One of the fascinating characteristics of color is the ability of neutralized hues to give harmony to a painting. When I say "neutralized", I don't mean
grays, rather any hue that is not fully saturated.
Color often baffles folks because the word "color" includes hue, value and intensity. Any color that is neutralized has in it every
hue, regardless of its value. Look at this:
Yellow ochre is a neutralized version of the hue, yellow orange. That means that visually, yellow ochre is a mixture
of yellow orange and blue violet. With orange being a combination of red plus yellow, and blue violet a combination red plus blue, all three primaries are contained within the color, yellow ochre.
Burnt Sienna is a slightly neutralized red orange. Visually, its compliment is blue green. Here too, we have
all three primaries - red/yellow/blue present in one color.
Color wheels show fully saturated hues on the outside perimeters. Regardless of which color wheel we use, compliments neutralize each other. The
amounts mixed from each determines the degree of neutralization.
On our traditional color wheel...
- Our primary hues are yellow, red and blue.
- Secondary hues, orange/violet/green, each are made up of two primaries, red/blue/yellow.
- Tertiary hues are made up of one secondary and one primary.
NOW THEIR NEUTRALIZED VERSIONS
Any hue on the wheel can be neutralized by mixing into it the hue directly opposite of it on the wheel, its compliment, causing
all thee primaries to be present in the mixture . Here is a gamut of neutralized hues.
Every single color color here contains all the hues--they are neutralized.
Most of the colors we see in nature are to some extent neutralized.
...even in the Fall season.
What it all comes down to is that a color that includes all hues will harmonize with another color that includes all hues. Diversity producing
unity!
ENJOY A BRILLIANT WEEKEND!
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