Where does Colour come from?

1. Where does Colour come from? Paint consists of ground up pigment in some sort of liquid. Pigments are ground colored material.

2. Early Colours • The first paintings were cave paintings, such as those pictured at right. • Ancient peoples would decorate walls of protected caves with paint made from dirt or charcoal mixed with spit or animal fat. • Their tools were hands, frayed twigs and animal hair and feathers. Paleolithic horses from the Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc cave in southeast France

3. Ancient Egypt and Rome (3000 BC to 500 AD) Artists painted frescoes (powdered paint mixed in plaster ) • Ancient Greeks • (3,000 BC- 200 AD) • Artists painted scenes from mythology on vases and bowls

4. The Middle Ages and The Renaissance(500 AD- 1400AD)(1400 AD- 1600 AD)

5. Oil Paint • created about 1500 AD • Powdered paint mixed with linseed oil • Used for paintings on canvas and wood • Water Colour • Pigment mixed with water • Tempera, oil and watercolour were the main types of paint until the 1950’s • Acrylic Paint • Pigment mixed with plastic • More durable • Dries fast—this has pros and cons • inexpensive

6. Blue • calm, peaceful, pacific. • Hygiene, freshness and cleanliness • Blue stands for peace Modern expressions: "to be blue with cold" (freezing), "once in a blue moon" (very rarely), "to be in a blue funk" (petrified), "the blue" (sea) "blue-blooded" (of noble blood).

7. Yellow • The colour of the sun, of light, of summer. • Yellow draws people's attention. • In advertising, yellow is used to attract the eye. But Yellow is also associated with illness. Seagoing ships, for example, reserved their yellow pavilions as quarantine quarters. Yellow is also associated with cowardice and newspapers that exploit sensationalism.

8. OrangeAssociated with Sunsets, autumn and Halloween and anything warm and tropical • The colour orange got its name at the time oranges first arrived in Europe. The delicious fruit was called the orange. • We associate orange with fall colours, fire, earth and pottery.

9. Red The colour of passionate love, sensuality and desire. • Red excites our senses and activates blood circulation. • Red is joyful. • Red means speed and action. • Red and orange are easiest to see from a distance. • Red attracts our attention: • Red, the colour of blood, identifies first aid services such as the Red Cross. • Red conveys anger and aggressiveness, such as in "to see red", and "red with anger".

10. Green Luck and newness, nature and envy • In the Middle Ages, green was considered the colour of calamity and evil, and was associated with the Devil itself. It symbolized superstition to the point where one avoided dressing in green. • Some expressionswe use: to give someone the green light (permission) to be green behind the ears (inexperienced) to be green with envy (jealous) to have a green thumb (be to a good gardener).

11. VioletPurple and gold are often associated with Royalty, wealth and opulence • The religious world associates violet with the Passion of Christ. • In the days of the British Empire, mauve was the only colour allowed to complement grey, black and white during periods of half-mourning. • During the sixties, the violet family of colours became very popular.

12. Colour Terms • HueHue refers to the name of a color.  Eg.  Red, blue, and purple. • IntensityIt is not always enough to know the hue of a color, since a color has many different shades.   • Intensity is used to describe the brightness and purity of a color.    When a hue is strong and bright, it is said to be high in intensity.  When a color is faint, dull and gray, it is said to be low in intensity. • Intensities of Green High Intensity Low Intensity

13. More Terms • Value in ColorWhen describing a hue, value refers to its lightness or darkness.  Value changes are often obtained by adding black or white to a hue. • Here is an example of a value scale that has values ranging from the darkest dark, to the whitest white Shade Tint

14. The Colour Wheel • A color wheel is often used to help explain and understand color.

15. Primary Colours • The three primary colors are red, yellow, and blue.  They are called primary colors because they could be mixed to make all the other colors, but mixing other colors cannot make them.

16. Secondary Colours • The secondary colors are orange, green and violet. Mixing equal amounts of two primary colors together makes secondary colors.   As a result, they are located midway between the primary colors on the color wheel.

17. Tertiary Colours • Tertiary colors are also known as intermediate colors.    Both terms refers to the colors found between the primary and secondary colors.   Mixing uneven amounts of two primary colors together makes tertiary colors.   Examples of tertiary colors are Yellow-Green, Blue-Green, Blue-Violet and Red-Violet.

18. Warm Colours • Warm colors consist of red, yellow and orange.   They are referred to as warm colors because they are usually found in things such as fire and that sun which gives off heat and make people feel warm. 

19. Cool Colours • Cool colors consist of blue, green and violet.   Could you guess why they are called cool colors???

20. Complimentary Colours • Complementary colors are also known as opposite colors.  The term refers to two colors that are directly opposite to each other on the color wheel.   For example, blue and orange are complementary colors.  

21. Analogous Colours • Analogous (uh-NAL-uh-gus) colors sit next to each other on the color wheel. They tend to look pleasant together because they are closely related. • TRY IT! Choose a primary color and a secondary color. For example, you might choose blue and green. Don't they look nice together? That's because they are analogous. With just these two colors, you can create even more analogous colors—blue-green, green-blue, and others in-between. All of these will have a color in common: blue.

22. Neutrals • Neutrals don't usually show up on the color wheel. Neutral colors include black, white, gray, and sometimes brown and beige. They are sometimes called “earth tones.” • TRY IT! There are a few different ways to make neutral colors. You can blend black and white to make gray. You can create brown in two ways—by blending two complementary colors together, or by blending all three primary colors together.