Color+Vocabulary

Is the effect produces on the eye and its associated nerves by light waves of different wavelength or frecuency. 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. So, it is the quality of an object or substance with respect to light reflected by the object, usually determined visually by measurement of hue, saturation, and brightness of the reflected light; saturation or chroma; hue.
 * COLOR **

Color can be classified in three categories, primary, secondary, and tertiary.Primarycolors are the defining colors of the wheel. In the color wheels below, they appear in the center as well as equally spaced around the circle. On the traditional artist's color wheel red, blue, and yellow are primary colors.

Secondarycolors are the three colors that are equal distant from the primary colors. On the traditional artist's color wheel violet, green, and orange are secondary colors.

Tertiarycolors are the colors between each primary and secondary color. On the traditional artist's color wheel red-violet, blue-violet, blue-green, yellow-green, yellow-orange, and red-orange are tertiary colors.

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 WHEEL **

This color wheel shows the primary colors, secondary colors, and the tertiary colors. It also shows the relationships between complementary colors across from each other on the color wheel, such as blue and orange; and analogous (similar or related) colors next to each other on the color wheel such as yellow, green and blue. Black and white may be thought of as colors but, in fact, they are not. White light is the presence of all color - black is the absence of reflected light and therefore the absence of color.

Two primary colors can be mixed to create a secondary color: orange (from red and yellow), green (from yellow and blue), or violet (from blue and red).

The combination of a primary color with a secondary color creates another color called a tertiary color. In this painting the artist used the tertiary color red-orange, along with the primary color yellow. Tertiary colors are also known as intermediate colors.

Colors next to one another on the color wheel are called analogous (it means "related"). Analogous colors share a common color and usually appear to be in harmony.

Complementary colors are directly across from one another on the color wheel and share no common colors. Blue and orange are examples of complementary 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).
 * VALUE: TINTS AND SHADES. **

The lightness or darkness of a color is called its valeu. You can find the values of a color by making its tints and shades. This painting by Vincent Van Gogh, //Fields in a Rising Storm// //, // has tints and shades of blue in the sky, and tints and shades of green in the fields.

Saturation or intensity refers to the "purity" of color. A pure color is at its highest saturation, its most intense and brightest form. If white, black or another color is added to a pure color, its saturation decreases and its intensity drops. On this palette you can see many colors in their pure and most intense form as well as colors that have lost some intensity after the artist mixed them. Black is the absence of color (and is therefore not a color)When there is no light, everything is black. Test this out by going into a photographic dark room. There are no photons of light. In other words, there are no photons of colors.White is the blending of all colors and is a color.Light appears colorless or white. Sunlight is white light that is composed of all the colors of the spectrum. A rainbow is proof. You can't see the colors of sunlight except when atmospheric conditions bend the light rays and create a rainbow. You can also use a prism to demonstrate this.
 * ARE BLACK AND WHITE COLORS? **

The Yin Yang theory is one of the main theories of all ancient Chinese schools of thought. Traditional Chinese medicine, ancient martial arts, feng shui, the I Ching, and the whole Taoism cosmology are all based on the dynamics of Yin and Yang. According to this theory, everything in our Universe is composed of two opposing, but deeply interconnected forces - the Yin (feminine) and the Yang (masculine).Expressed in feng shui colors, the Yin, feminine energy is black and the Yang, masculine energy is white.