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There are three color wheels that affect what you make. You may not be aware of them all and none of them works for all situations. There is one for mixing paint, called the painter's color wheel. Red, yellow and blue are the primary colors. There is another for use in putting colors next to each other, called the subtractive color wheel. It's primary colors are cyan, magenta and yellow. It's what's used in printers. They don't really mix ink together but spray dots of ink next to each other on the paper. Since paper is usually white all you need to add is black and you have every thing you need to mix any color - Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black - CYMK. The other color wheel is called the subtractive color wheel and it's used for mixing light, such as is used on stage sets when shining lights on scenes and actors.
When I'm mixing colors I know that orange and blue are complementary colors but when I have blue on a painting it seems to call to me for yellow color. I use a lot of transparent colors and glaze them out a lot and consequently there's a lot of light mixing going on. I can't say that I sit down and plan everything out. I've learned to listen to the painting and let it be what it wants to be. However, I know that the three color theories are all real and affect what I do and how it looks, whether I believe in any of them or not.
Many people swear by the CMY color system while others stick to the RYB, but it all depends on what you're doing. To complicate things, really good lightfast pigments usually aren't pure - they tend to some neutralness to them. Also, it's hard to match your primary colors exactly with lightfast pigments. Even if you can, they're of differing levels of transparency and opacity. Plus some are stronger than others and therefore overpower others. Best thing to do is get familiar with them all from reading and studying, but most importantly but just make art and learn as you go. If you wait until you feel like you know exactly what you're doing you'll wait forever. If you feel, as I do, that we don't create things but instead discover things that were already there and are given the privilege of revealing them to others then you'll start feeling comfortable to letting the painting tell you what to do.
And I can't stress enough how religious this topic is. Do some reading. You'll see. In the meantime, just make art. In the end, it's all that really matters.
Thanks. Your first paragraph makes me want to quote: "And the twain shall never meet". Why? Because, yesterday, I used my printer to copy that color wheel and the "purples" all came out black - or so close to black that you'd have to have known they were supposed to be violet, etc., to recognize even a hint of those colors.
You are right about making art. It wasn't in the original plan. I'd started reading because of things my friend who works in pottery was telling me. It is growing into a project. Something to keep me out of trouble? :-) Or, into trouble?
I must get some paints and play with this. It has been years and I didn't do much even then. What kind of paint is best for just playing at mixing and learning what the colors do? Not water colors, I don't think. Think I used to use tempera. Never oils.
Nothing wrong with watercolor paints. For playing, either watercolor (tube not cake) or acrylics. What is nice about watercolor, you only need a tiny bit. And it's still reusable after it drys on the palette. Acrylics are inexpensive but can dry out quick. But you can get an additive to slow down the dry time.
I like watercolor paints and with them (having the warm and cool primaries) I can mix up black. I have not been able to get an acceptable black using acrylics.
If you want to play with color, you will want to get warm and cool versions of the three primary colors. I don't think tempra paints offer the proper colors but gouaches might have these colors, they are sort of like tempra paints.
Red-
cool: Alizarin crimson
Warm: cadmium red light
Blue-
Cool: phthalo blue
Warm: aquamarine
Yellow-
Cool: cadmium yellow light
Warm: gamboge
When playing- put the six colors on your palette and keep them pure. When mixing two colors, start with the lighter, then add small amounts of the darker color until you have the mixed color you are looking for.
If one starts with a dark color, they usually end up with way too much paint than will ever be used.
Nothing wrong with watercolor paints. For playing, either watercolor (tube not cake) or acrylics. What is nice about watercolor, you only need a tiny bit. And it's still reusable after it drys on the palette. Acrylics are inexpensive but can dry out quick. But you can get an additive to slow down the dry time.
I like watercolor paints and with them (having the warm and cool primaries) I can mix up black. I have not been able to get an acceptable black using acrylics.
If you want to play with color, you will want to get warm and cool versions of the three primary colors. I don't think tempra paints offer the proper colors but gouaches might have these colors, they are sort of like tempra paints.
Red-
cool: Alizarin crimson
Warm: cadmium red light
Blue-
Cool: phthalo blue
Warm: aquamarine
Yellow-
Cool: cadmium yellow light
Warm: gamboge
When playing- put the six colors on your palette and keep them pure. When mixing two colors, start with the lighter, then add small amounts of the darker color until you have the mixed color you are looking for.
If one starts with a dark color, they usually end up with way too much paint than will ever be used.
There are the secondary colors: the colors made from the primary: orange, green and violet (not purple, purple is a made up name from Crayola).
The word "purple" is from the Old English word "purpul" which in turn is from the Latin word "purpura."
Ancient kings and Roman emperors wore garments of a very expensive dye called Tyrian Purple to denote the majesty of their position in those times. Crayola did not make up the color "purple" (before I moved to Philly I used to live an hour drive up river in the city of Easton, PA the home of Binney & Smith (Crayola). Purple and violet are not the same color - violet is a red/blue mix that tilts a little more to blue and purple is a red/blue mix that tilts a little more to red and is much brighter and less "cool."
The word "purple" is from the Old English word "purpul" which in turn is from the Latin word "purpura."
Ancient kings and Roman emperors wore garments of a very expensive dye called Tyrian Purple to denote the majesty of their position in those times. Crayola did not make up the color "purple" (before I moved to Philly I used to live an hour drive up river in the city of Easton, PA the home of Binney & Smith (Crayola). Purple and violet are not the same color - violet is a red/blue mix that tilts a little more to blue and purple is a red/blue mix that tilts a little more to red and is much brighter and less "cool."
I am so glad to see you saying this because it was my thought also but I kept saying "what do I know?"
To me, violet is a very different color than purple. And, as you say, purple was worn by royalty long before Crayola took breath. Others were forbidden to wear purple. That was the king's perogative only.
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