Color+Vocabulary


 * Color: ** effect produced on the eye and its associated nerves by light waves of different wavelength or frequency. Light transmitted from an object to the eye stimulates the different color cones of the retina, thus making possible perception of various colors in the object. 


 * Color Wheel ** : A color wheel shows how colors are related. On a color wheel, each secondary color is between the primary colors that are used to make it. Orange is between red and yellow because orange is made by mixing red with yellow. What goes between secondary colors and primary colors? Intermediate, or tertiary, colors are made by mixing a primary color with a secondary color that is next to it. Red-orange, yellow-orange and yellow-green are some intermediate colors.


 * Color effects: ** When small dots of pure color are applied close together, the viewer's eyes mix the colors. Notice that each dot of pure color the artist has used looks bright, but when your eye mixes them they are subdued, almost neutral.Some artists use color in an arbitrary way. Instead of imitating the natural colors of objects, they used colors for symbolic or expressive purposes. In this painting the artist selected colors that symbolized universal principles such as spiritual harmony with nature, not the colors he really saw.Color, also can make a movement effect, strong colors tend to look nearer than less intense colors.


 * Value: ** Refers to the lightness or darkness of a color. Colors mixed with white are called tints. Pink is a tint of red. Colors mixed with black are called shades. Burgundy is a shade of red. Paintings that use only one color and the tints and shades of that color are called monochromatic (one=mono; color=chromatic).


 * Values, Tints and Shades ** : The lightness or darkness of a color is called its value. You can find the values of a color by making its tints and shades. Tints are light values that are made by mixing a color with white. For example, pink is a tint of red, and light blue is a tint of blue. Shades are dark values that are made by mixing a color with black. Maroon is a shade of red, and navy is a shade of blue.


 * Analogous Color: ** Analogous colors sit next to each other on the color wheel. They tend to look pleasant together because they are closely related.


 * Mood: ** Colors are often associated with moods. For example, we say "green with envy," "a blue mood." Certain colors also look cool, such as blue, green and violet; and others look warm, like red, orange and yellow.


 * Natural Color: ** Artists use colors to create a variety of desired effects. When an artist paints a scene or objects realistically, colors are used in imitation of the things being painted.