaDreamPainter.com