Colour Theory - Part 1

Colours are an integral part of painting. Understanding of colours , how to get a particular colour shade is very important . The first lesson which I'll start my blog with is Colour Theory. Sharing with you all my understanding of colours and how to prepare our own colour palette .


To start with - Colours can be grouped in three segments - Primary , Secondary and Tertiary colours.

PRIMARY  COLOURS are the pure colours. They cannot be made by mixing together other colours. RED, BLUE and YELLOW are the primary colours.

SECONDARY COLOURS -   When we mix two primary colours together, three secondary colours are made;

Red      +  Yellow makes  Orange .
Yellow  +   Blue makes  Green.
Blue     +  Red makes  Violet.
The resulting hue depends on which hue of red , blue and yellow we are using as primary colour.

 TERTIARY COLOURS - We get tertiary colours also known as 'intermediate colours', by mixing together a primary colour with an equal amount of  the secondary colour next to it on colour wheel.

Red    + Orange gives Red-Orange
Yellow + Orange gives Yellow-Orange
Yellow + Green gives Yellow-Green
Blue    + Green gives Blue - Green
Blue    + Violet gives Blue - Violet

Red     + Violet  gives Red -Violet

Primary colour - Red (crimson)

Secondary Colour - Red + blue= Violet

Primary Colour -Blue (cobalt)

Secondary Colour- Blue +Yellow = Green

Primary Colour -Yellow (Lemon)

Secondary Colour - Red + Yellow= Orange

Tertiary Colour- Red + Violet

Tertiary Colour - Blue + Green 

Tertiary Colour -Red  + Orange

Tertiary Colour -  Yellow + Orange

Tertiary Colour- Blue  + Violet

Tertiary Colour- Yellow + Green

 The colours are also known as hues. The Secondary and the tertiary colours are always darker or lighter than the primary colours/hues. One can create the colour spectrum in a wheel shape , or squares or rectangles or any form which one likes, but I like more of squares and rectangles.
In the upcoming post I'll be discussing tints, shades and tones, values, warm and cool colours.