The sun is like a woman when she kisses

the land with warm lips she leaves a little

color everywhere
Sometimes to see more clearly we have
to open more than our eyes

Nicolai Serof from the movie Local Color

COLOR MY WORLD
The Painters
Color Theory Workshop
by Bernie Rosage Jr.

Did you know?

Color is not seen in an object. No, that object
merely serves as a reflector of light, light that filters
through your eyes to the brain, where that light is
interpreted by your brain as color.
The human eye can see 7 million colors.
The colors of the visible spectrum, called the
elementary colors, are red, orange, yellow, green,
blue, indigo, and violet (in that order).

Did you know?

When it comes to
painting color is one of
the LEAST important
elements.

Elements of Painting
in order of importance.

1 Composition / Design
2 Value
3 Edges
4 COLOR
5 Technique

COLORful topics
Color Elements / Attributes
Color Temperature
Color Wheel
Color Schemes
Color Harmony
Color Meanings and Mood
Color Mixing
Color Palettes
Color and Painting
Color Systems
Color in 3D (video)

3 Elements of COLOR

Hue
What color family does the color belong
to?
Color Temperature is an attribute of
hue.
Value or Tone
How light or dark is a color?
Intensity or Chroma
How rich or dull is a color?

Hue
Primary Colors
Yellow
Red
Blue

Secondary Colors
Orange
Purple or Violet
Green

Value

Value

Value

5 Tone Values
Highlight
Body Tone
Reflection
Body Shadow
Cast Shadow

5 Tone Values in Color

Intensity

Color Temperature
The temperature of a color within its hue is either warm
(towards Yellow) or cool (towards Blue).
Color temperature is relative to the color it is next to.
Law of Nature
Warm light produces cool shadows.
Cool light produces warm shadows.
Muddy and Chalky colors are due to wrong temperature.

Cool light produces warm shadows.

Artist: Richard Schmid

Cover of his book The Landscapes

Color Temperature

Identifying Color Temperature

The Color Wheel

Primary Colors
Secondary Colors
Tertiary Colors
Complementary
Colors
Warm Colors
Cool Colors

Color Schemes
Achromatic
Mono-Chromatic
Diad
Triad
Tetrad
Analogous
Complementary
Split Complementary

Color Schemes ~ Achromatic

Artist: Jeremy Lipking

Color Schemes ~ Mono-Chromatic

Color Schemes ~ Mono-Chromatic

Color Schemes ~ Complementary

Color Schemes ~ Complementary

Color Schemes ~ Analogous

Color Schemes ~ Analogous

Artist: Stephen Greer Sr

Color Schemes
Split Complementary

Color Schemes
Split Complementary

Color Schemes ~ Triadic

Color Harmony

Artist / Author, Vicki McMurry mentions the use of a

Mother Color to create harmony.

Color Harmony according

to Sir Richard
The color of light acts as a common
denominator to visually unite
everything it illuminates. Light,
therefore, produces Harmony in a
subject (and dont forget it!)
Richard Schmid from Alla Prima

Color Charts

Color Meanings and Symbolism

Red

power, passion, courage, vitality, excitement, strength, speed, love, heart and
warmth.

Blue

caring, devotion, trust, wisdom, peacefulness, serenity, loyalty, truth,

coolness, harmony.

Yellow

light, cheer, sunlight, happiness, creativity, confidence, self-esteem, intellect,

innovation.

Orange

energy, warmth, contentment, fruitfulness, strength, security, sensuality,

abundance.

Color Meanings and Symbolism

Green

nature, fresh, growth, abundance, life, youth, renewal, hope, fertility,

peace, balance.

Purple

royalty, luxury, wealth, and sophistication.

Black

formal, reserved, drive, dignity, reliability, authority, power,

prudence, wisdom, glamour.

White

pure light, energy, truth, perfection, serenity, harmony, loyalty,

sincerity, clarity.

Color Mood

Color Mood

Color Mood ~ High Key & Low Key

Artist: Ignat Ignatov

Color Mood

Color Mixing
Graying Color
Visual Mixing
Tint, Tone, & Shade
Mixing Blacks
Mixing Greens
Mixing Secondary Colors
Limited Palettes
Mixing Tips

Color Mixing ~ Graying Color

Graying Color also called Neutralizing

Color

Graying Color

Artist: William Bouguereau

Mixing Complements:
Physically and Visually

Visual Mixing & Creating Vibration

with Color.

Visually mixing creates movement.

Visual mixing creates vibration.

The Impressionist perfected this.

Artist: Claude Monet

Tint, Tone, & Shade

Tint
Color + White
Tone
Color + Black

Shade
Color + Gray

Lighten a Color
Tinting (adding White) lightens value and
makes a color cooler.
White is the coldest pigment on your palette.
Tinting strength varies from color to color.
A warm color (Yellow) must be added to
White to lighten a color and keep it warm.
This will alter the hue.

Darken a Color
Adding Black (tone) or Gray (shade) will
darken a color.
Without using Black or Gray you can darken a
color by using a darker color of the same hue.
Example: Ultramarine Blue to darken Cobalt
Blue.
Another alternative is to add a bit of the
colors complement.

Darken a Color

Mixing Blacks

Ultramarine Blue + Alizarin Crimson +

Transparent Red Oxide
Ultramarine Blue + Cadmium Orange
Viridian + Cadmium Red Deep
Quinacridone Rose + Phthalo Green
Experiment and find your own and add
depth to your darks!

Mixing Greens
For GOODNESS Sake PLEASE mix your greens!
PRETTY PLEASE!
PRETTY PLEASE with SUGAR on top!
Tube Greens are garish.
Experiment with your Yellows, Oranges and Blues!
Add your Blue into your Yellow a little bit at a time.

Tube Greens are Garish.

Artist: Tamer Elsamahy

Look at the Greens artist, Richard Schmid achieves. Viridian is the

only Green on his palette.

Green Mixtures using Cad Yellow Lt, Lemon Yellow, Ultramarine

Blue, Pthalo Blue, and Viridian.

Mixing Bright & Dull Neutrals

Mixing Secondary Colors

Mixing Secondary Colors

Color Mixing ~ Limited Palettes

Usually 3 Primary
Colors plus White

Usually 1 High
Chroma & 2 Low
Chroma
Primaries

Zorn Limited Palette

Cadmium Red
Yellow Ochre
Ivory Black
Titanium White

Limited Portrait Palette

Light Red
Raw Sienna
Ultramarine Blue
Titanium White

Mixing tips
Arrange colors on your
palette the same way every
time
Press pigment out in worms
/ ribbons
Use palette knife
Start with the lightest color
Start with warms and add
cool colors
Load your brush often

Dont over mix on palette

Dont be stingy with your
paint
Scrape palette of left over
paint to get awesome
GRAYS place in a 35mm
film canister
Delay the drying process of
the oils on your palette by
putting it in your freezer
cover with plastic wrap

Color and Painting

Indentify the following
Local Color
refers to the natural color of an object unmodified
by adding light and shadow or any other distortion.
Local color is best seen on a matt surface, due to it
not being reflected, and therefore distorted.
Light Source type, temperature, and direction
Reflected light and color
Atmosphere / Weather ~ Aerial Perspective

Reflected Light and Color

Aerial Perspective
VALUE: as objects recede in
space, light and dark values move
toward a middle-light gray.
HUE: as objects recede in space,
the full spectrum of colors
becomes cooler, moving toward
blue or violet.
INTENSITY: as objects recede in
space, the intensity of their color
is reduced, moving toward a
neutral gray.
TEXTURE: as objects recede in
space, visible detail and surface
texture disappear.

Time of Day & Distance

Affects Color

Color Recession of
Yellow Ochre & Blue

Aerial (Atmospheric) Perspective

Warm Colors Advance

Warm colors are vivid in nature. They are

bold and energetic. Warm colors are those
that tend to advance in space; therefore,
caution needs to be taken so you do not
overwhelm your content with eye catching
hues. If an element in your design needs to
pop out, consider using warm colors to do
that.

Cool Colors Recede

Cool colors are soothing in nature.

They give an impression of calm and
rarely overpower the main content
or message of a design. Cool colors
tend to recede; therefore, if some
element of your design needs to be
in the background, give it cool
tones.

Just Remember!
There are no such constants in nature so the
system of warm colors advancing and cool
colors receding is not a natural law to be
written in stone. Like most guidelines in art
they are just that guidelines to follow.
Nature is our BEST instructor she is TRUE!

Example of Cool Advancing and

Warm Receding.

Color or Value?

Color or ValueWhich is
more important to best
represent the presence of
LIGHT in a painting?

Color or Value = Light

Artist: Roger Bansemer

Color or Value = Light

Color and Painting

4 Questions to ask yourself

What color do I see?

What value is the color?
What intensity is the color?
What temperature is the color?

Color Systems
Munsell Color System

Color Systems
Robert Gamblins Navigating Color Space
Navigating Color Space: Part 1/3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=V5ynSp5X1oU
Navigating Color Space: Part 2/3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=Ckzb1tzs9_w
Navigating Color Space: Part 3/3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=PWNYYN003s4

Color System ~ Reading a Paint Tube

Let us look at some

paintings and discuss
some things we talked
about today

Artist: Caroline Jasper

Artist: Nancy Guzik

Artist: Carol Marine

Artist: Scott Mattlin

Artist: Kelley Sanford

Artist: Scott Christensen

Artist: Clayton Beck III

Artist: Jeremy Lipking

My Palette
Cad Yellow
Indian Yellow
Yellow Ochre
Cad Red
Transparent Oxide Red
Alizarin Crimson
Cerulean Blue
Ultramarine Blue Deep
Titanium White

Sometimes
Naples Yellow Pale
Sap Green

Sources
Richard Schmid ~ Alla Prima

Elizabeth Tolley ~ Oil Painters

Solution Book: Landscapes

Sources
Vicki McMurry ~ Mastering Color:
The Essentials of Color Illustrated
with Oils

Robert Gamblin ~ Navigating

Color Space

Sources
Helen Van Wyk ~ Color Mixing the
Van Wyk Way: A Manual for Oil
Painters

Helen Van Wyk ~ Helen Van Wyks

Favorite Color Recipes

Sources
Margaret Kessler ~ Color
Harmony in Your Oil Paintings

Mitchell Morton ~ The Mitchell

Morton School of Purple

In closing

I would like to leave you with

my philosophy when it comes
to creating my artwork a
quote by Robert Henri.

"All any man can do... is add his fragment to the whole.
No man can be final... but he can record his progress...
What he leaves is so much for others to use as stones to step on, or stones
to avoid.
After all, the goal is not making art... It is living life.

Those who live their lives will leave the stuff that is really art."

Robert Henri, The Art Spirit